FMVSO Trustee Di Gallagher meet Manjushree School graduates in Bangalore and Delhi

Trustee Di Gallagher and her husband Leo have just returned from a very wonderful adventure in South India.  As always the trip was self-funded.   The purpose of the visit was to spend time with the Manjushree students at college and those training to be monks at the Hunsur monastery.  FMVSO is fully funding all the Manjushree students who have gone on to further education.  

Di and Leo flew to Delhi, then on to Bangalore where they were met by Lama Thupten Phuntsok, one of post-grads who is working in Bangalore, and one of our first year college students.  Two more students joined the party for a very useful meeting and a happy evening together.  Lama Thupten spent a week with Di and Leo; they were able to give him a bit of a holiday - much needed in his extremely busy life.  They went from Bangalore to the Hunsur Monastery where Lama Thupten had spent much of his early life.  They stayed there for two days and spent many happy hours with the 7 Manjushree boys who have chosen monkhood as their path in life.

There are 6 Manjushree girls at university in Mangalore on India's southwest coast.  Namge is the senior student and she is in her 3rd year of nursing training and she has now been joined by a second nursing student.  2 more girls are studying for BA degrees, the other 2 are taking Journalism and  fashion design.  The live in fairly basic hostels and have very little breathing space from their studies.  The are delightful young people with a great attitude towards their studies.  They were so happy  to join Di and Leo at a simple Indian beach resort for a couple of days - a little seaside holiday for them.

On the return journey, Di and Leo met with the all 6 Manjushree students who are at university in Delhi.  The senior student, Thupten, takes his responsibility very seriously  and also acts as Lama Thupten's agent in Delhi.  When the internet is bad in Tawang (a lot of the time!) Thupten makes any necessary communication with sponsors - including FMVSO.

Lama Thupten is now on his way home to Manjushree after dealing with various business matters in Delhi and Assam.  He will be purchasing water pipes (funded by FMVSO) to put in a new supply from a safe source - polluted water is a continual problem.

Trustee Grainne Purkis is busy making preparations for her next visit to Manjushree in March.