The mobile phones of the 9 executive members of Nepal Mussoorie Alumni Association never stop ringing – mostly calling each other. Not that they are into last minute preparation for a party or a picnic. They are preparing to recieve 10 Tibetan children from the Tibetan Homes School, Mussoorie, on their first vacation ever. The children have no one except the school to look after them. During the long and cold winter vacation, Central School and Tibetan Homes School in Mussoorie have a large number of children, mostly orphans and destitute, who are compelled to stay back in the freezing weather, because they have no one to take them on vacation.
“We are excited and looking for the kids’ arrival – we really want to show them Kathmandu and give them a good time”, says one of the executive members.
The Nepal Mussoorie Alumni Association has been active for the last 2 decades – with an aim to give back something to one’s alumni, many projects were initiated – from donating sports equipments, sponsoring yearly Best Boy and Best Girl cash awards to giving college scholarships.
“It is heart breaking to know that many of these children have never even been out of Mussoorie since their admission into the school”, says the Association. The executive members after much brainstorming unanimously decided in the early 2005 to invite 10 such children to Nepal. The Alumni Association had to raise fund for that through various projects.
The Tibetan Homes in Mussoorie is an equal partner in the initiative. “We got full support from the Tibetan Homes in arranging everything from the children’s travel document and an escort to booking their train tickets on slashed rates. Without this support, everything would not have been possible. We are now very excited as what we have been planning for over half a year is coming to fruition.”, says the President of the Association.
“We have arranged various activities for the children. We will take them for a picnic with the Association members, take them for a pilgrimage tour, as there are many important Buddhist pilgrimage sites in and around Kathmandu,and then we will also give them a tour around the city, and also a movie one day”, an excited executive member says.
The children will stay separately with different families; mostly with the executive members who have volunteered to keep a child each. The executive members will be parent figure for the kids. The Nepal Mussoorie Alumni Association says that this is something like a pilot project to give the children a holiday with families, to let them share the feel of family life. The association plans raise more money to turn it into a routine and bring more children every year.
