Himalayan Diary 2025 – SOS Schools Dehradun/Dharamsala

We are back in India. We are welcomed by a typical and quite intense mixture of smells, sounds, animals and people, all mixed in 39 degrees of dusty Delhi.
Donors from the Adoption ProTibet project have joined us, who are going to visit Tibetan children and seniors they have supported for years.
We are waiting for three weeks in Tibetan schools in the Dharamsala and Mussoorie – Dehradun area. And you can look forward to stories from our journey
The start is sharp and nourishing, a direct head-on encounter with Indian reality that completely defies our European logic. So we increase our level of patience, lower our demands and explore areas beyond our comfort zone.
However, a coincidence brings us the well-known Tibetan writer, poet and human rights activist, Tenzin Tsundue. He has already been to the Czech Republic 3 times and last year his collection of poems, short stories and essays entitled Kora was published, translated into Czech. We spend a wonderful 2 hours together talking about activities and ways to help the Tibetan people. But time flies, we have to pack up and move on. Now we are sitting on the night bus to Dharamsala, where we will hopefully breathe in the fresh mountain air and get to work…

We managed a night on the bus full of honking and curves. In the morning, we are greeted by fresh air and a view of the four-thousand-meter peaks of the Himalayan foothills above Dharamsala. We climb up to the Tibetan district of McleodGanj, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, the monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans.

After a morning rest, we head to TCV – Tibetan Children Village. We have several dozen children in adoption in four branches of this school, we meet the first six here. The new director welcomes us and inspires us with his life story. As a child after fleeing Tibet and without parents, he was able to graduate from TCV thanks to donors. He has been giving back his skills, knowledge and gratitude in service to the Tibetan community for 37 years. The generosity of donors supporting Tibetan children is the driving force for him on his journey.

Although at the beginning of the journey, it is still D-Day. A day with the Dalai Lama, a day with the exile government, a day full of intensity and emotions.
In the morning we arrive at the temple, the blue sky is getting cloudy, a gale, a storm, lightning and a shower of clouds are coming, the temperature is dropping rapidly, quite exceptional weather for April. And we are waiting for an audience with the 14th Dalai Lama.
We go through a thorough check, but everything happens quickly. His Holiness arrives. The line of people is long and everyone is with the Dalai Lama for only a few seconds. But even that is difficult to describe…
With great gratitude we experience a short personal meeting and slowly leave the temple…

In the afternoon we visit the Tibetan Government in Exile and the Parliament. It is admirable what the Tibetans have achieved thanks to their determination, tenacity and the support of donors from all over the world.
I also meet old friends from the Home Department. Here we discuss projects that we support through the Government in Exile. This is mainly the Ladakh region and the support of nomads and goats, as well as several retirement homes in other parts of India.

Day four and we already have experiences as if we had been here for two weeks.
Today we visit Namgyal Monastery to take pictures of the monks from Adoption ProTibet. However, we are welcomed by more than a hundred monks in the temple at the school and we participate in prayers for all the donors from MOS ProTibet, for their happiness and long life.
The school principal then gives a speech of thanks, recalling the words of the Dalai Lama at the inauguration of this school.
“With their support, donors create countless positive merits. With their help, they sow seeds of kindness, compassion and wisdom in the little monks, which will blossom and create a society based on these principles. The impact of their help is immeasurable.”

We start the day with coffee with the monks and a long kora.
The kora is a circuit around the monastery, which is full of prayer flags and mills, mani stones with carved prayers, chortens and other picturesque corners. Roughly in the middle is the library, which houses all the awards that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has received, including the Nobel Peace Prize. But it is Sunday and it is closed.

We briefly visit the Jampaling Home for Tibetan Senior Citizens, as we will involve some of the 70 elderly Tibetans who live there in the Adoption ProTibet project.
We come to the memorial to the self-immolated Tibetans. Their portraits are depicted on the entire wall. There are 157 victims in total. A very sad phenomenon began in Tibet after the 2008 Beijing Olympics…

We are already doing another small circuit right in the Namgyal monastery around the main temples. There are a lot of Indian tourists, but also Tibetans, monks and nuns. And also monkeys. Crowds of people, traffic jams, motorbikes, dogs, cows and a donkey. Horns, noise and stench. We perceive the intensity with all our senses.
Sunday ends and with it the last day in Dharamsala. Tomorrow we set off on the next part of the journey to our projects.

Today is a day of Tibetan schools, meeting children and teachers, and sharing with each other.
We say goodbye to Dharamsala and head to the Tibetan Children Village – branch in Gopalpur. However, the first hour after departure we deal with a damaged tire in a classic street service and in the meantime we have tea prepared in the standard hygienic conditions of Indian street stalls.
In another hour we arrive at the TCV school in Gopalpur, set in the middle of tea plantations and pine groves. In the surrounding nature under the snow-capped mountains, it is the most picturesque branch of all TCVs.

Their welcome is magnificent. The children have prepared a cultural program for us – songs and dances in traditional costumes from different parts of Tibet. The young artists are amazing! The words of the director sum it up:
“We are trying to maintain all the traditions and wealth of our Tibetan culture here, which is in great danger in Tibet due to the boarding school policy. The children know songs and dances, they learn to play musical instruments. At the same time, we place great emphasis not only on good grades and knowledge, but also on the moral and ethical values of humanity. Our goal is for every student to know that all people are essentially the same. Differences are secondary. We all have the same blood and breathe the same air. We all want to be happy and no one wants to suffer. That is why we need to help each other and if we cannot help others, at least we should not harm them.”

Tibetan schools are a huge inspiration for us. The principal adds that students have regular programs where they read short quotes from the Dalai Lama, then meditate for a minute and contemplate the meaning, and end by developing gratitude and praying for the happiness of all beings… I wish these ideas and principles would reach more Czech schools.

After a delicious lunch, we take pictures of the children from the Adoption. Some do not yet have donors, and then the supporters present here come on the scene and three children immediately add to the existing adoptions.
There is still some time left for a walk through the surrounding tea plantations. They say we just have to watch out for snakes that may be present here… The surroundings are breathtaking, however…

At the end of the day we move to another TCV branch in Suja, where we have only a few children. And in the evening we end up in Bir, a beautiful town surrounded by mountains and many Tibetan monasteries. Hopefully there will be time to visit one of them tomorrow….

We are in the Chountra and Bir areas and we visit senior citizens living alone and those in retirement homes.
Our job is to monitor the needs of individuals and the community and the use of donated money. Some senior citizens are already better off, so we remove them from support, while others we adopt. For some we are touched by emotional memories of escaping from Tibet in 1959.
We also visit the retirement home in Chountra. The building has been completely new since last year, the old one was attacked by mold, had holes in the roof and during the monsoons the walls were completely wet. Now the grandparents are happy in a beautiful environment.

Our donor Šárka’s mother knitted hats, headbands and socks, many of them with the Czech flag and now their moment has come. Our seniors are excited about them and some show their emotions very intensely. From the donor Martina, they receive herbal teas collected in Czech meadows. Everyone is very happy about both.
We take pictures of all the old ladies for their donors. The director of the home invites us to lunch. In return, we bring bananas and oranges to all the seniors.

Not far from home is a beautiful monastery, where we go for a tour. And to top it all off, we also visit the Tibetan Children Village, a branch of Chauntra. Among other things, they specialize in educating handicapped children. We tour the classrooms and a special physiotherapy class. There are several children with autism and mental disorders here. They take great care of all of them and try to successfully integrate them among other children. Their greatest success is a young lady in a wheelchair who is studying at university.

We get our last tea of the day and end the day at the office of another local Tibetan community, which is asking for support to purchase a massage chair for Tibetan seniors from the entire area. We will try to accommodate, but everything depends on the support of donors…

This morning we discover the local monasteries and together with the Tibetans we go around the kora. Some of us test the local paragliding, all of us survived…

We leave Bir and spend most of the afternoon in the car, the roads are rutted, dusty and full of holes. Our driver drives like a dragon, overtaking even in difficult bends and constantly honking his horn…

We arrive in Rewalsar, a pilgrimage site with a sacred lake, where our long-time friend the monk Pema Samdup awaits us. In the evening we still manage to visit the local Tibetan dances, one circuit around the lake and dinner. And we go to bed…

Today we are going to visit our nuns from the Pin Valley in Spiti.
We usually meet them in the summer in the middle of the Himalayas, but thanks to the support of donors in Adoption, they can spend their third winter in more favorable conditions in Rewalsar.

Renting out space for the entire winter is very expensive. So they bought the land at a bargain price and started building a small monastery to have a stable winter base. The winters in the Pin Valley are too harsh for them to stay there. A kitchen with a dining room, toilets and a bathroom have been built so far. However, they still have to rent out rooms for living. When they get more funding, they will build living and study spaces. Most of the project is financed by donors from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but local people also contributed. At the end of last year, we also financed solar panels for heating water and basic kitchen and dining room equipment for the nuns.

Last night disrupted our sleeping, writing and, for some, digestion. However, we finally reached our destination! And that is the Tibetan Homes Foundation in Mussoorie. A Tibetan exile village that has been our home for an incredible 17 years. We directly support over 180 children and 40 seniors, and most donors from the group meet their children here.
Today we met with the first students.

If there is anywhere we can see the future of Tibet clearly, it is in Musoorie Tibetan Homes.
Young people are growing up here who realize that the free education of many of their peers in Tibet is not possible. We are fascinated by how, despite their young age, they feel a responsibility to preserve the original culture and traditions of their country.

At the age of 16, they speak three languages fluently, have excellent general knowledge, and are being raised in the spirit of the Dalai Lama’s message – it is necessary to educate not only the mind, but also the heart.

We were moved by the passionate singing of the Tibetan anthem at the morning start. We were surprised by the wisdom of the opinions in the discussion with many groups of the oldest students.

We were inspired by the immense enthusiasm of a local dentist who grew up as an orphan in THF, was able to graduate thanks to donors, and is now returning his gratitude to the community.

And we were entertained by the hand-made production of several dozen kilograms of noodles for 450 students to prepare their favorite thukpa soup.

And on top of all that, there are monkeys running around here all the time..

Two important things happened today.

We met 20 new beautiful and cute children for whom we are now looking for donors. So that they can study in accordance with Tibetan traditions and wisdom.
The second completely inspiring experience was participating in a poetry, poem and speech competition for children in grades 6-8. The theme was the Year of Compassion in connection with the 90th birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama.

Children aged 10-14 spoke fluent English on the topics of mindfulness, kindness, wisdom and a good heart.
They reflected on how all people on the planet are connected by humanity and the desire for happiness. That it is necessary to develop non-violence and interpersonal dialogue. And also empathy, which will contribute to a happier life for everyone.

The children recited the Dalai Lama’s speeches from various important events, such as when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
We don’t often encounter such reflections in our country…

 

Donors meeting with children! A meeting that was preceded by many years of support, correspondence, exchanging photos and greetings.
Today was the day when both parties met and it was a great joy!

The one-hour visit to the school turned into three hours, and there was not only talking, but also singing, football, basketball, a game of chase and lever among Czech-Tibetan youth.

We couldn’t say goodbye at all. A lot of children from the whole school joined us and especially the older ones wanted to talk and opened up many interesting topics. We all had a great time.

The touching meetings continue in full swing today, but instead of children we meet seniors.
Three donors here support grandma or grandpa! Among them is the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to India, who joined our group a few days ago. We really appreciate it!

Our visit is a great change for the retirement home! They welcome us with kathaks (white scarves), want to chat, shake hands… The joy of meeting is immense.

Until recently, the grandparents lived in two branches of the Tibetan Homes Foundation. Now, however, the one in Mussoorie is closed and they all live together in Rajpur. Over the past few years, the number of seniors has halved. The director is happy about this, because it shows that more and more families are able to take care of their oldest members.

Currently, THF is caring for 46 people, the oldest grandmother celebrated an incredible 100 years!

Three weeks have flown by and we are flying home.
We are taking with us many letters, photos of children and grandparents for their donors, but most importantly, experiences that will stay with us forever. Each such trip confirms to us again and again how huge an impact Adoption ProTibet has on exile communities. Therefore, we send all gratitude and thanks from Tibetans mainly to the donors.