Bob and Ann Summers, both HELP volunteers, who taught at the Lamdon Model Senior school in Leh in 2009, sent 400 books to the school this year. This is always a bit risky, since parcels frequently get lost in the post, but they duly arrived, and Barbara Porter took pictures to show how they are being devoured!…
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Ananada Hall introduced music to her classes at the JN Memorial school during her assignment from mid-May to the second week of August this year. The children loved these lessons so much, they gladly attended Ananada’s classes during their summer holiday.
Here are a couple of pictures she sent us:
Not all our volunteers make it to their schools. Here is Sarah Dagnall’s report on what she encountered on her way to her assignment:
“A few days before my teaching placement at St Anthony’s School in was to begin (February 2011), we had planned to spend a few days in the hill station of Darjeeling, then head on east to Mungpu. The plan was thwarted by the echoing repercussions of history and race as the local people planned their next steps towards winning an independent state called Gorkaland.…
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Identifying well-run orphanages to assist in Nepal is very problematic. People with no experience or training can set orphanages up with little supervision from the authorities.
HELP was briefly involved with Mukti Nepal in 2006. It appeared to be a well run orphanage and the children seemed to be well cared for. As a result, we sent a volunteer and some money. However, we withdrew when we saw some negative press reports about the falsification of children’s names.
The situation has obviously deteriorated badly since then.…
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In September, our teacher trainer, Barbara Porter ran two one week seminars at the Lamdon Model Senior Secondary school, in Leh, Ladakh. The first seminar was intended for new participants who teach at primary level. The second seminar was intended for participants at primary level who had attended the course in 2009. In the event there was a mix of teachers from both the 2009 courses.
The following details have been extracted from Barbara’s report:
Feedback
The feedback for both courses was very positive.…
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“…how fortunate we volunteers are to be welcomed into the lives of children who have so much to teach us, when we set out initially to try to make a small difference in their lives. When teaching grammar structures, we see the students’ efforts to learn and master a new language (challenge) without complaint. During a school field trip we have the opportunity to share and experience the students’ culture outside the classroom. During lunch break we have an opportunity to see the older students taking responsibility to look after the younger students’ needs before their own, and their selfless cooperation to ensure no one is overlooked.…
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If you use a British SIM card, here is an easy and fun way to make a donation to HELP:
Just text EHLP19 plus the sum you want to doante and send it to 70070. So, for example, if you want to donate £10, all you have to do is to text EHLP19 £10, and £10 will wing its way to HELP.
(Please note that JustTextGiving only accepts 6 amounts from donors. These are £1, £2, £3, £4, £5, and £10.…
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The HELP representative in Gangtok has sent me the following update on the aftermath of the recent earthquake (I quote him verbatim):
…“The earthquake was devastating in North Sikkim, where there are several Hydro power projects are coming up. It is believe that the destruction is due to the construction of tunnel boring across the hills to channelize the water for the project. There are reports that whole villages were swept away by the land slide as it was raining for 48 hours before getting the tremors.
We have now heard that the schools we support in Sikkim have suffered minor damage, but no-one was harmed. However, I am told that the press reports of the numbers killed greatly under-estimate the true numbers which could amount to thousands. Villages in the north have still not been reached by rescue parties.
The following report comes from the Zeenews Bureau:-
Sikkim Mangan/Gangtok: Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling on Wednesday said that the relief and rescue operation in the earthquake-affected parts of Sikkim will be completed in the next two to three days.…
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The earthquake that centered on Sikkim a few days ago has killed around 50 people in Sikkim and another 30 or so in the adjacent Darjeeling district, and also Nepal.
Fortunately, we have had no reports of deaths or damage in the schools we support in the area.
The Himalayas are an earthquake zone, and most of the buildings are not earthquake proof. …
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