ROKPA TIMES November 2011 - English version
-
Upload
rokpa-international -
Category
Documents
-
view
216 -
download
3
description
Transcript of ROKPA TIMES November 2011 - English version
Please donate to ROKPA: Post Office Account: ROKPA 80-19029-5
Bank Details: Clariden Leu AG, Bahnhofstrasse 32, Postfach, CH-8070 Zürich
Bank Account: ROKPA, 0065-455090-11-1, IBAN: CH70 0506 5045 5090 1100 1
BIC: CLLECHZZXXX
We need your help!Let‘s give to orphans and street children a better future! Now!
All donations to ROKPA are tax-exempt in Switzerland and most other countries. Since 2004 ROKPA is certif ied by ZEWO, Switzerland‘s off icial
ROKPA INTERNATIONAL | Böcklinstrasse 27 | 8032 Zürich | Schweiz
Telefon +41 44 262 68 88 | Fax +41 44 26268 89 | [email protected] | www.rokpa.org
ROKPAHelping, where help is needed.
Volume 31 / November 2011
ROKPA Gift Cards
It works like this:
Please order the desired card(s)
by e-mail to our secretariat: [email protected].
You can of course also order the desired cards
by telephone: Telephone 044 262 68 88.
We need the following information from you:
Number of the desired gift card
Amount (in CHF) that you would like
to donate
First name, surname and address of the
recipient
Your first name, surname and address
Dear ROKPA Friends
Gift card 1: Education for disadvantaged orphans and street children.
More information on page 4.
Gift card 2: Funding for talented students from the poorest backgrounds.
More information on page 5.
Gift card 3: Medical help for the destitute.
More information on page 6.
Gift card 4: Saving Tibetan medicinal plants from extinction.
More information on page 7.
Gift card 5: Fighting hunger
– thanks to ROKPA‘s soup kitchens.
More information on page 8.
Gift card 6: Food for Tibetan nuns.
More information on page 9.
Gift card 7: Supporting Tibetan monasteries – for the good of everyone.
More information on page 10.
Gift card 8: Symbolic statues of hope.
More information on page 11.
Gift card 9: Zimbabwe – supporting mothers and their disabled children.
More information on page 12.
Gift card 10: Startup capital for outcast mothers.
More information on page 13.3
CONTENTS
Meaningful giving 3
EDUCATION
Education for disadvantaged children 4
Funding talented students 5
MEDICINE
Help for the destitute 6
Saving Tibetan medicinal plants 7
FOOD
Fighting hunger 8
Why nuns need food 9
CULTURE
Supporting Tibetan monasteries 10
Symbolic statues 11
SUPPORTING MOTHERS
In Zimbabwe 12
In Nepal 13
ROKPA SWITZERLAND
News 14
Project sponsorships 15
Legal information
Editorial board:
Marie-Luce Le Febve de Vivy, Pia Schneider
Visual design: Volker Haller, www.vhvk.de
Image editor: Barbara Meier
All photos and text: © ROKPA INTERNATIONAL
Print run: 10,500 copies
Printed on FSC paper
ROKPA INTERNATIONAL has been
ZEWO-certif ied since 2004.
Dear ROKPA friends,
By the time you read this, your Christmas preparations will probably be in full
swing. You‘re wondering what presents to give to your relatives, friends or
partner. Sometimes you just can‘t think of anything that your loved ones
would like. Do they already have everything? Have you already given them
everything? What a dilemma!
But I‘ve got an idea! At the moment, while I write this and think of you, I‘m
sitting in a room 4500 metres above sea level in Tibet, which is packed with
people who urgently need our help. There is the nomad woman with her
disabled child, who is now too big to be carried on her back when she goes
to do the milking on the vast Tibetan plateau. Tears streaming down her face,
she asks for medical help for her child – she has seven other children!
And there is the wonderful professor who has built a small school for the
poorest children, where adults are also allowed to learn the Tibetan alpha-
bet: Ka, Kha, Ga, Nga! These are adults who have never had the chance to go
to school but are now completely helpless in modern times, when nomads
have moved to tiny houses in the cities. They have learned nothing other
than livestock farming and making butter and cheese. Without education,
many of them have become thieves and drug addicts.
There is the girl in Yushu, the destroyed city, who works in the tent of a
clothes shop. Her family lost everything in the earthquake, her father was
killed. The 15-year-old now spends all day in the shop to help her old mother
and three sisters get by, instead of fulfilling her dream of becoming a nurse.
But for that she would need CHF 2,800 per year for 4 years. No chance...! Or is
there? Imagine what a generous Christmas present you could give to her!
Why not – instead of spending a lot of money on a not especially appreciated
present – help someone in great need?
You will make everyone – the recipient, you and the person who receives
your gift, as well as us in the ROKPA team – enormously happy! Your help is
needed urgently – please make it possible for us to take it where it can really
make a difference. With many thanks for your important support and your
loyalty, I wish you a blessed Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.
Yours,
Lea Wyler, Vice President, ROKPA INTERNATIONAL
Give your loved ones, friends and colleagues some-
thing special this year: a donation to ROKPA‘s aid
projects.
Our new gift cards make meaningful and sustainable
giving twice the fun!
Meaningful giving made easy
You will generally receive the gift card – including
payment slip – at your address within five working
days. We can also send the card directly to the person
receiving the gift, if you wish.
If it is urgent or you need a gift IMMEDIATELY, you can
download the gift card directly from our website as a
PDF.
More information:
www.spenden-statt-schenken.org
Gift card 1 Our suggestion
Gift card 2
As we have ourselves both enjoyed a
university education, this project for
funding talented students lies close to our
hearts. In Switzerland, a degree is accessi-
ble to more or less everybody.
In Tibet, however, higher education is
beyond the reach of most people. For
young people from homes with small
incomes – which is the case for most
Tibetan nomads – there are no state
support programmes for university
education.
Pema Yangchen is 22 and comes from a
nomad family. When she was a young girl,
Pema was allowed to go to primary school,
until her parents could no longer afford
the school fees. Nomad life in Tibet is very
hard, and families often rely on the
children working at home or in the fields.
Thanks to ROKPA‘s support, Pema now
attends the university in Dzamthang. She
still has five years of study ahead of her.
Her greatest dream is to become a teacher
in the nomad regions: „I want to be such a
good teacher that the children enjoy
coming to school.“
There are stories like that of Pema
Yangchen, which motivate us every day to
help ROKPA make it possible for many
other young people like Pema get an
education. Your donation will help young
Tibetans become doctors and teachers.
Your support not only helps individuals
and their families, but could benefit whole
regions in the future.
Our suggestionThese young people represent a total of 100 years of ROKPA help.
31 Jahre ROKPA – 31 Jahre Hilfe4 5
I have been travelling regularly to Tibet
since 2005, and I‘m impressed by how
much ROKPA has achieved in education
with relatively modest means. My favou-
rite schools are the two girls‘ schools:
„Kanze Girls School“ (91 pupils) and
„Gannan Girls School“ (150 pupils). In
Tibet, girls are not often sent to school, as
the opinion prevails that girls should help
in the home. In very poor families, girls are
also sold into slavery or prostitution out of
desperation. If a family has any money,
boys are sent to school by preference.
ROKPA places great value on girls being
able to go to school too – both for their
own development and for the develop-
ment of future generations. Educated
mothers will send their daughters to
school too! Meeting children and young
people who are supported by ROKPA is
always inspiring and moving, as they are
so spontaneous and eager to learn. At the
Education for dis-avantaged children
Education
same time, their life stories are often
heart-rending.
Ga Tso for example grew up in a nomads‘
tent with her parents, five sisters and four
brothers. When she was six, her mother
died while giving birth to her tenth child.
Her oldest brother was twelve then and
had to look after the cattle high up in the
mountains. As his clothing was not
adequate to protect his body, he cut his
legs on the rocks and bushes. He died.
Her eleven-year-old sister looked after the
younger siblings while her father tried to
find enough food for them all with
begging and odd jobs. Her life was very
hard. None of the children went to school
in those days.
When ROKPA opened a school in Kanze for
orphans and children from very poor
families, Ga Tso was accepted. Sometimes
she couldn‘t sleep from sheer joy. Now she
has good food, many friends, kind
Donate education –
now!This is how you can help:
Protect girls with education
Give a girl one year of schooling, including
food, accommodation and clothing: CHF
1,500.00
Or become a sponsor of the new ROKPA
project sponsorship „Education for disad-
vantaged children“ (see page 15).
Donations to PC 80-19029-5 – with the
reference „7800“ – are received with thanks
You can also donate ONLINE on our website
www.rokpa.org.
Pim Willems
ROKPA Country Representa-tive in Holland
teachers, a warm bed and clothes. Thanks
to her education, she has the chance most
importantly to earn her own living in the
future and, if possible, look after her
family. Something that she could not have
imagined before!
For this reason I ask you: Help ROKPA to
help these disadvantaged children – espe-
cially girls. Funding for talented students from the poorest backgrounds
Barbara Meier ROKPA Administration
Thomas Stettler ROKPA Intern
Donate education
– now!This is how you can help:
Make an academic education
possible: Give a gifted young person
the chance to study at a university.
The costs for a degree are at least
CHF 3,000.00 per year. It can be
more than this depending on the
university, as the students have to
pay high tuition fees.
Donations to PC 80-19029-5 – with
the reference „7888“ – are received
with thanks
You can also donate ONLINE on our
website www.rokpa.org.
Metok, Kangla and Delha have hit the jackpot: they can study!
31 years ROKPA- 31 years help
Gift card 3Our suggestion
Donate Health – Now!This is how you can help:
Help Tsondru out of her calamity: let your heart
speak through a generous donation.
Do without employee gratifications: we welcome
donations from employers who donate in the
names of each of their employees instead of
distributing Christmas presents to them (we are
happy to send a personal ROKPA present? card
toeach employee, see page 3).
Alternatively, you can become a sponsor through
the new ROKPA sponsorship project “Medical
Help, where the Need is Greatest” (see page 15).
We are grateful for your donation to
PC 80-19029-5 – reference “7600”.
On our webpage www.rokpa.org you can make
donations ONLINE.
Pia Schneider ROKPA manager
Donate Health –
Now!This is how you can help:
Nursery for medicinal plants in
Nangchen. Help Droni and ROKPA‘s
other Tibetan doctors to grow rare
medicinal plants in the wild. Your
donation will also enable young
Tibetan men and women to be
trained in environmentally friendly
growing and protection of plants.
We are grateful for your donation to
PC 80-19029-5 – reference “7601”.
On our webpage www.rokpa.org you
can make donations ONLINE.
Gift card 4Our suggestion
Droni Zhongnai
Tibetan ROKPA physician in training
31 Jahre ROKPA – 31 Jahre Hilfe6 7
About15 years ago my mother fell seriously ill – the medical costs
for the first month added upto more than CHF
300.000.–. Luckily we had a health insurance and only had to pay
a small part of this ourselves. We also knew that the medical
support and care were assured. But what, if this is not the case?
How does one find the way back into the future?
Last year, ROKPA reported about Tsondru (picture right) – since
her horrific accident in July 2010 she has been in hospital. Lea
Wyler and the ROKPA team have recently visited her thereUnlike
last year, Tsondru is now able to at least sit in a wheel chair and
move a few yards in it. However, the doctors assume that she will
never be able to walk again.
Now she should learn to deal with her handicap, even if that
“only” means learning to haul herself from the bed into the
wheelchair and back again. But how is she ever supposed to work
as a doctor and look after herself in the future? Differently from
myself and my family, Tsondru has no health insurance and also
no other means of funding. Her placement in the hospital and the
physiotherapy come at a cost of about CHF 3.200.– per month. In
addition to that, there is medicine, food and other things that
need to be paid for, amounting to around another CHF 1.000.- per
month (in Chinese hospitals, the family has to care for the
patients, including providing food, washing the patients etc.). In
short: Tsondru‘s costs for medicine and care amount to around
CHF 50.000.– a year!
There is no way that her family could afford this - and this is
where ROKPA comes into play. For years we have been suppor-
ting patients in need such as Tsondru, helping to provide their
medical care when they cannot afford it themselves.. We do this
with small amounts of money. But we need YOU, if we want to
help Tsondru.
Therefore I am asking you – your foundation, you as a private
individual: Please help Tsondru and other patients like her. Help
ROKPA to give these people a future again, even if it’s a different
one than originally planned.
Medical Help for those in Need
Health
Saving Tibetan
Medicinal Plants from Extinction
The supply of Tibetan medicinal plants is
not only important for Eastern markets,
but for the whole world. They allow
effective and affordable forms of treat-
ment, which have been developed over
centuries.
Harvesting wild plants with their entire
roots has led toincreasing shortages.
Certain valuable plants have already
become extinct. This is why medicinal
plants need to be reforested and multipli-
ed in specialised gardens. ROKPA supports
several doctors, including myself, to learn
everything about plant care and hatching
in Great Britain. In addition, ROKPA has
founded the very first reforestation plant
in entire East Tibet.
I firmly believe that natural herbs are
much better than chemical medicine in
certain situations. Therefore we should
preserve nature. When people just help
themselves to wild plants in the moun-
tains, without considering the conse-
quences, I get very upset. Yet I am aware
that this is a difficult subject, because the
people picking the herbs are often very
poor and desperately need money. They
don’t know how to pick the plants in a
sustainable way.
During my studies in Scotland I have
learned many new things, such as gene-
tics, physiology, statistics and ecology.
Before that, I had never been in contact
with any of these subjects in my life! Even
if my education is very demanding, it is
really fascinating! Therefore, I would like
to continue my studies and achieve a
Master degree.
My experience with ROKPA isthatprojects
for the support of people and environ-
ment are always established with a long
term view – not only a few years, but
generations. Young Tibetans who are
trained in gardening and plant protection
are important and can make a difference.
We urgently depend on your donation for
our pioneer nursery in Nangchen (Tibet),
so that we can save the medical plants
threatened with extinction and protect
them from further abusive picking.
31 years ROKPA- 31 years help
Donate food – now!This is how you can help:
Soup kitchen Johannesburg, South Africa.
Give many hot meals to hungry homeless
people. With
CHF 100.– ROKPA can give out 170 meals.
Soup kitchen Kathmandu, Nepal
Give hot meals to hungry homeless people
during the winter months. With CHF 150.– ROK-
PA can give out 440 meals.
We are grateful for your donation to PC 80-
19029-5 – reference “12004” (Johannesburg) or
“5555” (Kathmandu). On our webpage www.
rokpa.org you can make donations ONLINE.
Donate food –
now!This is how you can help:
Food support for Tibetan nuns.
Thanks to your donation, nuns do not
have to starve and receive enough
food every day.
We are grateful for your donation to
PC 80-19029-5 – reference “9060”. On
our webpage www.rokpa.org you can
make donations ONLINE.
Gift card 5Our suggestion
Gift card 6Our suggestion
31 Jahre ROKPA – 31 Jahre Hilfe8 9
Food
Relieving Hunger –
ROKPA Soup KitchensWhat does “soup kitchen” mean to me? In my view, it
is an expression of solidarity with human beings who
have nothing, who are forced to search rubbish for
edibles or have to beg. I have never experienced
being in need and am grateful for that.
I look forward to Christmas. Our little family gets
together, we spend time with one another, exchange
thoughts and news that has occurred since we last
met. And I repeat to myself all the things I need to
remember: Roast venison, oh yes. A good bottle of
red wine. This time, I must not forget the Gruyère
cheese again.
But what do the homeless eat at Christmas, when
there is no homeless shelter? Images of long queues
of people in Johannesburg, South Africa enter my
thouhts. These people are cold. They are waiting. A
vehicle arrives and ROKPA volunteers distribute hot
vegetable soup and bread with peanut butter.
Desperation goes through the queue, when it
becomes clear that the food that has been
brought will not be enough for everybody.
How would I feel if I was standing in that
queue? The people are cold. Our Christ-
mas roast will definitely be enough for
one additional person. But who wants to
eat with us? How do I find him or her, and
where? Share? Give. Give away! And then it
is decided: I will give 340 homeless people
in Johannesburg a hot meal. And what will
they eat the next day? This is where you
come into play. Take on that next day.
Please give a hot meal to the homeless
too. Let us join forces in helping people,
who are not as well off as we are. Share?
Give. Give away! Please make a donation.
Why Nuns have to Eat
In Tibet, monasteries often function as cultural
centres. When Tibetans are in need, the monastery is
often the first place they turn to for help, which could
come in the form of counselling or specific rituals.
This form of help has the power to bring peace and
inner stability and enables many people to tackle
their problems with an optimistic attitude.
Nuns commit themselves to preserving and and
keeping alive methods which Tibetan Buddhism
teaches to train the human mind. They help to
overcome many mental problems and to harmonise
the psyche.
All day long they perform deeply spiritual practices
for the benefit of all beings as well as world peace.
Since the monasteries in Tibet have to provide for
their own needs, they depend on help from the
outside world. Most monasteries are situated in
remote mountain regions. Under theses harsh life
conditions it is very difficult for the nuns to cover
even their most basic needs. Choosing the monastic
life means living in poverty. Because ROKPA wants to
contribute to the preservation of this old and whole-
some culture, from which we also benefit in the West
(many of the methods have been incorporated in the
therapies of modern psychology), we support
selected nunneries, such as the one in Kepcha, a
remote region of East Tibet. Here, I met an
86-year old blind and paralysed nun who
lives in a room with a mud floor, which
contains nothing but a simple bed.
Whoever came into contact with her, felt
her deep inner joy, her enormous love and
her compassion for others.
Over 300 nuns live in Kepcha. Modest as
they are, in order to continue dedicating
their lifes to the preservation of precious
Buddhist teachings, they need to eatand
they need medical help when they fall ill..
Since they live very simply, the support
they need is relatively limited. Most
pressingly, they need enough food to stay
healthy. As small as this help may seem: it
is of untold value and in the end, itcomes
back to us. Please donate for nuns!
Dr. Mingji Cuomo Tibetan Doctor
Gabriele Lenk Fundraising ROKPA
31 years ROKPA- 31 years help
Cultural Support
Support Tibetan Monasteries – to Benefit all Human Beings
Last year, Yushu in Tibet suffered a terrible
earth quake. Thousands died, many were
injured. Within the day of the catastrophe,
innumerable monks and nuns arrived at
the site from the surrounding regions.
They brought tools and immediately
started to excavate those buried in the
ruins. Without having been asked to, they
worked incessantly, day and night, up to
the point of exhaustion.
Wherever I travelled during my work for
ROKPA, I haven‘t found a village or a small
town without at least one monastery - the
pivotal point of the community.
Though most of monasteries have been
destroyed during the Cultural Revolution,
most of them have been rebuilt, too. The
locals wanted it like that.
Monasteries are
the most important
source of strength
and thus indispen-
sible for the
country.
Donate cultural
power – now!
How you can help:
Tibetan monasteries are a pivotal point
of life. With your donation, you don’t
only help nuns and monks to preserve
and promote their cultural heritage -
you offer an important spiritual and
economic home to this deeply religious
people.
We are grateful for your donation to PC
80-19029-5 with the reference “9070”
On our webpage www.rokpa.org you
can make donations ONLINE
Barbara Pfeif fer
Country manager
ROKPA, Germany
Within their walls, methods are taught and
practiced that help human beings to be
compassionate, attentive and tolerant and
in sum, to be able to deal more easily with
the challenges of everyday life. The health
benefits of some of these methods have
been recognized around the world and
they are practiced in various forms in
many places.
Monks and nuns are devoted to maintai-
ning and developing these beneficial
methods.
Most of them live off of nothing but three
portions of rye porridge a day. They have
no income and their relatives often lack
the funds to support them.
This is why ROKPA offers help to the
monks and nuns to be able to buy food.
Supporting a monastery is a sustainable
investment: It means supporting human
beings in looking for inner and exterior
peace.
I hope that you will donate for Tibetan
monasteries.
Statues, symbols of hope
I remember well when Akong Rinpoche
told me for the first time, that
ROKPA would support building at least
nine very large statues of Guru Rinpoche
on holy places in Tibet.
These statues are destined to bring
harmony to human beings and the
environment. Vajrayana-Buddhists
worship Guru Rinpoche as a second
Buddha who brought the teachings of
Buddha to Tibet in a form strong enough
to subject the violent demons of the
Himalaya.
As I had supported ROKPA for a long time,
I knew instantly how important it is to
conserve the Buddhist culture.
Inspired hope is an important feature in
every human life and especially for the
ones, who suffered much. They need
distinct, clearly visible symbols that contri-
bute to the continuity of their culture, a
marker in everyday life.
In 2009 I asked Akong Rinpoche, whether I
could join him on his annual control trip. I
wanted to experience for myself the
influence of a statue of Guru Rinpoche, so
that I could tell others of this singular
project. My dream had become true as we
approached Chopdrak in our Land Rover
on a very bumpy road in August 2009. For
the first time we saw the brilliant statue of
Guru Rinpoche standing in serene
tranquility at the very end of the beautiful
valley, near some of the caves in which
Guru Rinpoche once meditated in order to
liberate human beings from suffering. The
statue enhances the importance of this
place of pilgrimage and attracts many
tourists, thus generating a source income
for the locals.
It can be hard to understand for the
importance of donating for statues and
stupas. But humans don’t live off of bread
alone. Holy places are often more impor-
tant than food for people around here.
They are places of power, where young
and old meet, offer their prayers and find
relief during hard times, a place where
they obtain hope and reinforce their deep
spirituality.
You can help to nurture this hope. Please
donate generously to make it possible to
build further statues. They will encourage
solidarity. Make a smile appear and a tear
drop on the faces of all those who live
here and everywhere.
Donate cultural
power – now! You can help:
Support building holy statues.
Your donation will bring joy to
countless people and provide an
income for desperately poor inhabi-
tants, CHF 500.- will enable ROKPA to
employ a gifted sculptor for a month.
We are grateful for your donation to
PC 80-19029-5 with the reference
“7795”
On our webpage www.rokpa.org you
can make donations ONLINE
Edie Irwin
Country manager
ROKPA, USA
Gift card 8Our suggestion
31 Jahre ROKPA – 31 Jahre Hilfe10 11
Gift card 7Our suggestion
31 years ROKPA- 31 years help
Support mothers and their disabled children
Supporting mothers
In Zimbabwe, most mothers are aban-
doned when they give birth to a disabled
child.
In many areas of the country people
believe that disabled children are a result
of witchcraft, as they can tend to be
ignorant or superstitious . The situation is
even more daunting in the case of HIV
positive mothers.
The government doesn’t offer any form of
help and the mothers usually aren’t able
to work on a regular basis to provide for
their children and themselves, given the
special care their children require. None
the less they face costs for healthy food,
hospital visits, doctor’s fees, clothes,
special nappies, school fees and mobility
aids such as wheel chairs. As a result,
disabled children often don’t go to school,
special schools are often simply too
expensive.
Excluded from school and society as a
whole, and economically disadvantaged
these children are at a high risk of being
sexually abused.
Winnie Mtapure, one of my colleagues,
shares her experience: „I am a widow and
mother of a disabled child myself. Today,
my son is 21. He was only nine, when my
husband died. Fortunately, I haven’t been
abandoned by my family, but it was a
constant struggle to get by.
I got to know other mothers of disabled
children and was very sad to see their
living conditions. These children have no
rights, they are treated cruelly. The group
of mothers started meeting regularly to
talk and to help each other, to look after
each others children and to exchange
simple exercises that would help the
children progress. “ ROKPA gives mothers
like Winnie and their children an opportu-
nity to escape poverty.
ROKPA helps by:
supporting education and rehabilitati-
on of disabled children.
helping to set up vegetable gardens,
allowing the mothers to grow part of their
own food and to sell parts of the produce.
Workshops to assess these mothers
very own entrepreneurial resources and to
make their ideas happen
Contributing to strengthening
children’s rights
I beg you from my heart to support
disabled children and their mothers in
Zimbabwe.
Donate dignified
living conditions
– now! How you can help:
Become a sponsor of the new
ROKPA project sponsorship “
women’s fund to support needy
mothers“ (see page 15).
But, of course, donations are very
welcome, too.
We are grateful for your donation to
PC 80-19029-5 with the reference
“8300”
On our webpage www.rokpa.org you
can make donations ONLINE
Malini Patel
Country manager
ROKPA Zimbabwe
Gift card 9Our suggestion
Start-up capital for expelled mo-thers in Nepal
It is not obvious, but if you look more
closely, you will find it everywhere:
discrimination against women. In Nepal,
women work much harder and longer
than men, but their work performance is
not reflected in their social standing.
Discrimination is enrooted in every aspect
of life, from the use of language to
old-fashioned prejudices, to religious
everyday life.
When visiting Nepal on my annual trips I
hear the same story over and over again.
Girls receive only very basic education, or
none at all, and don’t receive any vocatio-
nal training.
They are given into marriage at a very
early age and have children shortly
thereafter.
When they are abandoned by their
families, which is increasingly happening,
they can neither stay with their in-laws nor
return to their parents and end up living in
the streets with their children.
Now, they can only work in very low level
and burdensome areas, such as carrying
stones on construction sites, or they have
to beg.
ROKPA can help in such situations by
lending start-up capital to establish a
small business. The women are offered to
be trained in sewing; some of them are
Gift card 10Our suggestion
Donate
self-reliance –
now! How you can help:
Become a sponsor of the new ROKPA
project sponsorship „women’s fund
to support needy mothers“ (see page
15).
But, of course, donations are very
welcome, too.
We are grateful for your donation to
PC 80-19029-5 with the reference
“8300”
On our webpage www.rokpa.org you
can make donations ONLINE
also employed in ROKPA’s own sewing
workshop. These are economically self
reliant, the costs for material and wages
are covered by the revenues. I strongly
advocate this form of support, as in this
setting, the children aren’t separated from
their mothers.
With your donation to our women’s
projects, or by buying from our online-
shop (http://shop.rokpa.org) you help
women to lead a
self-contained life, as you are making it
possible for more women to be received in
our sewing workshops.
Bea Schmutz
Responsible for the
Women’s workshop in Kathmandu
31 Jahre ROKPA – 31 Jahre Hilfe12 1331 years ROKPA- 31 years help
ROKPA Switzerland News
Don’t miss:
“The fabulous ROKPA KIDS
on Tour 2012”
Finally, in May 2012: A group of former
street kids from Kathmandu found a
home, education and a new perspective in
life through ROKPA.. These children are
about to visit us in Switzerland.
They are telling their own story through
plays, dances and music in the most
impressive and touching manner. It is the
authenticity of their performances that
creates an incredible feeling of closeness
and touches the heart deeply.
Speaking for ourselves:
General children’s fund 8200
We at ROKPA try hard to keep administra-
tive costs low. If you would like to make a
donation for needy children, we kindly ask
you to make your donation to the general
children’s fund number 8200. This enables
us to be flexible and thus to support those
children who need support most urgently,
irrespective if they live in Tibet, Nepal,
Zimbabwe or South Africa.. It also helps us
to prevent excessive deficits in specific
projects.
We would like to inform you that begin-
ning 1. January 2012, we will automatically
report incoming donations for children (as
well as funds deriving from expiring
sponsorships) to the account 8200, even if
differently indicated on the payment slip.
If you would like to continue supporting a
specific project or child, please inform us
accordingly by 2. December 2011.
In a nutshell
In 2005 Lea Wyler had organized for the
most talented children to go on tour in
Europe in a similar event, which was the
first of this series. The world premiere
took place at the Club Kaufleuten- and
was accompanied by standing ovations.
This was followed by three weeks at the
sold out famous Edinburgh Festival.
The „ROKPA KIDS“ are also regular guests
at the well known BRAVE festival in
Poland. In 2012, the dance theatre will be
on tour for two weeks starting 13. May,
and will be visiting different locations
throughout Switzerland. Please save the
1st of May (around 4 pm) for the premiere
at Club Kaufleuten in Zurich. More
detailed information will follow shortly.
Project sponsorship
We also sell products from our women’s workshop at several Adventsmärkte.
31 Jahre ROKPA – 31 Jahre Hilfe
I become a project sponsor and donate 1 CHF a day! I become a sponsor for
education of disadvantaged children (PP 7800)
medical help where it is most needed (PP 7600)
women’s fund for the support of needy mothers (PP 8300)
Payment please send me payment slip(s) by bank transfer
First name, family name
street, house number
postal code, city
e-mail address
Please cut out coupon, copy and send to: ROKPA, project sponsorship, Böcklinstrasse 2 , 8032 Zürich. You will then receive a letter with further details.
Discover our new online shop!
Useful giving makes a gift twice as nice.
A sponge bag of raw silk, a colorful pouch
of velvet, or a yoga cushion cover: You can
order all this, as well as other great gifts
ONLINE in the comfort of your home.
These items have been crafted in our
women’s workshop in Kathmandu.
www.shop.rokpa.org
Visit our ROKPA markets!
23. of November: Visit our ROKPA stall at
the Adventsmarkt in Küsnacht, ZH from 1
to 7 pm or on 26. of November: in Zumi-
kon from 11 to 6 pm or on 2. to 4. of
December: at Xmas market in Löhningen.
Corporate sponsors
ROKPA thanks the following companies for
their generous donations: Beltronic
Information technology, Greuter AG,
Imagic AG and KPMG.
Payment
monthly
quarterly
twice yearly
yearly
14 15
NGOs offer two general types of sponsorships. These are either
sponsorships to support communities, regions or projects or to
promote certain topics. The other type are personal sponsorships
for individual children which add a lot of commercial appeal.
ROKPA INTERNATIONAL does not offer personal children sponsor-
ships in order to protect the children – this is in accordance to
ZEWO recommendations.
But we do offer project sponsorships – in order to support and
promote certain topics. In this way, whole families, communities
and regions are supported, not only specific children.
As a project sponsor, you help in a sustainable way. You regularly
support the project of your choice over an extended period of
time. – ideally for at least three years.
You can donate …
On a monthly basis: CHF 30.-
Every three months: CHF 90.-
Every four months: 180.- or
Once a year: CHF 360.-.
You can be a sponsor for as long as you wish;you can cancel your
subscription whenever you want.
„I am donating 1 CHF a day!“
But, of course, you can make a single donation for your favorite
project. The money will benefit exclusively the project you
specify.
The projects supervised by ROKPA:
Education for discriminated children: see page 4
Medical help for the needy: see page 6
Women’s fund for the support of needy mothers: see pages 12
and 13.
Thank you for your sustainable help!
For questions: Don’t hesitate to contact us 044 262 68 88.
Become a ROKPA sponsor
31 years ROKPA- 31 years help