ROKPA Times November 2018 - With ROKPA to independence

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NEPAL Education for an independent life Pabitra successfully completed her 28 year-old Pabitra and her younger sister Sharmila, 5 years her junior, grew up in a village in the Kathmandu Valley. Her family was poor and had very few possessions except some pots for cooking. However, there was very little to fill these pots. Food was scarce and got even scarcer with every new child. The family already had 7 girls when a boy arrived. The father had desperately wanted to have a boy. Both parents worked in the fields. But the father was an alcoholic and spent almost all the money on alcohol. Hoping to find a better income, the family moved to Kathmandu. The mother worked on a construction site where she had to carry heavy loads. She went to work at sunrise and returned in the night. The father also worked as a porter, but he couldn’t give up drinking. Soon the children had to work to supplement the family income. At the age of 7, Sharmila already worked as a housemaid. She was scolded, threatened and beaten – until she fled. mother didn’t want her children to grow up uneducated like herself. Whenever she was able to raise money, she sent her children to school. But then the father fell ill with liver cancer. In order to be able to pay for the hospital and medication, their mother borrowed money from neighbours. Pabitra usually took care of her father when her mother was working. Before he died, the father gave the following advice to his daughter: “Study well, be a successful girl and try to serve your family”. Pabitra took his advice to heart. Hoping to find help, the girl went to the ROKPA Soup Kitchen with an X-ray picture of her father in her hands. She had been there before with her family warming up with a hot meal during the cold winter. Pabitra told Lea Wyler, the Co-Founder of ROKPA, what had happened. Moved by her story, Lea Wyler took Pabitra and her sister Sharmila to the ROKPA Children’s Home. Their mother received financial support from ROKPA for herself and for the other children. studies in Business Management in 2014. Sharmila studies Public Health and works part-time as waitress in the ROKPA Restaurant. Pabitra worked as a housemaid too. When her mother learned that Pabitra hadn’t been sent to school as promised, she took her back home. Despite being poor, the Pabitra (l.) and Sharmila in the ROKPA Children’s Home in 2004. Pabitra was an excellent student. When she was 19 she obtained a visa to go to Great Britain and studied Business Management in London. After having successfully completed her studies in 2014, she worked as an accountant in London. Sharmila is also a successful student. She is presently studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health and is working part-time as a waitress at the ROKPA Guest House. Sometimes Sharmila feels the dual burden, especially during long working days. However, she is very happy that her big sister came back to Nepal a year ago. As there had not been enough money to pay for the flight, they had had to wait 7 years to hug each other again. At first, returning home was a cultural shock for Pabitra. In the meantime, she has adjusted and feels very much at home in Nepal. Today the young woman works as a project manager with an IT company. Together with two of her younger siblings, she lives with her mother. Thanks to her good income Pabitra is able to finance the household chiefly. She is happy to be with her family again. Photos: © Robert Bösch, ROKPA INTERNATIONAL, Pabitra Timilsina 6
TIBETAN AREAS OF CHINA TIBETISCHE GEBIETE CHINAS ROKPA’s aid bears fruit Solidarity with Tsündru In 1993 the first ROKPA subsidised class at the ROKPA Tibetan Medical School in Yushu was made up of orphans and half-orphans. Back then they were dependent on help. 25 years later, 47 of the former students are now practising doctors who help others. In July 2018 there was a reunion to mark 25 years since they began their studies. As their first English teacher – I spent 6 months volunteering at the school in 1995 – I was invited too. “As we are now practicing doctors across the County, there aren’t many opportunities to meet,” Droni told me. “But we have a social media group and use this to stay in touch – we are still like brothers and sisters.” As I now visit the school along with the 48 graduates, it is extremely moving to witness how radically conditions have changed. Nothing is left of the old mud huts with broken windows, intermittent electricity and no running water. Now the facilities are comparatively modern. After the devastating earthquake in Yushu in 2010, the Chinese government completely rebuilt the town and it is now full of modern buildings. And yet there are still many orphans with the same shy, appreciative, curious expressions on their faces – only now they’re wearing better clothes. There are currently 476 boarding students at the school, all of them orphans or half-orphans from destitute backgrounds. There are new places every year for up to 90 students from the 45 villages and towns of Yushu Prefecture. Tsündru is the only one of her class who isn’t now practising as a doctor. 8 years ago she had a terrible accident and only just survived – she is now a paraplegic and has had to be operated on many times. The surgery was made possible by generous ROKPA Donors. Tsündru too is still close to her former classmates and attended the reunion. Every year the class pool money for her medical expenses – this year they managed to collect 1500 Swiss francs. In the meantime, many of the former students have become parents themselves to children who are now the same age as they themselves were when they joined the ROKPA School. It is obvious that the wonderful help they received back then is now being passed on and is benefiting others. They don’t only care for their patients but also support their extended families and others who didn’t have the same opportunities as themselves. Report by Diana Dodd Tsündru (front) with her mother and two brothers. Photos: © Diana Dodd, Lea Wyler These orphans in Yushu saw Akong Rinpoche as their father and protector. 25 years on, they still consider themselves brothers and sisters, who now themselves are able to provide help where it is needed. 7
Page 1 and 2: No. 3 / November 2018 / Volume 38 W
Page 3 and 4: ROKPA INTERNATIONAL The encounter t
Page 5: NEPAL Working despite physical impa
Page 9 and 10: SOUTH AFRICA SÜDAFRIKA “Stork bu
Page 11 and 12: ROKPA TEAM Obituary ROKPA is sad to

ROKPA Times November 2018 - With ROKPA to independence

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