SECMOL Campus

Hi Parents,
Just a quick update, we are back at SECMOL and spending the next month focusing on academics, interspersed with some guest speakers and a few fieldtrips. Yesterday we took a trip to Choglamsar, the Tibetan Refuge Colony, outside of the city of Leh, to visit the Tibetan Children's Village School, hear about the history of the Tibet conflict, and hear the story of a man who escaped from Tibet as a small boy. This week James's English class has been wrapping up reading Patrick French's Tibet, Tibet and learning about Tibetan history. SECMOL hosted a Cultural Workshop this week, so campus has been quite busy with the pounding of traditional drums, flute playing, singing, and lots and lots of dancing! VISpas attended the final performance. Many care packages arrived in the mail, and there were many big smiles! Phone calls to SECMOL Campus have also been much appreciated, the best times to call are mornings and evenings (Indian Time), when students are usually in the kitchen having breakfast or dinner, or in the dorms.

To give you an idea of the days here, the morning begins with 7:50 VIS student meeting, (some students on cow duty and solar duty start their days much earlier, 5:30 or 6:30am!) 8am breakfast,9am work hour, 10am class, 11am tea, 11:30 class, 12:15 class, 1pm lunch, 2pm class, 3-4 freetime, 4pm afternoon tea, 4:30 responsibilities, 6pm class (some days), and 7:30 dinner, 8:30 evening activities.

If you call, most likely a Ladakhi student will answer. They are learning English, and most are quite good but it helps to speak slowly and to just keep repeating your VIS student's name...eventually they'll find the right person! Often to fill airtime one of the other VIS students may pick up the phone while someone else is running over to the dormitory. Internet has been out on campus, but we've been in Leh about once a week and you probably have heard from your VISpa by now. (I hope!)

The Sham trek was wonderful. Lots of snow, lots of hiking, everyone has acclimatized extraordinarily well. Several students have posted about the homestay experience, and I just uploaded both a photo of one homestay family and one of the group on a pass around 13,000 feet, on our hardest day. In Environmental Science, we've been doing a unit on Agriculture and Appropriate Technology, so students spent their freetime in villages interviewing villagers about topics ranging from Composting Toilets, to Water Wheels (for grinding grain), to Seabuckthorn Fencing (used like barbed wire, to keep cows from damaging precious trees), to Oil Drum Stoves and Cow Dung Fuel, and many, many more. In conjunction with English, James taught a journalism workshop and students have just turned in their final articles.

Fieldtrips to Stok Monastary, the Tibetan Colony, and guest speakers on Ancient Futures, a Buddhism Workshop, and Nick's unit on Buddhism have occupied our Ladakh Then and Now Class, as well as discussions on the book Tibet, Tibet and newspaper articles. Ladakhi class has gotten off to a very slow start, as our Ladakhi teacher has been sick, but James has been teaching the class and students got some intensive practice during homestay visits! We are getting a new Ladakhi teacher begining next week.

This photo is one of the main building at SECMOL, during the Culture Workshop, the uppermost floor houses the school's library and the girl's dorm, and the lower floor is the auditorium and classrooms. That's about all for now, as I write this, everyone is happy and healthy and enjoying Ladakh.
Julley,
Amy