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Each year we organise a sponsored walk to support
aid-projects for Tibetans. The proceeds go to Tibet Foundation, and the
Free Tibet Campaign. This
year, for a change from the more usual hill routes, we chose a forest
walk around Burn O' Vat and Loch Kinord, just west of Dinnet.
News has just
come-in (September 22) that the sponsorship raised for the 2009 Walk
came to a total of £775. We have decided to round this up
to £800 from campaign reserves.
The money raised is, as always, split equally between Free Tibet
Campaign and the Tibet Foundation: for political campaigning with FTC
and a charity project with the Tibet Foundation.
The Tibet Foundation support several schools in remote, and very poor,
areas of Eastern Tibet, where they also run a 'Free School Meals'
scheme for as many children as possible. We have contributed to this
for the last three years, but it requires ongoing funding and remains
one of the Tibet Foundation’s most worthwhile projects So we have again
decided to support this project.
To underline the the benefits provided by donations of this kind to
Tibetans living on meagre resources, Tibet Foundation director Karma
Hardy comments:
"Meals
provided to school children in Tibet... Yes, we continue to support
this project. This is one of the most successful and most practical
projects the Foundation is helping with in Tibet. Children are the
future hope for Tibet.Their education is going to be the key factor
that determines their future prospect. Without a good education
Tibetans will not be able to compete with rest of the people from
mainland China.
Providing
meals for the school children help in some specific areas. Firstly, the
school attendance has increased since we started providing meals in the
school. Most of the Tibetan schools are in rural areas. They are either
farmers or nomads with low income. Many families cannot afford to send
their children to schools. Providing a decent meal helps to relieve, to
some extent, the burden on the family, and thus encourages them to send
their children to school. Secondly, we noticed that children studied
better when they were fed well. We are told they are much "happier"
with a decent meal.
Currently
for example, at Gyalten School (a day-school) have 320 students. From
this winter the school is becoming partly a boarding school. That means
we need to find provision for dinner and breakfast in addition to lunch we already provide."
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In the days preceding the walk, the weather here
had been very hot and humid, so 'close' that any kind of strenuous
outdoor activity would have been unwelcome, if not out of the question.
We were therefore concerned that not many people would join us if the
weather continued in that trend. Thankfully the dawn of the Sunday saw
some clouds in the sky and cooler temperatures, in fact the conditions
were perfect for an expedition such as ours. The
turnout was reasonable at about eighteen, although we had been
hoping for more. A key factor here may have been the tennis matches,
and Portsoy Boat Festival on the same weekend.
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The walk took slightly longer than we had
allowed-for, and with walkers having a wide range of paces, the
group became fragmented over the course of the distance. To make-up for
this we selected two possible routes, the longer of the two being for
the more-experienced walkers.
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Towards the latter stages there was some light
rain, and those of us who'd brought waterproofs recounted our wisdom of
never trusting the Scottish weather, not even in midsummer! Back at the
start point, we set out to the Crannach tearoom for the
customary refreshments.
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