aa-pa ma-jayn ji-tok ji-ge ma-rad: Kunga Lama, School and Dolpo #education #struggles #dolpo
Continued from the previous blog piece: http://dolporises.blogspot.com/2016/05/aalay-may-nay-dhayn-day-ka-lay-kha-reyd.html
The
villagers came together to form Dolpo Locals Help Association (http://www.tenzinnorbu.com/projects.php)
while succeeding to raise NPR 5000 each by both Kunga and Norbhu and NPR 20,000
by Anne Lelong. The association was formed in Tinje VDC for the management of the
school, ‘Shree Siddhartha Kula Primary School’. Kula denoted the local pilgrim
site.
Pic: Tenzin Norbhu and Kunga Lama
Before the official formation of the association, they also faced the
technical difficulties. To make a code of conduct (Bidhan), they had to pay NPR
5000. Kunga busted into laughter when he told me that what he collected was
instantly invested for the ‘Bidhan’. Obviously it would have been surprising
for him to see the hard earned money used for that piece of paper. Before 15
years, he clearly said that it was ‘ghong-chenpo’ (expensive). He also
remembered ‘Meme’ Druckkay donating I.C. 160 and few others helping them
financially. Some of the locals did come together. They also hired one ‘Hyolmo’
to make that first Bidhan and most of the works were carried out by Kunga.
Later all the renewal process was carried out by Urgyen Sir. Yet the challenges to run the school in the village did not stop. Norbu was forced to sell his
‘Ree-moo’ (paintings) to raise the money for the school. And slowly and slowly
the school became better.
Pic: The government school before 40 years. This school was later shifted to the present place of Tingyu in 2002.
Pic: The ongoing road construction in Tingyu.
Besides, Lama also
remembered about the Maoist Insurgency period. No-doubt it also affected the
remote region of Dolpo. ‘I was in ‘Jhyaang’ when I knew about the Maoist
invitation to come to Tarap. I therefore came in the night’, Lama shared.
Definitely it was an alarming period but it became more painful for him when he
knew about his brother’s young daughter's death. She was only 16 years old when she
passed away. So, Lama performed the death rituals. ‘Ma Lama garnu paryo’ (I had
to perform the rituals) was the simple answer why he had to return back. After
finishing that within few hours, he went to Tarap. ‘It was related more with the
accountability and transparency of our school work’, Lama shared. ‘Lama le
kaam ramro garecha (Lama has done well)’ was the Maoist representative
satisfactory answer towards Lama’s struggles. Everybody of Dolpo was invited
for the meet. From 12 to 6 pm, the meeting was conducted. Maoist concerns were
mainly about the use of the VDC budget. Lama argued, ‘we all ‘me-thyun’
(agreed) for the budget and gave it to the school’. Maoist did not do anything
at that time. By 2006, the civil war was coming to the conclusion.
Yet, Lama and co faced
several challenges. Sometimes during our conversation, I felt uneasy to know
about those challenges but soon comfort barged in as Lama and co continued to
surpass those hurdles. Nonetheless, it was not easy.
Pic: The First Batch Students
Pic: Some of the children in the morning assembly in Tingyu.
Pic: Siddhartha Kula Primary School, Tingyu.
Though the financial
difficulty still continues to remain a prime concern, the construction of the Tingyu school was also tricky as there are no timbers available in Tingyu. As the numbers of the students increased, it was later shifted to a new place. The new construction then started only in 2002 which accommodated more number of students. Lama
confirmed that NPR 5 lakh from Village Development Committee (VDC; a local
government administrative unit) Budget was used but only once. In addition,
most of the timbers were brought in from Shey-Phoksumdo National Park, thanks
to him and Urgyen Dorje. Lama persuaded Urgyen to pay the ‘purji’ (a payment)
for the school to the park. Lama further convinced Urgyen that he will always
support Urgyen and will go against anyone who would talk behind the back of
Urgyen while saying, ‘it will not be used to build any house but for the
school, it will be used’. During those times, there were indeed many talking
behind the backs of Urgyen when Urgyen bought in the timber from the park for
the school. The people of Nangong, Saldang never really appreciated what Urgyen
did. Lama hence, agreed that it would not have been possible if Urgyen would
not have also asked the late Meme Thinley for the timber. The timber they got
from the park was never sufficient. As Saldang was closed to the park and has
the authority to bring any amount of timbers from the park, the late Thinley
was persuaded to sell some of those timbers to Tingyu. Subsequently, it took
around 10 days to bring all those timber from Phoksumdo for the people of
Shimen. The locals of Shimen took half of those timbers to build their own
school.
Pics: Shimen village.
Pic: During the construction of Shimen School, which was also supported by Lama and Norbhu.
On the other hand, the locals of Tingyu and Polde gave the ‘daag-la’
(compensation) for their absence in the journey to the park. Furthermore, half of
the timbers were brought in from ‘Jhyaang’ (Tibet). It cost NPR 1000 as a labor
wage for a 6 meter timber and additional NPR 2500 for the timber. According to
Lama, only in 2008, the construction of the school was somewhat finished as the
construction still continues whenever they got the money.
Pic: Locals of Tingyu resting after the construction of the school. The construction has not really stopped yet.
‘Yes, it took around
6 years to finish the construction,’ Lama breathes a sigh of relief. It was
indeed a tedious process to search the money again and then to start the
construction, again and again for long 6 years. Money indeed mattered a lot and
sometimes that might also question somebody if states, ‘Money does not matter a
lot.’ In the case of Siddhartha Kula Primary School, it just seems opposite.
On the other hand,
there were and are also socio-cultural challenges to continue the school in the
remote region, such as Tingyu or Dolpo. It was usually posed by families who
were reluctant to send their children to the school. First, the villagers only
sent their one child even if there were at-least 4-5 children in one household
(HH). The parents were convinced only after Lama suggested them to send other
children too while asserting to those parents that only one child would not be
able to share anything with rest of his brothers and sisters. ‘Nyo-loo’ (a
child usually with unknown father) was never sent. Though the middle son
usually became a monk, boys were sent ‘ngyen-ma’ (first) and girls only followed
after that. When I tried to know the reasons, Lama revealed few. First,
girls did not have rights as per ‘lug-so nhing-ba’ (old social values) for many
years. Second, it was ‘khyen-cha’ (awkward) to send the girls to study before.
Even if the girls were sent to schools, then others would say, ‘dha pay re, da
ke fon-go ni mon-go thong-soong’ (it is very inauspicious and I am seeing what
I should not have seen). Lama readily agreed that the community negatively
perceived the girls’ education. Girls were restricted also by many local
proverbs.
Pic: Tenzin Norbhu (in the middle) with some of the students
I was also curious
about how it all started. He said that it might have all started from older
values and certain unwritten/oral code of conduct. Nonetheless, he accepted
that these things are not really mentioned in any religious texts. He assumed
that such derogatory ‘tsik-kyu’ (proverbs) might have been propagated by
previous ‘khey-pa’ (intellects) and ‘nyam-nung hyod-ke’ (experienced). Generally,
these lots are dominated by men. There are also collected works on ‘pay’
(proverbs). Unsurprisingly, he approved that ‘Dolpo-ki chig pe nyen-pa ray-d’
(such Dolpo proverbs are very dangerous) and ‘pay sa-wo rey-d’ (it is very disturbing).
Clearly he was unhappy and possibly, the only moment in our two hours long
conversation when he expressed his dissatisfaction. For me, listening to Lama,
it was a moment of relief.
Furthermore, usually it
was not the fathers but the mothers who opposed the girls’ education. Lama
argued, ‘Paa-la ya-ag-la doo-g, aa-maa dhoog-la ka doo-g’ (Father is supportive
but mother is not). Reasons why mother resisted her girls to send to schools,
according to Lama, are mainly because of her household works. ‘She has her
responsibility and when there are many works inside the house without any
daughter to help her if she sends her to the school, that it would be mother’s
loss. The frustration of the mothers are clearly logical but are influenced
mainly by the division of labor. If she does not send her to the school, her
daughter could help her to gather firewood and carry baby on her back while
getting involved in hand spinning/weaving and knitting).
Then what about the
fathers? According to Lama, father would care less about the ‘ma-jayn’ (kitchen)
as for the kitchen, you need ‘chu’ (water) and ‘shee-ng’ (firewood).
The reasons are not
only limited to those. It is also related to women’s mobility but influenced by
economic decision. According to Lama, there are not any women who have gone to
other village. She has not done really any business so women were and are
restricted from travelling outside her village. The community understands that
if boy is educated well and even if for any fight, he will be ready. That’s
why, his physique are somewhat preferred and motivated whenever any works to
travel out of the village appear. Primarily because of these reasons, one girl
was admitted 2 years late in the school by her parents. When asked who sent her
now, Lama replied, ‘her father’ though his decision to send his daughter is
also influenced by his own lack of any son. Lama said, ‘he does not have any
son but has two daughters’. In addition, that particular decision of that
father is also affected by his neighbors and their children as they all started
to send their children to the school. ‘He was the only one who was left alone,
so’, was Lama’s assurance to my query about that girl’s late admission. Society
mattered and still continues to matter and its opinions.
Lama later shared that
as most of the children have been going to the school, whoever has not sent
their children to the school are now seen as ‘jhor-wo’ (dirty). All started to
perceive that restrictive act as bad, which according to Lama is a good
development of the local people understanding regarding how they see the
education. Its significance started to amplify. Moreover, certain realities
again started to shut down the school. Even the newly appointed teachers later
refrained from coming. ‘The teacher was tired of those hardships in the
school,’ Lama noted without giving any names. Amidst those challenges, the
school is running strong now.
Pics: Tingyu School back in the village.
Mainly led by Lama
Tenzin Norbhu and himself, they have continued to provide study materials:
book, bag, geometric box, tooth brush, tooth paste, and soap. With a sense of
pride, Lama clearly said that he could have enjoyed the rest of his life in
Taiwan but instead he chose his life to do something for the school. In his own
words, ‘even if I stay comfortably, I never really felt good inside staying
there in Taiwan. Our section of community is still remains at periphery’. On a
lighter note, Lama happily said that once these books are used for one session,
those books are either put in fire or used by Amchis as a paper wrapper
for their medicines. Books always gave warmth.
Though minimal fees are charged now for the school from the parents amidst many challenges, Lama remains
optimistic about continuously running the school. Nobody really has an answer
though what will happen to those students once they complete their class 12.
‘Till class 12, we have tried but after 12, we do not have financial support.
One student at-least requires NPR 1 lakh. Only if parents would partially fund
the education after that, we could try to arrange the remaining sum. Till now,
we are still looking for another alternative so that these students could
continue their education after Class 12. It will always therefore be great if
we could receive another financial support’.
Pic: Dawa Gurung (in the middle) with the First Batch Students who returned back to their village, Tingyu.
According to Dawa Gurung, the Manager of this school, here in Kathmandu, there are still many problems. 'Government has not really supported us and we have talked with many other organizations for the support. We want our students to continue their studies even after their 12,' Dawa quickly shared. Dawa, born in Tingyu and a son of Norbhu and Lhadol Gurung, is one of the many responsible local people besides Lama, Norbhu, and Urgyen, who has relentlessly worked for the students of Tingyu.
Pic: Dawa (on the left) with his family in the village.
Pic: Dawa (starting from the right) with some of the students of Tingyu.
Pic: Some of the students inside the tent after the April Earthquake.
Note: Anybody who is
willing to donate any money to the school, I hope that following information
you readers will find helpful.
Dolpo Local Help Association
Bank Account Number: 0110856031
Nepal Standard Chartered Bank,
Lazimpat, Kathmandu, Nepal
For another kind of support, following is the contact address:
Telephone: 01-4913689 (office); Dawa: 9841588010; Phurwa Tashi: 9808688248
Thank you!
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