Ready To Print!

It's time for an update on the Books for Bhutan project!

I'm so glad to say that with persistence and an enormous amount of help, support and the grace of things 'just falling in to place' the books are nearly ready for printing. Together we've raised enough to have 400 copies of each of the eleven books printed to be distributed to primary schools and libraries across Bhutan. The timing is perfect as Bhutan celebrates 2015 Year of Reading to honour His Majesty the 4th King's 60th Birth Anniversary.

This would never have happened if it weren't for the support of a large number of people, to whom I am so grateful.

Support has come in many forms. Huge thanks go to the many people who put their hand in their pocket and gave generously towards the cost of printing - in total approx. $5700 has been raised. There are many very worthy charities that we can support with our hard earned money, and it means a lot to me that you saw value in what I was hoping to achieve and joined with me to make it happen.

I want to acknowledge the support of the Australian Himalaya Foundation who has stepped in to provide the balance of funds needed after $3700 was raised through private donations.The Australian Himalaya Foundation works to help the people of the Himalaya through improvements in education, health and conservation. I'm hoping that I can work with them in the future to see this or other projects continue to improve children's access to quality education in Bhutan.

In the beginning I reached out to Bhutan Canada Foundation alumni to provide photos to help illustrate the books. It was wonderful how all the images came together and I hope you all get to see copies of the books, especially those that showcase your own Bhutanese students and communities. Thank you Vicky and Ian, Sharon, Angela, Justine and Paul.

I'd like to acknowledge the hard work of Andrea Goldring from Studio 77 Design who took the vague ideas I had and transformed them into colourful, engaging and professional books that will delight little Bhutanese readers.

Without the help of Pat Darlington in Bhutan I would still be sitting here with my lovely little books but no closer to understanding the intricate process of having them printed in Bhutan. Pat (who I met only briefly at a look out point in Bhutan) worked closely with colleagues and friends in Bhutan to visit various printers and approach government departments to ensure all approvals have been sought and all practical details have been thought through. Pat, your knowledge and ideas and support have been essential to the success of this project, thank you!

After careful consideration we selected Bhutan Printing Solutions in Thimphu to print the books and we are grateful that they saw the value in our project and offered us a quote that reflected the charitable nature of what we are hoping to achieve. I have confidence that they will provide a professional service to print the books.

And then, back to where this all began for me... the Bhutan Canada Foundation has offered to manage the distribution of books to schools in rural areas of Bhutan. I would love to be able to personally visit schools and deliver books to students and  teachers -  I would love to spend some time to show how books like these can be an important stepping stone to acquiring English and skills in reading. The next best thing is leaving this important task in the capable hands of the staff and volunteers of BCF. In July a team of qualified reading teachers from Canada will arrive for intensive reading work in selected Bhutanese schools and I feel confident these teachers can share their expertise in using levelled readers with local teachers.

When I set out to write these little books I hoped I could collaborate with others to make this a team effort- to create something bigger and better than I could achieve alone. At the time I didn't know who those collaborators would be and it has been a great learning experience for me to let go of the small details and open myself up to the 'positive flow' of the universe. 

If I have chatted with you about this project and you've listened with enthusiasm and interest then I'm so glad of the 'pat on the back' you've given me and the inspiration to keep going even when I didn't know what to do next.


These little books will not change the world, but perhaps they will make the process of learning for some Bhutanese PP (Prep) students a little easier and a little more fun. I'm eager for feedback from all who encounter them and hopeful that with the support of the Australian Himalaya Foundation that this may just be the start of bigger things.

I'll let you know when they roll off the press!



 

Let's get this happening!

Bhutan has declared 2015 the National Year of Reading to commemorate His Majesty the 4th King of Bhutan's 60th birthday. Bhutan is a country that is rich in the oral tradition of story telling and it is only in recent decades that a culture of reading books has developed among lay people.

For many in rural areas it is still difficult to access to books although this is improving as READ Bhutan sets up more village libraries such as the one we visited in Ura. Children who learn to read both Dzongkha and English at school can also borrow books from school libraries.

Ura Library.

When I noticed that 'learn to read' books were not available for my students (who at the beginning of grade 2 were still essentially non-readers), I felt an imperative to provide them books to help them learn to read. In rural Bhutan many students are from backgrounds where two or more local languages are spoken in the home and so English is being learned often as a third or fourth language. Development of vocabulary is a crucial step in learning to read, however since many students come from homes where parents can't read English, it really is up to their determination and the dedication of their teachers to overcome the obstacles to becoming fluent in English, the medium of education.

My students made simple learn-to-read books which they loved!

The set of books that I wrote and have developed along with the help of many friends is ready to print and distribute to schools and libraries in Bhutan. I have launched a crowd-funding site to raise funds with an initial target of $5000 so that the books can be distributed to approximately 150 schools and libraries.

Since launching only a couple of weeks ago I've been heartened by donations from generous friends totalling $750. Added to the $1000 I am personally donating, we are well on our way to achieving our target. With your support, we can make a difference and help rural students develop vocabulary and build confidence as readers.

Please visit my fundraising page to donate. Keep in mind that one set of eleven books will cost approximately $35 so for this small amount you can know your donation will impact an individual school or library http://www.gofundme.com/iytnk0



Bhutan Canada Foundation is commencing a new volunteer program in April this year, bringing experienced Canadian teachers to work intensively with students for one month on reading. I want those teachers to have access to these books as I believe they will really help them work with their youngest students.


Help me get these first books in the hands of children and we'll see where this can go!








 

Books For Bhutan

We've been home from Bhutan since January, and although I feel fully immersed in a rich and happy life here in Australia, I still think of Bhutan everyday.

I've become a Bhutanophile whose heart was captured by that magical place like no other at the top of the mountains.

Daily I read updates from Bhutan Street Fashion on Facebook and keep up to date with goings on in Chumey and beyond through friends across the country. Recent tragic news from my village pulled at my heart strings and I wished I could be there to understand and offer support to my students and the community. Friendships are developing with other Australians involved in various projects in Bhutan - the networks created are friendly and supportive.

I wanted to share a project I've been working on for a few months and which is starting to take some shape.

If you read my blog last year you would have known I developed a real passion for teaching reading to my students - within my classroom as well as in my role as primary school librarian.

Reading seemed to me to be the most important skill my students needed to acquire. Most started school with no knowledge of English and yet this foreign language is the medium for their primary and high school education. Becoming a fluent user of English is imperative to success at school and the only pathway to further education and opportunities in Bhutan and beyond.

I saw how critical fluency in English was for my students, but I felt the odds were stacked against them with limited resources for learning English, the teachers' reluctance to speak English with students and a mainly antiquated rote method of teaching language and reading.

It's a huge dilemma and there's no quick fix. However, one resource I brought with me seemed to have a great effect.

I bought a bundle of levelled readers in Thimphu and used these to listen to my students read one on one every morning before school. Most started with level 1 and struggled with even the most simple sentences as they had so little vocabulary in English. The books were made for Australian kids so they were about trips to the park, rock pools or museum, Australian style birthday parties, school fetes and making cheese tomato and lettuce sandwiches!

Characters called Jake, Anja, Emily and Jessica featured and try as they might, my students stumbled again and again over these unfamiliar names.

Despite these hurdles, day by day my little group of enthusiastic readers powered on through the levels, supported by our intense vocabulary work in English lessons, to become fluent and confident readers by the end of the year. I had 8 out of my 25 students achieve level 24 by the end of the year which puts them on par with Australian children of the same age. Most were not far behind with levels from 14 - 20. The lowest had still achieved around level 8, and it's not unheard of to find a level 8 reader at the end of grade two in Australia. The fact that these children were learning English as a third or fourth language filled me with enormous respect for the huge achievement they'd made.

So, my mind began whirring with the idea of producing a set of very similar levelled readers that were Bhutan-ised. They would need simple modifications to content to draw on Bhutanese children's prior knowledge and life experience. I thought clear and colourful photographic images of familiar scenes would engage students and help them identify vocabulary. And Jake and Anja would need to make way for Dorji and Deki!


Anyway, I'm really happy to let you know that these ideas are coming to fruition. I wrote 20 very simple books and since then have been collecting photos from my friends and colleagues in Bhutan for the illustrations of the book. And thanks to my obsession with photo-a-day last year I had thousands of photos of my own that perfectly fit the simple topics of the books.

Setting out was like starting a scary and new adventure, but once I began I've noticed how things seem to fall into place. I recently went to a friend's birthday party and sat next to a woman named Andrea. We chatted about this and that, and perhaps inevitably the conversation veered in the direction of Bhutan. Andrea was a great listener and I started to tell her about this project and where I was at. She looked at me and said 'You need a graphic designer' and without hesitation offered her skills voluntarily to help move my little books forward.

I am so grateful to Andrea  (of Studio 77 Graphic Design) for her generosity and her support of the project. Yesterday she emailed me the first rough draft of a front cover for the books and I am excited to share it with you. She has done a lovely job of incorporating the very Bhutanese image of prayer flags. I'm happy to see one of my brightest and most delightful students from Chumey, Sonam Choki Dorji grace the cover.

Andrea is working on developing a few of these books to have ready to present at an upcoming Bhutan related event and I'm hoping to meet the contacts I need to move this project forward to the next step which will involve having them printed and distributed to as many Bhutanese primary schools as possible. Next year will be National Reading Year in Bhutan to celebrate His Majesty the 4th King's 60th Birthday. It would be wonderful to have the books ready to launch by then.

I don't know exactly how this will happen but I'm open to what will come. A dear old friend of mine, a Buddhist monk who went by the name of 'Venerable Stardust' used to say 'Learn to live with little question marks'. Let's see what happens next.  
 

Have you settled in yet?

The question I've been asked most lately is 'Have you settled in yet?' In nearly equal parts I feel so happy to be home to a most wonderful comfortable life in Australia surrounded by our big family and good friends, while also thinking longingly of all the good things about life in Bhutan, the camaraderie we felt there and the daily adventure and excitement of living somewhere so unique.

A welcome home party with our friends, Aussie-style.

We arrived home with a plan to find a house to rent immediately, but after a couple of intense days looking at rental properties we found that the very best properties were coveted by many other people and the competitiveness to secure a place meant it could be a long wait. Meanwhile as luck would have it, a good friend was headed overseas for a month and agreed to let us stay in his place which gave us some breathing space to make some big decisions.

Staying in this house (which is incidentally where Bob and I lived many years ago before we were married) has allowed us a sense of stability and normality. We have all the essential 'things' of life so we can get on with eating, sleeping, watching tv and using the internet!

It gave us the space and time to look into buying a new home in the area near my school, and fortuitously we saw one house, felt it ticked all our boxes and are now just waiting for the settlement day to roll around in about a month.

Meanwhile Bob and I have started work, Xavier is at school and Remy at kindy.  Settled or not we all have responsibilities to get on with!

Our next step will be to stay in a short-term rental apartment once our friend returns home - until settlement on the house. At first daunting, now the prospect is appealing as we can stay in a unit right on the beachfront and enjoy an afterschool swim. Until we move into our home we are still living out of our suitcases (mostly filled with Bhutanese national dress and textiles!) so we are unhindered by all our worldly possessions that are still in storage for another month. As time goes by I start to long for some of those 'things' - it will be a fascinating experience to unpack all the boxes and find long forgotten belongings - some of which I'm sure we can really live without.

Every weekend we have been taking the opportunity to see and do favourite things and visit  places that for Bob and I are familiar but for the boys are brand new. It's like they really don't remember many of the details, big and small, of Australian life (from Weetbix to vacuum cleaners: so many questions!) and similarly I guess in time our memories of Bhutan will fade. It's so clear to me that it is all impermanent: the frustrations, the inconvenience, the freshness and novelty. A lesson learned in Bhutan: enjoy the present as it's all we have.

The boys are rediscovering (as if for the first time) all the different playgrounds on the Gold Coast.

Enjoying fun in the sun - back to the beachside life-style.

Such an incredible array of fresh produce available - we're really enjoying healthy summer salads.

Healthy outdoor eating - enjoying the long Queensland summer.

So, settled is not the word for how we feel! But maybe that's a good thing. I was speaking to my sister-in-law recently who went to live overseas for 6 months with her family and came back to their own home, just as it was before they left. She said in a way they slipped so quickly back into normal life that it made their adventure and life away feel like a distant dream. I think prolonging the process of settling is giving us more time to contemplate where we've been and also where we're going to next.

For me, the prospect of a return to Bhutan in the mid-term future is something I think of often and helps ease the 'homesickness' I feel for such a special place. I don't want Bhutan to be a place only from the past, I want Bhutan and the people I loved there to be part of my future life story. Bob's thoughts are focussed on the present: he has worked hard to do all the tasks related to buying us a home and is looking forward to move in there and enjoy the Australian lifestyle of outdoor entertaining and having room to spread out.

Meanwhile Xavier (like his mother) has been bitten by the travel bug and I enjoy chatting with him and talking about all the future adventures around the world we want to have. Certainly for this year we feel satiated but it's fun to dream and work towards new goals together.

Are we settled? No! Perhaps 'settled' is not a state that I aspire to! A sense of home for the present is going to be lovely, but ultimately I'm probably a restless soul looking onwards to new places and faces and adventures.

Cheers! Enjoying a homegrown Mango Daquiri at Bob's sister's place.

Photo-a-day December

Looking through the photos for December, it's hard to believe that a month ago I was still finishing my teaching duties at Chumey MSS!

We also travelled through Eastern Bhutan and then onto Thailand and Malaysia. What a month - doing what I love most, travelling! Some of these photos show how we were able to find snippets of Christmas wherever we were, although December had a very different feel to being in Australia- a little refreshing to be honest that it wasn't all about Christmas.

Although I'll continue taking daily photos (and posting in the FMS Facebook group) , I think this will be my last photo-a-day blog post as my blog scales back. Thank you for enjoying my photos this year, it has been a pleasure to show interesting facets of Bhutan through my photos and keep the most wonderful record of our year away. Best wishes for 2014!

1 - Red

Our elf found us, even in Bhutan!

 

 

2 - Where I stood

Out the front of Mrs Pema's shop in Chumey.

3 - Silver

A collection of coins from my purse.

 

 

4 - Tiny

Pema Choki shows me her tiny stapler.

5 - In the cupboard

The last few things left in our pantry in Chumey.

 

 

6 - Shadow

The lovely long tree shadows near Umsang village.

 

7 - 6 O'Clock

Last night of domestic life like no other in Chumey, Bhutan.

 

 

 

8- I shop here

The vegetable markets in Chamkar where we came every fortnight for fresh produce.

9 - This is the weather today

What a joy to enter eastern Bhutan and feel warm - such a contrast to our home in Bumthang.

 

10 - R is for

River - the mighty river flowing through Autsho.

 

11 - Green

A gorgeous garden of green in Autsho.

 

 

12 - Joy is

Monks watch on joyfully as my sons joyfully chase pidgeons at Trashigang Dzong.

 

13 - Composition

Chorten Kora at Trashiyangtse (using rule of thirds).

 

 

14 - drinks

A drink for the road? At a bus stop enroute to Thrumsingla.

 

 

 

15 - Lights

This one is out of sequence - of Paro Dzong lit up at night.

 

 

 

 

16 - Makes you feel merry

A sight you would never see in Queensland in December - snow! It made us feel very merry and in the Christmas spirit to see snow in December.

 

 

17 - Trees

Lots of trees in the distance, but centre stage to the Bhutanese flag for National Day.

18 - Big

A gorgeous big bow on the wreath on a friends door in Thimphu.

 

19 - Tis The Season

Of goodbye dinners - many farewells night after night.

20 - I'm listening to

Young Bhutanese children sing carols at the Taj Tashi - slightly surreal!

 

 

21 - On the door

Beautiful decorations at Kichu Monastery, Paro.

 

22 - Sparkly

A beautiful Christmas scene at our hotel in Bangkok.

 

 

23 - Tradition

A Thai tradition I love - Spirit Houses.

 

24 - Wrapped

Bob's Christmas gifts wrapped in Thai Newspaper and Bhutanese ribbon to be opened in Malaysia!

 

25 - The best bit

The best part of our non-traditional day was discovering the street art of Penang, Malaysia.

 

26 - Where you slept

At Hotel Sentral, Georgetown, Malaysia.

 

27 - What you're doing now

About to get wet! At Langkawi, Malaysia.

 

 

29 - Reflect - best bit of 2013

Without a doubt, the best part of 2013 was being Class 2 teacher in Chumey, Bhutan.

 

30 - You

Feeling relaxed with a sunset cocktail on Langkawi.

31 - Celebrate

Fire ceromonies in Langkawi to bring in the New Year.

Let's see what 2014 has in store: more photos and as of yesterday, a new camera as my trusty phone was dropped and smashed. I think I'm ready for an upgrade!

Trashigang and Trashiyangtse

Almost heaven, Trashigang,
Black mountain, Manas River,
Life is old there,
Older than the trees,
Younger than the mountains,
Blowing like a breeze.

Country roads,
take me home,
to the place I belong.
Trashigang, mountains of mine,
take me home, country roads.

The kids loved singing this favourite song from our Class 2 songbook loudly and with passion and emotion. Having enjoyed it all year, I really wanted to travel those country roads to see Trashigang for myself.

Even though we were travelling in comfort with a Prado and driver, the distances and time at the wheel were long and when we arrived in Trashigang team morale was a bit low and we were feeling exhausted. We were bound by the deadline of being back in Chumey on the 15th so we couldn't gave a rest day to'smell the roses' in Trashigang as we would have liked.

Still it turned out that the following day the balance of driving and sightseeing was in our favour and we arrived at our destination a few hours before dark for a change!

Leaving Trashigang early , we were headed for Rangjung. It seemed like the driver was keen to go there for his own reasons and I was happy too as our friends Ian and Vicky (fellow Aussies and BCF teachers in 2011, 2012 & returning for 2014) lived here and I wanted to see their home that I'd heard so much about.

Monks playing football at the monastery.

Chortens overlooking Ranjung.

 

Lhakang at Rangjung.

 

 

 

Rangjung was really different to what I expected! It is a very pleasant small town with a photogenic main street and friendly locals. Upon a hill above town proudly stands a fairly new Lhakang that was very beautiful and had lovely views all around. Here is another town I could see myself happily living in. Proximity to Trashigang was good, less than an hour drive by the river.

We were invited for tea at the house of our driver's friend and were served in an altar room decorated with many images of HH Dalai Lama, much to my friend Jana's delight.

Returning to Trashigang we visited the Dzong: the highlight was watching the boys chase pigeons in the large courtyard with an audience of amused monks. Before we arrived the monks had been huddled round a large television watching.... world championship wrestling!
 

 

 

 

 

 

Driving towards Trashiyangste in the afternoon we soon came to Gom Kora, a sacred meditation site of Guru Rinpoche. The temple complex is surrounded by a circumambulation path with hundreds of prayer wheels. Elderly pilgrims slowly circle the temple while praying and others sit quietly in the shade of bodhi trees spinning hand held prayer wheels. Many Bhutanese aspire to this life of contemplation and devotion in their later years and you get a feeling that there is something very special about the vibe at Gom Kora that attracts pious folk from all over Bhutan.

 

 

The first rain we've seen in months started to fall as we drove on to Trashiyangste, the last town on our eastern itinerary. BCF teacher Lee has lived here this year, enjoying daily hikes in the hills around and especially in the Bomdeling Wildlife Sanctuary. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to visit the park, although from a vantage point at the Dzong Bob saw many of the famous black-necked cranes roosting in farmland which saved us a long drive on another rough farm road!

A branch of VAST art gallery in Trashiyangtse.

 

Hotel Karmaling.

 

 

 

Before dark, Bob and I went for a walk round town with Lee and caught up on the past few months. Trashiyangtse was also different to what I pictured: larger and more spread out. Many people call this town home. Grey stone buildings predominate, and the town centre seemed quiet and lacking a bit of ' hub bub' and colour as we'd seen in Rangjung earlier in the day. And it's cold! Not quite as cold as Bumthang, but chillier than Mongar.

Hotel Karmaling offered simple rooms that opened to a large but cosy common room with a bukhari and television. It was the perfect place to unwind for the evening. The familiar sound of horns and drums and cymbals woke us in the morning: a puja was taking place in the large altar room right in the hotel. Monks were busily coming and going with offerings and sprinkling blessed water around the place.


We whipped around the main sights in the morning. Bob was keen to check out the Bomdeling Visitor Centre just out of town. The boys enjoyed seeing some stuffed wild cats and a display of rocks. Unfortunately the Zorig Chusum school of traditional handicrafts had just packed up for the winter holidays so we couldn't see anything there. Lastly we visited Chorten Kora, a stupa modelled on the famous one at Boudna in Nepal. I read an alarming story in the Lonely Planet of an eight year old girl being sacrificed and enshrined here during construction to appease local demons. I later found this article online which shines a light on the unbelievable practise of burying live sacrifices underneath large construction projects. WTF!!! The barbarity of this history tainted the holy feeling of the place for me. I've since discovered that a Bhutanese movie has been made about the story and I'm going shopping today to try to find a copy (preferably with English subtitles).

 

 

 

 

 

As we drove off out of town, retracing our way back to Chumey, I felt glad to have made it to see and experience these far flung towns that few foreigners get the chance to visit.

In years to come I know I will sing the Trashigang version of Country Roads and think back with much nostalgia of this trip.