The Generosity of Others

Last month I posted a wish list for Yangchen Gatshel LSS to help in our efforts to raise funds for the school. The response from family and friends in Australia and across the world has been extraordinary and extremely generous to say the least. Many people have written to share not only their financial support but also to offer to send materials, hold other fundraising events and bring educational materials between Bhutan and home when visiting.

Student audience during the annual picnic

With the Australian Government currently slashing 4.5 billion dollars from its foreign aid budget over the next 4 years and columnists and intellectuals across the country questioning the sanity of many Australian people's belief that our country can't spare 0.37 percent of its gross domestic product - the weekly equivalent of 44 cents per $100 earned in each Australian household - the generosity of a small group of people who have been willing to donate money to our school is heartwarming and inspiring. You can see how much has been raised or add your own contributions here. I wanted to use this post to share some of the photos from the picnic that was partly funded with money donated by friends and family back home as well as detailing where the money that has been raised is most likely to go in the future.

Money for the Annual Picnic

At a staff meeting last week it was discovered that there was insufficient money left in the school budget to be able to provide anything other than an ordinary lunchtime meal at the school's annual picnic - a big celebration over here looked forward to by all students and staff.  An ordinary lunchtime meal essentially means soupy potatoes and rice and maybe a few chillies. As evidenced by the food store photo below...

Guess what's on the menu??

 At one point the teachers were considering taking a collection from amongst themselves but thanks to the money contributed as part of the fundraising drive, I was able to say that we would chip in the $140 extra to buy all the ingredients so the kids could have some beef or egg curry so they would have some extra protein for the week.

Photo Essay of the Annual Picnic

Tea and 'bun roti' at the annual picnic

Class VI and VII boys with their  .... Na ja!

Kindy kids hooking into to their beef and chilli curry

Ditto

Even the principal got in on the act...

Miss Lucy with a couple of her Bhutanese husbands...

What's a picnic without a whole heap of traditional circle dancing??

Sparkling November weather...

 Fundraising

After receiving the bulk of the money over the last month or so (more than $4500 so far), I decided to come up with a quick criteria for how I thought donors would want the money to be spent. I was then able to share this criteria with staff and students before asking them for suggestions on how they thought the money could be used. Here's the criteria for your viewing pleasure...

Fundraising projects should:

           

1.     contribute to improving educational outcomes and/or living standards of all students.
2.     be designed to benefit the entire student body or a particular group of students with special needs  (e.g. boarders, students with a disability etc).
3.     be spent on projects for which there is no available money in regular school budget.
4.     once handed over, be managed and maintained by a local member of staff.

5.     be designed to be as sustainable as possible.

All the teachers and especially the principal and vice-principal were extremely grateful for the amount of money that was raised and were full of ideas for how the money could be spent to help the students at the school. The students (my Class VIIs) also had many interesting ideas about how the money should be spent (including televisions in the hostel rooms - not gunna happen kids!). 

Mostly the consultation process showed that many of the areas that I felt needed financial support were also identified by students and teachers and many that I had overlooked were also added to the list. I was even happier that some of the big budget areas that I thought were important (retaining walls, fencing etc) are going to be looked after by the state government in 2014.

Anyway, for more highly stimulating reading pleasure, here is the proposed budget.

ITEM	Estimated Cost per Unit (nu)	Units	Estimated Total Cost (nu)	Estimated Total (AUD)	Rounded Estimated Total (AUD)
Photocopier	113000	1	113000	1948.275862	1948
Heaters for hostel	2400	8	19200	331.0344828	331
Football Boots for girls	500	15	7500	129.3103448	129
Dictionaries Eng/Dzo	200	190	38000	655.1724138	655
New Books (purchased)	200-300	10	1950	33.62068966	34
Food Budget for Picnic	8000	1	8000	137.9310345	138
Water boilers for hostel	1600	2	3200	55.17241379	55
Cupboards for classes	3000	12	36000	620.6896552	621
Art Classes	400	40	16000	275.862069	276
Extra Needs in 2014	50000	1	50000	862.0689655	862
New Books (incoming)	200-300	30	7500	129.3103448	129
			Running Total	5178.448276	5178

Heaters and Water Boilers

There are a few items on the list that I hadn’t identified in the initial 'wish list', including heaters and water boilers for the hostel students. When I spoke to the teachers and the students, everyone identified this as a need: it gets pretty cold in Chamgang in winter – maybe 4 or 5 degrees colder than the coldest Canberra winter – and the hostels are currently not heated (or insulated) at all. The fundraising money would provide one oil heater for each room of the girls’ and boys’ hostels to take the edge off the cold. (Some of the kids were angling for a bukhari – a wood fire stove – in each room, but the teachers vetoed this for safety reasons!).

The boarders currently have restricted access to a geezer – which is not, as you would expect, a solidly proportioned debt collector from East London with missing teeth and lots of gold rings, but in fact a hot water system. They can use this to gather about half a bucket of hot water for a shower about once a week, but apart from that have no access to hot water. The water boilers are those 3 litre kettles that keep the water warm after boiling, and would be used mostly for when the students are sick and need hot water to drink.

Extra Needs in 2014

You will also notice a category for ‘extra needs for 2014’. This is designed to cover any budget shortfalls which prevent the school from being able to buy important resources and facilities currently projected to be paid for out of the 2013-2014 school budget. This includes things like school furniture, building maintenance, computer repairs and photocopier maintenance. Miscellaneous items like money for the picnic would also be included in this amount.

 

Anyway, that's the low down from up high (currently 2,627m according to my phone) on the whole fundraising issue. Again a massive thank you to everyone who's wished us well with this endeavour and to those that have been able to contribute.  I hope you've enjoyed the photos and if you know anyone else who might like to contribute please send them a link to this page.