Siddhartha School Library Revisited

Having been here over three weeks now I have a better idea of how the Siddhartha School operates and what is needed for the library. School meets six days a week (1/2 day on last Saturday of the month). I leave my Guest House in Changspa at 7:00 AM and stop along the way for a chocolate croissant - my walk to town (Leh), where I meet the school bus, is about a half hour. I’m one of the first on the bus so it’s about 40 minutes of picking up students until we get to the school which is in Stok about 18 kilometers from Leh. After opening exercises, presentations and such the faculty has tea and then the classes begin. My first few days I had some of the older kids help me move bookshelves and books around so as to create an area for the younger children and an area for the upper level classes. I also went with the principal to look at other school & Institute libraries and designed some furniture for the carpenters to make. Tenzin (principal) would like to have a magazine rack, a newspaper rack, and cabinets for the reference books. In addition, I’d like the carpenters to build a librarian’s desk with locked drawers, some student furniture and a few book display stands.




Easy Books









Once I got all the MacMillan workbooks and teacher/curriculum books sorted out from the student books I found that the shelves were really bare. There are a good number of easy books but really nothing for the upper level students. There are no reference books or non-fiction books so I hope this summer we can begin to remedy that. Below you will find my revised pictures of the library – noting that the shelves are essentially bare.

Older Student Section

I have been teaching the younger children how to handle books properly and also how to return books back to where they got them with the spines facing out. I think they are catching on. I’ve also begun drawing up some simple lesson plans for the teachers to carry on with library skills once I am gone. I plan on giving them a workshop over the school vacation. It is so windy and dusty (desert) that the kids hands & mine are always dirty – this is translating to fingerprints at the corners of all the pages in the books. In McLeod Ganj they had a sink outside the library for the children to wash their hands before handling the books but that won’t work here as there is no running water. I’m thinking I might teach them to wipe their hands on their pants before picking out a book but then that will leave an imprint for later library use. One of the School Board members suggested that they use their hankies.

Once school is finished I ride the school bus back to Leh and then walk back to Changspa to my guest house – usually arriving by 5:00 unless I stop to use the Internet. Dinner is at 7:30 and costs $1.50. The vegetarian food is excellent using lots of garlic and usually hot or chili pepper. One day is Italian, one day Tibetan, one day Indian, etc. and then they rotate around again. There is always a soup. It’s served buffet style so we can pick or choose.

About two weeks ago I took a day off from school and four of us rented a van to visit two Monasteries about 2 ½ hours from Leh. The Monasteries are known for their old Buddhist wall paintings. They were indeed astonishing for their color, design and influence on Buddhist art. There are several more I would like to visit while I am here. The varied scenery along the way was breathtaking – there were areas that looked just like the Grand Canyon and buttes, etc. except even more evocative.
The wall paintings are not to be photographed because the flash contributes to their decay so I have very few pictures of the grandeur – I do however have a beautiful reference book called the Buddhist Wall-Painting of Ladakh to keep those visuals alive. A monk takes visitors through the various rooms and usually charges a small amount for maintenance.

The first Monastery in Alchi was situated overlooking the Indus River and was quite fertile. I could have easily moved there. The wall-paintings are very distinct for their Indian and Kashmiri influences.

Indus River going past Alchi

The Klu-kkhyil Gompa in Likir sports a 25m-high Maitreya statue. It is less visited by tourists but far more exciting in my opinion. While we were there all the monks were busy painting, cleaning and arranging things for the upcoming visit of Ling Rinpoche the young reincarnation of the Dalai Lama’s beloved tutor.

He will be coming to the Siddhartha School as well so we are also making things pretty by whitewashing the buildings, making a parking lot, cleaning the rooms, etc.

Gompa at Likir

Touching up the Monastery

before Ling Rinpoche's

visit.

Here are the girls enjoying milk tea at the café in Likir. Maureen is from Holland, Caroline from Maine attending Smith College, and Jaime from Hawaii attending Hampshire College.

Book Recommendations:

Namma: A Tibetan Love Story by Kate Karko
“A compelling read, a rare insight into the daily lives, culture, religious rituals and relationships of a people eking out life on the “roof of the world.” Travel

Aama in America: A Pilgrimage of the Heart by Broughton Coburn

From the Publisher: "The alternately rollicking and profound account of an eighty-four-year-old Himalayan woman's first journen across America--and of the insights she offered her American companions into their country and themselves. Fifteen years after he first met Aama, Broughton Coburn returned to her remote village with his future wife, Didi, and an invitation for Aama to join them on a trip to America. At eighty-four, Aama believed she had become a burden to her grandchildren and therefore welcomed the chance to visit her "adopted son's" country. For Coburn, this was a way to introduce Aama to relatives and friends back home; but for Aama the trip represented something more--a pilgrimage that had been prescribed for her by village priests, an opportunity to gain merit by undertaking a strenuous journey during the final stage of her life. Aama in America is a vivid chronicle of what became a twenty-five-state, coast-to-coast adventure. Guided by the perpetual curiosity and deeply spiritual orientation of their ingenious, unpredictable travel coffipanion, Cobum and Didi gradually began to view their country from an entirely new perspective. The more they experienced Aama's unclouded vision of America the more they realized they were not simply traveling twelve thousand miles throughout the United States--they were undertaking an emotional and philosophical odyssey toward a greater understanding of their culture, their country, and themselves. Aama in America is on one level an offbeat American travelogue. But on another it is a profound exploration of beliefs, values, and lost spirituality, a rediscovery of the spiritual that lies beneath the surface of America, and a singular account of the meeting of two widely divergent cultures." Amazon.com

Picture of the Week

Camel Girl

"Camel girl won't you come out tonight,

come out tonight,

come out tonight,

Camel girl won't you come out tonight....."

Siddhartha School Library

Here’s the beautiful Siddhartha School on flat barren desert valley surrounded by mountains. Because it seldom rains early morning activities and school lunch can be held on the grounds around the stage area. Each morning a different student starts off the day leading all the children in the Anthem, prayers, exercises, thought for the day and then each grade level has a representative give a presentation. The presentations can be a poem, song, skit, short story or something special that the student has come up with. Then they file off to class. There are 8 class periods of 45 minutes each. Period 8 is for art, music, drama, and special activities. There is a tea break in the morning and in the afternoon for teachers and the kids use that time to study, play, socialize and hang out.

This is a visit to the 3 & 4 year old classroom which is brightly decorated and has lots of space for activities. We decided to take a group picture – we’re all saying Jule (Julley) which means hello, goodbye, welcome, thank you and probably more things in Ladakhi. The two young women in the back row are students from Smith College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Khen Rinpoche teaches a short course there every year so the students get to know him well. Jaime & Catherine are spending the summer teaching English, helping in classrooms, substituting when a teacher is absent AND they have been asked to help prepare a skit with the children for the graduation festivities.

Now some before pictures of the Siddhartha School Library – this past year they built book cases and received some book donations. There are more books than I expected but most are old and worn. As you can see most of the shelves are empty and there are no real reference books such as encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, etc. My second day at the school was spent teaching skills on how to gently handle books and then reading the multi-cultural story Baby Rattlesnake which I had brought with me. They sent two classes a period to the library – one higher grade and one lower grade. Two teachers each period got to see how a librarian works so this turned out to be good modeling for when they take over. They’ve decided that when they have a free period someone will serve as librarian. I will give a workshop to the teachers later in the summer. I designed a rubber stamp for the books which they all loved – I had it made in Dharamsala. I also showed several of the teachers examples of a primary, middle and senior school library to get ideas on how to furnish and arrange the Siddhartha School Library. I’ve also drawn a layout that I think will be attractive and we have discussed plants, posters, reading areas, etc. I think we will have accomplished a lot by the end of the summer. I’ve asked the grade 10 students and a couple of teachers to help me catalog, stamp, and put labels on all the books. Then we will arrange them properly on the shelves. I’ve suggested putting the Easy books on one side of the library with a nice rug and cushions for the little children and then benches with cushions and study tables at the other end with the older level books and reference books. Below are some of the classes I met with the second day of work.
















































I also got to meet Stenzin Namgyal, the 2nd grader that I sponsor. After he saw all the other kids sideling up to me he became less shy and came around me quite often with a big smile. I know over the years that we will become very close. This weekend I bought him a little Spiderman pencil box, Spiderman lunch bag with thermos, and all sorts of school supplies. I’ll have to find out what the best and proper way to give those to him – I think it needs to be possibly a visit to his home. I’ll get some good pictures of him to share once we become less shy with each other.

I have made a decision to try to fundraise again this fall for the following:

• LCD Projector 2000+ ANSI Lumens
• Laptop Computer
• Satellite Internet (initial startup cost $3,000.00) then a modest monthly charge. Currently the school does not have Internet access.
• Additional books and media resources

First Days in Leh, Ladakh

“Some trudge across this wilderness bent and broken. Bent by their load of pain and fears. Broken by a life lost in a lonely struggle.















Some journey across the deserts and over the mountains simply seeking. They come knowing only what they desire. Sadly, they return empty and bitter. They could not accept what was gifted. Nor embrace what was shown.

Some float and glide across the vast expanse of silent emptiness. Their hearts coiled with doubts. The sighing winds merely cool. The searing sunrays always burn. The land absorbs their madness but they are unmoved by her shimmering nakedness. Untouched by her mystical language. Their eyes dulled with the coldness that seeps from their dying hearts. They move on wondering why they ever came.

And I know of some who walk through this shattered landscape kneeling ever so gently to stroke the ground that holds them up to the skies. They come with all their pains. And broken promises. They come with all their questions and elusive dreams. They come with loving in their hearts. And they know they have come home.

And to these journeymen Ladakh gives all that is hers.” (Purkayastha, 2005)

This is Elliott Wright who has been an avid supporter of the Siddhartha School and the library as an individual and on behalf of the Dzi Foundation. Elliott is gregarious, fun-loving and is filled with compassion for others. Although not trained as a teacher he is exceptionally gifted when he steps into a classroom or surrounds himself with children. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine and is from the Western part of the U.S. Elliott checked in on me often to assure I was acclimating to the altitude and then took me out to the Siddhartha School for my first day. He introduced me to all of the faculty and we toured the classrooms and other facilities. At my suggestion he purchased a DVD player for the school which they immediately used to view a DVD of a play they will be presenting for the graduation festivities in August. Now we just need an LCD Projector to be able to make presentations.



This group of students and their teachers are from Vail Mountain School in Colorado – yes, Elliott snuck into the picture as well! The students from Vail are in Leh to construct a handicapped toilet in a school that has many disabled students. This will be the first handicapped toilet in Ladakh. I spent quite a bit of time with them and hope to go with them one day to check out their project. I also met a woman from Vermont who is from a program that sends students from rural Vermont for a semester at a school here in Leh. They have it set up so the students get all their necessary requirements for the U.S. and then also get submerged in the Ladakhi culture. They are thinking of extending the program to candidates in Maine as well – so I will be getting the program director’s name and other information. It costs very little because of the way they select students and agreements between school districts. Gardiner would definitely fit their qualifications for inclusion into the program. I’ll post more regarding the project in future blogs.















The environment is dry flat desert with stones everywhere surrounded by dry mountains and snow covered mountains. Don’t be fooled by the flat desert as it is 11,500 feet in altitude and escalating as you go further up into the mountains. Wouldn’t you know some of the really precious monasteries filled with wall paintings are at higher altitudes. I’ve acclimated really well so feel comfortable going a little higher for short periods of time. Many people at my guest house are not as lucky and are virtually flat on their backs. At this altitude the air is very thin which produces light headedness, trouble breathing, nausea, and other maladies. Because there are infrequent flights out of Ladakh and no way to get to a lower altitude readily it can be a real problem, especially for those with Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS).