Support Programme Objectives

In April-May 2006 Di Gallagher spent three weeks living and working at the orphanage and gathering information to take back to the FMVSO Trustees and to FMVSO supporters.  Di returned to Manjushree in October 2007

In March 2009, Di Gallagher and fellow FMVSO trustee Grainne Purkis stayed at Manjushree for 3 weeks.  They had the opportunity, together with supporters from US and Australia, to discuss funding priorities with Lama Thupten Phuntsok.  Di and Grainne returned to Manjushree in October 2010.  They stayed in the orphanage for 3 weeks and had further discussions with Lama Thupten and the teachers about where need for support lay. 

FMVSO are seeking to support Manjushree in the following ways:

1.   GENERAL

Providing a consistent level of support for the children's day to day needs – in particular food, but also provision of clothing, books, education and recreation materials and, when possible, help with the teachers’ salaries.

As with the rest of the world, inflation in India is rising at a terrifying rate - in October 2010 inflation was running at 8.5%.  In December 2010 inflation on food product rose to 18.3%.  Onions, a staple in Indian cooking, were 60 rupees (about .83 pence) a kilo in Delhi - and a lot more in Tawang.  (These figures were quoted in the Economist of January 8th 2011). 

In December 2010, the food bill for the month at Manjushree was 222,000 rupees (about £3,000) - double what it was in summer 2009.

FMVSO have pledged to send as much as we possibly can towards food cost

2.    EDUCATION

FMVSO have pledged a quarterly transfer to go into a specific account at Manjushree for funding further education (academic and vocational).  Thanks to PETROWELL, an Aberdeen based company, who are making a substantial monthly donation for bursaries, we should be able to fully cover the costs of further education for at least the next couple of years.

Two students have completed their tertiary education

  • Mani passed his economics degree in Delhi then went on to do further studies in computing, English and General Knowledge.  He has returned to Manjushree, where he assists Lama Thupten and Lobsang, the secretary.  He is currently applying for a Government job in Tawang.
  • Tsultim passed her BA degree in Delhi.  She is currently teaching in Tawang and hopes to save enough to at least partially fund herself through an MA. 
  • A further Manjushree student, Lhamu, has completed her tailoring course in Bangalore, plus a further course in Tawang.  She is now resident at Manjushree and fully employed as seamstress. 

There are three Manjushree students at University in Delhi: 

  • Nima is in his third year at Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi
  • Pasang will soon complete her second year of a BS course - she hopes to go on to do a B Ed teacher training.
  • Tsering is also near the end of her second year of a 3 year BA course and she is hoping to go on to do an MBA

A further 4 boys will soon complete their first year at college in Tezpur and one of our senior girls is in her second year of business studies in Bomdila.

4 more students (3 girls and 1 boy) are approaching their final exams before completing secondary education.

  • There are four senior boys in class XII who will be applying for university or college in 2010.  In 2011 there will be four more students completing secondary education.

3.  CONTINGENCY

At the January 2009 FMVSO trustees meeting the following reserves policy was agreed:

After each quarterly transfer to Manjushree, any excess funds remaining in the charity current account should be transferred into the charity savings account.  The savings account will provide a buffer zone reserve fund to allow continuation of support at the current level even if our income decreases.  The savings account also provides a means of accumulating a reserve fund, with interest, in case of urgent need at Manjushree.

The Charity Commission are in favour of charities having a reserve fund.  Our policy is to even out peaks and troughs in funding to ensure a dependable flow of funds to MVSO. 

Over the last five years FMVSO have maintained a consistent level of support through quarterly transfers.  Through the generosity of a growing number of donors, we are optimistic that we will, at least, be able to continue to support at the current level and hopefully to increase our contribution in line with inflation. 

Contributing through a charity such as FMVSO has  tax advantages for donors living in the UK (see Inland Revenue website). It also enables a more strategic approach to longterm support of the orphanage.