Tibet 2004

We arrived in Tibet mid July, when we started our work by buying the major part of the materials for distribution in the markets of Lhasa, the capital, where it is possible to find a greater choice of clothing at cheaper prices. We bought, for approximately 2000 children, leather and cotton shoes, trousers and long wool underwear, t-shirts, shirts, wool sweaters, padded jackets, hats, chubas (the traditional Tibetan dress), school uniforms, soap and towels. In the villages where we work there are no shops, and, as we already know from experience, most families have no income making it impossible for them to buy even the basic necessities in the city.
All the goods bought in Lhasa were then checked and packed into lorries, after which our journey continued towards the city of Shigatse, the second largest in Tibet. It is around this city that the largest part of the villages and monasteries we help are situated.
In Shigatse we made the second part of our shopping: sacks of flour, rice and ground barley flour of 25 kg. This food is distributed to each family on the basis of the number of its members – often the summer harvest is insufficient to feed the family for the entire year. In Shigatse we also bought a stock of exercise books, pens and ink, pencils, erasers and sharpeners for the children who attend school.

The work of distributing the aid took place, as in previous years, in the presence of representatives of the Local Government. These officials guaranteed the equal distribution of aid amongst all the children of the villages and their families, according to their registration lists of the local population.
The villages helped this year were Dakshu, Dhonnang, Gangchen, Gyalchun, Gyedin, Kyeshun, Nangpa Gye, Namling, Nepu, Nye, Nyeshar, Pandin, Sagoe, Shishung, Sengye Tse, Singma, Ten, Tsok, as well as some children living in Shigatse and Lhasa.
The actual distribution took place in the villages of Nye, Nepu and Gangchen, where the inhabitants of the surrounding villages gathered in days of celebration.
The children, those sponsored and those still waiting for sponsors, were photographed, and many families gave to us letters for their benefactors. Many of these letters are very simple and repetitive, but most of these people have never written a letter in their entire life but wish, even in a few words, to express their gratitude for the help that arrives from so far away.
Some families also received photos and letters from their sponsors; for them it is a moment of great happiness to know their sponsor, even if only through an image. These photos are often kept amongst the most precious belongings of the family, a kind of symbolic talisman of an important friendship.

The aqueducts and water pumps constructed to serve the villages of Gangchen, Singma, Namling and Dakshu are all functioning and in good working order.
The first reforestation experiments carried out in Gangchen, Namling and Nye villages are now showing encouraging results: the majority of the planted trees are, thanks to the care they receive daily, healthy and growing (although somewhat slowly due to the difficulties of the soil and attitude). Such reforested areas will eventually bring fundamental benefits to these barren villages, which in the future will be able to count on at least a few zones offering protection from the wind, as well as help to stop soil erosion, landslides, and slowly slowly enable them to create a healthier and less dry microclimate.
Water is naturally a fundamental need in these villages, suffering extreme disadvantages due to the arid climate. Again this year many villages asked for help to realise aqueducts, pipelines and water pumps.

This year help reached the Nye, Singma, Nyeshar and Dhonnang infant schools.
Thanks to a donation from Chiesi Pharmaceuticals of Parma (Italy) – whose employees are amongst the many others committed to the long distance adoption of children in Tibet – the construction of an infant school in Nepu Village will begin shortly. Local inhabitants received the news of the new school enthusiastically. Presently there is only one school serving the four villages in this area, with a capacity to host 40-50 children, when the number of children in school age is three times more.
Upon completion of the school’s construction, it is planned to plant hundreds of trees in the immediate surroundings because in this area their lack is particularly notable.
A particular thanks therefore goes to Chiesi Pharmaceuticals, who have generously decided to donate to charity funds that were previously used to buy company gifts.

The funds we received have allowed us to continue to support the Clinic of Tashi Lumpo Monastery in Shigatse, which receives hundreds of poverty stricken patients daily. In the ambit of the project realised with the Don Gnocchi Foundation, the Clinic has finally been equipped with a small analysis laboratory with all the necessary machines – requested for some time by the monk-doctors of the monastery.
Still functioning is the Clinic in Gangchen Village, and at this time plans are underway to study another medical structure in this very area.