Winter Tuition and Nutritional program in Ladakh
 When Neena and I arrived in Ladakh last fall, we really had no idea what specific projects with which we were going to get involved. We wanted to initially try and understand the situation and needs of the area, observe, and then make plans to implement. We first met with David Sonam Dawa at the Snow View Hotel to discuss all of these things, and he gave us about 15 different areas, villages and schools he thought may benefit the most from our projects.
One of these potential sites was a village on the outskirts of Leh called Karnakling, a village where nomads from the mountains further south had come to settle. We set up a meeting with about 10 adults from the village at Sonam’s house ( a prominent member of the village). As the meeting began, we came to realize the families had chosen to move there to provide better opportunities for their children. The adults were almost all “illiterate” and were working as self-described “coolies” (a derogatory term for manual laborer/road worker). Most of them worked on road crews, building and repairing the high mountain pass roads around the Leh valley. The group of 10 men all struck us both instantly as some of the most sincere, hard-working people we met. It impressed us that they didn’t ask us directly for anything, but definitely desired a better life for their families and future for their children.
We talked with these former nomads about how the government really looks down on them and is reluctant to help because they are illiterate and they have no tribal status (for employment quotas). We began by suggesting adult literacy programs and other things that may improve their situation and they seemed somewhat interested. Until, one man spoke up and politely recommended: “These things would be OK but we would rather you invest the time and effort on our children so they have more opportunity than we have. Don’t waste it on us.” Immediately, there was a resounding, almost echoing chorus of agreement that shot through the room. It gave us both pause and profound impact.
We shifted our discussion to the problems the children were having, beginning with the fact that they almost always are behind in school because they live in an illiterate household. The schools don’t work on getting individual kids caught up. By 10th class, the children are so far behind; they can’t pass the exams to continue on to 12th grade or college. As “unskilled”, they then fall into the same roles as their parents and become laborers. In this seasonal work, they work long hard hours through the warmer months for very little pay, and have no money during the winter months to pay for food when the work stops. In addition, as their village settlement is relatively new outside of Leh, most of them do not own land for agriculture or sustainable cultivation. They end up borrowing money during winter for food, which they then pay back the following work season.
The men of Karnakling decided they would really like to have a winter tuition program (tutoring) to help the kids catch up in their studies. We saw this as an opportunity to also provide a nutrition program so the kids get a solid nutritious meal at least once a day and take some of the pressure off the family. (See photo)
Originally, the program was set up and budgeted for 35 students, to start in January and finish at the end of February (this is the regular winter holiday for government schools). We would provide hired teachers, organize a meal program, and the VEC (Village Education Committee) would provide fuel for the stove to heat the rooms. The VEC also was going to provide extra people to come in as monitors and guest speakers. We left Ladakh in early November with all systems, finances, and staff in place to set the program in motion in the winter.
Well, I was blown away when I read in a recent email from Tashi, our new dZi local Ladakh staff. When the program actually started, 90 kids, instead of the originally budgeted 35, wanted to enroll. Tashi made the arrangements and kept to the original budget; instead, the VEC provided the extra staff and supplemented the meal so they could feed them all. The VEC gladly took the lead and provided for the entire additional needs.
It felt really right. I felt like we had helped some people in Karnakling help themselves and help their own children. The whole program was their idea, supplemented by dZi’s capacity and in line with dZi’s original mission.
We hope to continue this program each year, and develop it even further so the VEC runs and manages the entire project. Tashi is an excellent addition to our team there. We are off to a good start, and the community support is proving to be strong.
Bill Rohs
Ladakh Project Coordinator
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