Welcome to
The Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche's Schools for Himalayan Children - Main and Branch Schools
What's New at SMD Schools
| HOW YOU CAN HELP - Interviews with New Kids, May 2012: We’ve taken in more than 60 new kids (not all boarders). Our “Seniors” interviewed some of the boarders to find out how they like their new school. None of these kids are sponsored yet. I have made lots of friends who help me when I need. I have made friends with Thularam and Tsewang Gyurme. -Pema Tsewang B12.26 |  |
| NEPAL - The Need: Admissions is an emotionally grueling time at SMD. We are besieged with pleas for help. As a couple of the Seniors who work in the Director’s Office wrote elsewhere. As hunger worsens, the desperation grows. This year, half a dozen of us were in tears as we listened to stories of incredible hardship. We understand too well what they face in the villages. It is Rinpoche’s kindness that he decides who will come as boarders. |  |
| KIDS CORNER-Kids Attend Newar New Year Celebrations: I would like to share some pictures that we took last week for Nepali New year. My friends and I were in Bhaktapur, a Newari town 25k.m away from Kathmandu. It was one of my best Nepali New years as I got to experience the indigenous cultural celebration of the Newars. Many people were out on the streets singing and dancing and pulling the pagoda style temple. |  |
| HOW YOU CAN HELP-Admissions Day for Boarders, April 16, 2012: We had a very busy day yesterday as it was the Admission day for Boarders which started from 10 am. There were kids and parents waiting outside the big office for admission. Most of the seniors helped us for the admission procedure. It went fine and by the end of the end we were all tired. We ate lunch at 2 pm. There was our new Principal Lama Karma Pema, Director, Vice Principal KT, Hostel Heads, two of Shirley's assistants (Tsewang and me) in the admission room. |  |
| NEPAL-Trail to Nubri: Many of the kids at the main and branch schools come from Nubri area which is in the Gorkhi district in the mountainous border area. These trails act as the roadways for people and goods going into and coming out of the area. One of the kid's dads died on this trail. |  |
| KIDS CORNER-My Trip to Bodhgaya, India for the 32nd Kalachakra by Lakpa Diki : I with my father and twenty three other people started our journey to Bodhgaya, India from a reserved bus at Boudha, around six in the evening on 28th December, 2011. Our main purpose to go to India was to attend the 32nd Kalachakra but as we would be passing through many places of importance according to Buddhism so we instead went on a pilgrimage. I got to visit many places. It was an amazing experience |  |
| ON-GOING EDUCATION- SMD's Senior's Program: SMD is too crowded to offer “plus two”. Schools offering Classes 11 and 12 are urban and for-profit. (Mountain kids can’t afford tuition fees, let along the cost of living). How do we choose which kids to keep in the Senior's Program? From the time they are in Class 6, we are watching how each student grows. We’re looking for some specific markers, first, Does the student carry Rinpoche’s wishes into her/his daily life? We look for leadership skills... |  |
| SCHOOL LIFE - SMD Kids Learn to Play Traditional Musical Instruments: One of the aims of our Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche in establishing SMD School is preserve Himalayan culture and tradition. Among the many ways of preserve our own culture and traditions, one of the best way is by learning the musical instruments and the songs of the Himalayan region; this is exactly what is happening in our school in this month long winter break when it is too cold to sit in classrooms. |  |
| HOW YOU CAN HELP, OUR HELPERS - Malte Hoffmann Brings Slacklining to SMD Kids: Malte Hoffmann from Germany spent several months with us last year. He sent us a book for Christmas. Here are some excerpts, starting with Malte's introduction. These pages give you some idea of the impact 'slacklining' had on Thrangu Rinpoche's kids. There is more to learning than textbooks, and there's more to teaching than what is in the textbooks |  |
| HOW YOU CAN HELP, OUR HELPERS - SMD Undertakes Survey of Kid's Growth: Dr. Maureen McCall has been visiting SMD. While here, she's been asked to check a number of our students (one case of pneumonia) and our staff. Maureen's pretty thorough, so she's been checking for anything else that may be causing our kids and staff to feel unwell.... Maureen thought it would be useful to do a growth survey (height and weight) and then compare the results with World Health Organization statistics. |  |
This website is divided into six sections, in order to help you navigate, brief summaries and links are provided immediately below.
AIMS
In 1987, Thrangu Rinpoche founded SMD Boarding School near the Great Stupa in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal to serve the needs of children from the Himalayas where there are no schools. In 2002, Rinpoche opened SMD Branch School for Monks to relieve crowding at the main school. To learn more...
SCHOOL LIFE
Rinpoche’s long-term aim is to preserve the culture, language and the Buddhist way of life of the Himalayas, and to give Himalayan children the tools to build a better future, so they can help their own people when they grow up. To learn more...
ONGOING EDUCATION
For the 11 years, SMD has scored a 100% pass rate in national Class 10 School Leaving Certifcate (SLC) exams. This year the national pass rate was 55.5%; SMDers eclipsed that! To learn more...
NEPAL
Thrangu Rinpoche's schools serve the needs of children who come from the far north of Nepal. The areas these kids come from are high altitude, and subject to climate extremes. In Himalayan villages, there are no roads, no electricity, no telecommunication, no running water, no sanitation, no health care and no schools. To learn more...
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Both the main and branch schools rely upon the support of our sponors to cover all of their operating and building expenses. You can help by sponsoring in one of a number of ways - kids who board at the school or come for the day, a monk at the main school or the branch school. To learn more...
KID'S CORNER
We have many stories written by the kids about their lives at SMD. Here's a sample: SMD is a new and a wonderful world for many poor students like us. It has given us things we never imagined. As many of us are from remote places like Dolpa, Nubri, Tsum, Manang, etc., we were ignorant of sophisticated technology like electricity, computers and transportation. To read more kid's stories
