Shree Mangal Dvip Schools	Est. 1987
Centre description
SCHOOLS FOR HIMALAYAN KIDS Thrangu Rinpoche founded SMD School to meet the needs of children from remote Himalayan villages where there are no schools. Established in the Kathmandu valley in 1987, SMD School serves children from four to twenty years old, and offers instruction from pre-school to Class 10. A majority of our students are boarders, but 30% are monks and nuns who attend as day students. Many of our teachers are also ordained sangha. SMD Boarding School may be the only school in the world that combines lay and ordained students and staff. In 2002, Rinpoche opened SMD Branch School for young monks on the edge of the Kathmandu valley. Both schools offer education, housing, medical and dental care to hundreds of Himalayan kids. Some of the children are Tibetan refugees, but most are from the north of Nepal; culturally and linguistically they are Tibetan and their thinking is Buddhist. Both schools offer a full education following the government curriculum (Math, Science, English, Nepali, Social Studies, Computer, etc.) enriched by instruction in Tibetan language and Himalayan culture. Classes are taught in English. The young monks and nuns have a more rigorous schedule. They study Dharma texts and learn practices and rituals when they return to their monastic setting at the end of the school day.
Dharmic activities
The children at the main school do an hour and a half of prayer and meditation (Chenrezig) every day. Our Principal is Khenpo Chonyi Rangdrol, and Thrangu Rinpoche sends other shedra graduates and lamas every week to teach Dharma to the lay children. A group of students meets every Friday night to get meditation instruction, (shamatha) to read His Holiness' namthar and to put the teachings of the Buddha into their daily lives. This class is lots of fun. The kids' input is very thoughtful.
Community service
At the main school (these are all student initiatives, done without adult help): Compassion in Action... *May 2007: Maoist-affilitated "unions' forced the shutdown of all schools in the country, putting 7.8 million kids out of classes for 11 days and threatening to cut the hands off any one who opened a school. SMD kids organized classes and ran the school by themselves, without adult help. *During the worst of the civil war, the Meditation Group created a "PINK FOR PEACE" t-shirt, and sold the sold the shirts to raise money for conflict-orphaned kids. ~they also organized a peace march down to the Great Stupa, where they did the practice of Chenrezig, the bodhisattva of compassion. They chose to do the practice publically, so adults could see children's aspirations for peace in Nepal *Roots and Shoots SMD chapter: this is Dr. Jane Goodall's environmental organization. The kids have done a lot of project: ~ they've cleaned up the Great Stupa environs and made posters to teach others that the stupa and environs can be kept clean if we all work together ~adopted two street dogs in order to save life, and use the opportunity to teach everyone that dogs (all animals) are sentient beings, and like us, they seek happiness and try to avoid suffering. (Therefore we should not mistreat them.) *the Student Council, Roots and Shoots and the Eco-club mount campaigns inside the school and in the community to educate people about recycling, composing, and the dangers of plastics. *a group of girls from Class 8, calling themselves "Helping Hands" heard about elderly Hindus who had been abandoned by their families, and who have come to a nearby ashram to wait for death to take them. Their condition was pitiable. The Helping Hands went along to keep the elderly company, to help them do laundry and to bathe.

Founder	Ven. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
Lineage	Tibetan: Karma Kagyu
Affiliation	Thrangu Rinpoche's centres
Lineage holder / Director	Thrangu Rinpoche
Centre teacher(s)	various
Active membership	700
Language(s)	In the classrooms, English. For Dharma, Tibetan. We also work in Nepali, the lingua franca of Nepal.
Address	P.O. Box 1287 Kathmandu Nepal
Contact:	Shirley Blair, Director
Tel:	977-1-447-2007
Email:	himalayanchildren@yahoo.co.uk
WWW:	www.himalayanchildren.org
	2010-02-17
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