At last the day came!
We have been waiting for this particular day…& we made it the best.  The only bad thing was the weather:  it was not so good!  But that did not become the obstacle for us.

At around 10:30 in the morning, we started our program.  We were supposed to start the program at 10am sharp, but we were waiting for the Honorable Guests..
Around 10:30 they all arrived at Jhamtse Gatsal & we immediately started our program.  Many parents and guardians of our children were waiting eagerly to see the celebration.  They all were very happy seeing their kids in such a wonderful place.
The program was anchored by our Accountant Mr. Teke & also the bubbly beauty, SANDY!  Sandy was sooo excited to do this open air anchoring!  She did it with TEKE so nicely..
Apart from SANDY, ROSS, SUZZANE, SARAH, and HANNAH were also with us, enjoying the celebration.
Our little school children performed very nicely. Everyone enjoyed their performance.
Our Director Sir gave the opening speech in the Monpa language, which was so nice & inspiring.  The attending villagers were so happy to hear from Mr. Lobsang!
Later, Lobsang sir presented some volunteers with some nice gifts, for their unforgettable effort to our community!
Last but not least, our school staff performed a Hindi dance song, which was really nice.
After we finish the program, all staff & honorable guests had a very delicious lunch with a number of mouth-watering items!
After we completed our lunch, we had a nice conversation with the guests.  They are also interested in coming to our next year’s celebration.

All staffs from Jhamtse Gatsal are looking forward to next year’s celebration, (i.e. 5th Annual Day Celebration) which is going to be even more rocking!!

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A few weeks ago, we went with Lobsang for an overnight homestay at his mother’s house in Tawang (the central city of this district in Arunachal Pradesh). While there is much modern influence in even the simplest of homes in this region, his mother still lives a very traditional lifestyle, preferring to preserve the customs and culture in which she grew up. Her home is almost like a little bubble of previous generations within our modern day, and a glimpse at the still predominant lifestyle in more remote villages.

Surrounding her house is a small field of corn which she tends to in the morning and evening, before and after she goes to work building roads during the day.

Inside, her two-room house is small but well cared for. The walls are built of smooth planks of wood, weathered by years of the annual monsoon rain and winter winds. It’s dimly lit, and the walls slightly blackened with soot from her indoor wood-burning stove.

The kitchen—also her bedroom, living room, and dining room—is modestly furnished, but her few possessions are ornate, carefully crafted to last for years. She showed us her two sets of remarkably smooth hand-carved wooden bowls, in which she has eaten three meals a day since they were gifted to her as a teenager. She stores her water in a traditional brass basin, adorned with a katak—a white scarf signifying respect, usually used to greet honored guests and often hung among prayer flags in places of spiritual significance. Lobsang explained this ancient method of keeping water, honoring its indispensability.

For dinner, she prepared for us a traditional meal of sen—a playdough-like block of millet dough—which is pinched into mini-spoons and used as a vehicle for churba—a soup made of local aged cheese and chilies. (Lobsang has used this technique for years to repel the ladies). This combination is served with hot chang, a local brew of fermented barley and millet, mixed with melted butter.

Before bed, Lobsang modeled for us a pair of traditional Monpa pants he is having specially made. While many girls—particularly older women—still wear traditional Monpa dress (a long, pink striped dress, tied at the waist, with an embroidered overcoat), traditional men’s dress has fallen out of fashion as Western clothes have entered the remote region in the last generation. His mother has ordered pieces of the outfit from friends of hers in various villages who still specialize in the craft, but fewer and fewer people are learning to make the clothing, and Lobsang predicts that in ten years it may be impossible to find.

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Tags: dinner, Lobsang's mother, modernization, Monpa, tradition

One more day to go!  All the children as well as staff members are really practicing hard!
In the mean time, we have more visitor arrivals: SARAH & HANNAH!  This very evening they reached our community.  They had a nice journey from Tezpur!  Today the weather was quite sunny as well as superb!
We are expecting to have the same on our Annual Day.

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It was really wonderful when I woke up in the morning and I found the sky was clear & it was not raining any more. Wow! At last the rain god was happy.  I just pray that the weather will go like this for a few days more & we will all have a wonderful time in the celebration of the fourth anniversary of Jhamtse Gatsal.  Both staff & children have really geared up their rehearsals.  The exciting thing about this year’s Community Anniversary is that we are doing a staff group dance along with Sandy & Ross.  We are really practicing hard to make it a rocking performance!!!

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Now a days we all are quite busy with our rehearsal, that’s only because we have planned to celebrate the annual day of our community on 29th July. Needless to say how much excited we are! We have got some special guests all around the world.

Recently one Lady teacher from Switzerland, named Suzzane has joined us as a dance & drama teacher. She is more excited than us! The main thing she has  noticed here nothing but love & compassion. Apart from Suzzane, we have two more friends from Boston,US. They are Sandy & Ross, they had reached before Suzzane here. They too are preparing well for the celebration.

That’s not the end. We are going to have to more special guests from US before the celebration,Sarah & Hannah. So needless to say we are going to have a colorful day!

On the annual community day, we would have some special guests who would be representing Guest of Honor & Chief Guest.

Our community has planned to do some cultural programmes on that particular day like:

(1)-  Opening Speech.

(2)- Drama.

(3)- Traditional dances from different states.

& so on.

That’s all for now. Because every staff is quite busy with their rehearsals to make it best of the bests.

See even more pictures of our summer visitors in the gallery!

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Today we celebrated the 75th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Many families from the nearest villages came to Jhamtse Gatsal to attend the event. We started the day with prayers led by Sherap Lama, Gen Sangpo (Tibetan teacher), and Gen Tephun Tenzin Shastri (principal), and hung a new string of prayer flags.  As per tradition of this special day, everyone tossed a handful of flour in the air, (and playfully aimed a second at nearby friends).

Lobsang gave opening remarks (in Monpa and English), highlighting His Holiness’ dedication to compassion and nonviolence, and encouraging us all to pay attention to and practice these attributes in our daily lives. Thus, every day becomes a celebration of His Holiness, and an extension of his work.

The kids then performed the dances they’re practicing for Jhamtse Gatsal’s fourth anniversary celebration (at the end of July), interspersed with songs sung by the staff.

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Tags: birthday, Dalai Lama, dances, dancing, singing

The Jhamtse Gatsal Children are going to take their annual examinations. The exams started on the 21st of March and will be finished by the 26th of March. All the students are well-prepared, and they are excited to show what they have learned during the past year!  Of course, I am preparing to help them get the highest marks as well.

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All the staff of Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community have arrived back to the school after their winter vacation that started on the  28th of February.  Student  also returned  safely from vacation.  They’ve been gone since the 2nd of March.

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All the students of Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community will be released for winter vacation on the 14th of January.  All the staff will get a break as well, starting on the 15th.  The Indian government has urged us to have our major school break during the winter, rather than the summer.  This is good for us, since family member’s of the children and village elders are more likely to be available, and less busy with the farming.  Everyone will report back after 45 days of holiday.  May all the staff and children enjoy the vacation and may every member return back safely and at the end of the vacation, fresh for a new school year!

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Everyone celebrates the New Year in different way, and here at Jhamtse Gatsal, we enjoy any reason for a good celebration.  This year – 2010 – is very special to us.  So, we celebrated our New Year in a very fabulous way.  We  divided our staff and children into three groups and had a cultural show competition among us.  At 10 a.m. we started our program, and everyone really performed with their full energy.   It was surprising to see how well everyone performed, and it was lots of fun.  The day was fantastic!

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Jhamtse Gatsal, Tibetan for “Garden of Love and Compassion”, is a children’s community located in the Indian foothills of the Himalayas. Opened in 2006, it is currently school and home for 74 children from disadvantaged family situations in the nearby villages.

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