TCV Alumni Pokhara (Nepal) came up with a noble idea of Global Family providing dream holiday for nine students from their Alma Mater who are orphan or semi orphan and who have no place to go during any school vacation. These children (six boys and three girls) had never left the confines of TCV ever since they were admitted in TCV school.
‘Global family’ is a project well thought out by TCV Alumni in Nepal to give such young destitute a chance to be among a normal family.
It will be an altogether new experience of living in a Tibetan family environment while enjoying their ‘dream holiday’.
In coordination with the TCV Head Office through TCV Alumni desk, the selected children are from TCV Main school and TCV Gopalpur who started their journey on Dec 25, 2006 from TCV and were able to spend a month long vacation in the popular lake town of Pokhara where they were put up as extended family members in the homes of the Alumni members. They spent the first week in the family homes of the Jampaling Settlement on the outskirts of Pokhara where they had an opportunity to receive blessing and religious teaching (Wang) from Duptop Rinpoche. They also had good acquaintance and sharing with older people (former mustang guerrilla) from old people’s home.
Thereafter, they thoroughly enjoyed the short treks, boating, cycling and sight seeing; and more importantly, they enjoyed the warmth and love from the host families with whom they shared many common stories involving their beloved TCV and the staff.
On Jan 25 the children left Pokhara after a farewell lunch at the Annapurna Hotel attended by a large number of TCV alumni and former staffs. As a parting short, each child was given a T-shirt gift emblazoned with TCV Logo and pocket money as a token of good will and warmth.
After Pokhara the children were taken to Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha and then they proceeded to the Chitwan National Wildlife Park where they enjoyed Tharu Culture Dances and Elephant rides and were able to witness rhinos, crocodiles, deer, tiger and other wildlife.
While in Kathmandu the students had a four days tour cum pilgrimage in Kathmandu and its Peripheral districts and TCV Alumni Kathmandu had extended great help in keeping them at their home during their four days stay in Ktm. The first two days in Kathmandu they visited all the Buddhist places of worship such as the Boudhanath Stupa, Swayambunath, Pharping, and Namobuddha. On their way back, they also saw ancient Buddhist relics at Bhaktapur and Patan. In the evening the TCV Alumni Kathmandu played their role of gracious hosts by a lovely dinner and by distributing pocket money of Rs.1000 to each children for shopping.
On third day morning they retraced their earlier journey that had brought them to the Refugee Reception Center many years ago when they made their flight to safety and in the afternoon they had shopping program. The four days of their stay at Kathmandu was so tightly scheduled but they seemed to enjoyed every moment of it.
After a memorable stay in Nepal the children bid a tearful farewell on their return journey to India accompanied by the Mr. Sangpo, President, TCV Alumni Pokhara on Jan 29, 2007. The journey was long and tiring but the thrill had not yet rubbed off as they went for a sightseeing tour of Delhi which took them to several places, including the Red Fort, Zoo, Lotus Temple, Qutab Minar, Raj Ghat etc. With Agra being so close by, the grand finale of the long vacation was a trip to the Taj Mahal.
The children finally reached their respective places on Feb 4, 2007 with fond memories of the holiday of their lifetime. The TCV Alumni salutes the entire staff faculty who has sacrificed so much to bring a ray of hope to so many thousands of our brethren.
