Jan. 16, 2008 - All students have returned safely from a one month vacation at home. Today they have started a month of Munsel Home schooling with 4 hours a day study with the Munsel teacher and additional homework. Public school has a two month winter break during Dec. and Jan. The children are heathy and glad to be back studying.

Dec. 17, 2007 - First semester testing results: Sonam Sangmo places second of 800 students and Dyidub places first of 400 students. All children pass and 13 of 15 with A average.

Munsel Sends Village Kids to School in Jyekundo - With a $10,000 grant, 15 children ages 7-13 have been enrolled in public school in Jyekundo. A two story house within walking distance of the school was rented. The children arrived on Sunday August 12 from the villages along with family members who came to help get the home ready and the children settled in to the new place. We have two adults, Nawang Kunga and Tarden, to care for the children. After allowing the children to become familiar with the home, school and city, we have hired a teacher, Tsetso, to come after school to assist the children with homework and any special needs. The grant covers setting up the boarding home, school fees, uniforms, food, rent and utilities for one year and the staff for 6 months.

The village children will be in school with other Tibetan children. Tibetan is the primary language of instruction with Chinese taught as a second language. We plan to invite western students to come and teach English after we are sure our pilot boarding home plan does work. Jeykundo has electricity, running water and telephones.

Munsel School and Boarding Home Purchased for $32,000 - Khenpo Gawang went to Tibet in October 2007 and found suitable land to build a home for 100 children within a 5 minute walk of the lower and upper public schools. Simple buildings that housed 3 families were on the land and are now home to the first 15 children and the staff.

Adult Education Classes - We are looking for donors to support this ongoing project. Please contact Munsel Foundation if you are interested in helping. A 2 month program for 25/30 young people is $1500.

On the October 2007 trip Khenpo Gawang saw a need for adult education and talked with local people about his idea to offer a 2 month language and math intensive. Everyone thought it was a good plan and the sooner started the better. Khenpo came back to the USA and Munsel Foundation workers prepared the project proposal and secured donor support for the first program.

This is a great need that Munsel Foundation is trying to meet. Most of these young men can not read or write Tibetan and have no knowedge of Chinese. As one man said, I can not order in a restaurant or ask for the bathroom. When I need to find a place I can not read the street signs.

Jyekundo, Dec. 2, 2007 - The first 2 month adult education program has started with 70 men in their 20s and 30s. A house was rented in Jyekundo and 2 teachers were hired to instruct the adults in Chinese aong with a volunteer math teacher. Khenpo Tsewang is teaching a Tibetan history class in the evenings. Classes begin at 8AM until noon and start again after lunch from 2 until 6 PM. The adults are supporting the program by bringing their bedding and yak meat and doing their own cooking and cleaning. Munsel Foundation is providing the place, the teachers, school supplies and furniture and additional food.

As word of the class spread young men from the larger village area and further way began to call and ask to be included. 30 men from two villages contacted Khenpo Tsewang, our local project manager, after we had filed the rented house and more continue to try to get into the class. We have enough interested people to hold 3 more programs with calls still coming in and young men showing up in Jyekundo.

Jyekundo, Dec. 11, 2007 - Second Class Added. 70 young men who have never studied before is too much for one class. Khenpo Tsewang has found another house close to the first rental and two more teachers. The class will be split alowing everyone to participate more fully. We wish to thank a benefactor who loaned us, at no interest, the necessary money to add this class in one day.

Classes for young women are being planned which will include maternal, child and reproductive health care along with language and math.

Dec. 07, 2007 Update: The participants have set up rules for the program. Everyone arrives on time for the classes. If you are late more than 5 minutes then you pay a 10 yuan ($1.30) fine. If you are late 5 times without reason then you are out of the program. If anyone fights then both people must leave the program and any fighting outside of the program will cause the person involved to have to leave.

The program is a little hard for most of the participants since this is the first time they have studied but the spirits are high and the determination strong. Each day they take 6 important words in Chinese and memorize them completely so they can be recognized and the full meaning understood. It is crowded in the classroom and when eating.

Jan. 16, 2008 Update: The young adult men have asked Munsel to continue the classes for another month. At the end of the first 6 weeks of classes only 9 have dropped out. We are waiting for a cost breakdown from Khenpo Tsewang but since the classes are so large and the young men studying diligently, we expect to continue the project for 1 to 3 more months. Sponsors for each month are welcome.

Road Repair Finished - July 2007, The only road that leads to the 4 villages has been in need of repair. A grant of 20,000 Chinese Yuan was made to repair the road base to a standard that will allow the small trucks carrying building materials access for most of the year and be a useful gift to all the villagers. Delayed due to a breakdown of the bull dozer, the project was completed in July.

For the first time in the history of the village of Rama a truck drove to the village. Before it was over an hour's walk or a ride on horse, yak or motorcycle to get to the part of the road that a vehicle could use.

The road repair and expansion allows people and animals to walk easily and vehicles to come directly to two villages to pick up produce and people.

Khenpo Gawang recently spoke with a family that had moved to Jyekundo from Rama. They said with excitment and joy; "Before we could not leave to move to the city without a lot of effort. We could not put all we own in a truck and just drive away but now it is possible. It is easy to go from the village to the city."

We are planning to continue the expansion of the road so that all four villages and a very close smaller settlement will become acessible by vehicle.

Public Health Care/Midwifery - We have found a Tibetan language program in Jyekundo that is training illerate village women in woman's reproductive health and midwifery. It is a 3 year program and all expenses, full room and board plus supplies are provided. One woman from each village can go to this program for training.