Last Sunday, we held our annual staff picnic and visited Parishar lake, above Mandi at 2,700m. The weather had been hot the week before so the 22 of us set out with warm coats but completely inappropriate footwear for the unexpected snow that fell that day! Fortunately, we stayed in recently built mud cabins 5 km below the lake and in the morning had the very special encounter with this amazing temple and sacred lake in pristine snow. What a memorable outing together!
We are very pleased to welcome Nimmo Devi to our team of Single Women Activists. An experienced field worker, she is taking the place of Shilpa who has married and needs to concentrate on becoming a part of her new family. We wish Shilpa all happiness and look forward to working with Nimmo Devi.
Spring is here and our staff and children celebrated Holi, the festival of colours in our Community Centre.
The students in the Community Centre wishing Dr Barbara a very Happy Birthday!
With 18 students crowded into our computer lab for Sunday classes, we are very grateful to the organisation called PCs fur Alle who donated 6 refurbished machines for the students to use. Two are with MA college students and the other four supplement the machines in the computer room. Even so, many of the students work together in pairs.
The kids are delighted that the empty frame in the playground has new chains fitted so it is once again a fun climbing frame. Maintenance is a perpetually ongoing process!
Friday is our regular clean up day. During the winter the Waste Warriors representative and local women join our sponsored students and the Nishtha environment team on an extensive clean of the local area. Mohinder talks to the group about the importance of segregation of waste and setting an example to the community about keeping the area clean. The quantity of trash thrown randomly along the roads is truly shocking these days!
Thirteen students and two volunteers, Leo and Luisa joined our 2 day picnic up above Jiya village. On the way we visited a Tibetan monastery and a Gurudwara where there is old cave of a Sikh Saint. It was very cold at night but we all kept warm by singing and sharing stories. In the morning we warmed up with yoga exercises and by playing the traditional game called pithu hup. Then we went for a walk in the fresh snow! We were very grateful to the Nishtha cooking team for joining us so we could cook for ourselves. It was fun helping cooking and cleaning the dishes.
The tuition and kids program has been running smoothly with everyone enjoying sitting in the winter sun and enjoying snacks of roasted vegetables from the Nishtha farm prepared by Sunil.
Vijay, Leo and Nikhil rode for Nishtha in the 25 km Dharamsala cycling race organised by the District Commissioner to raise awareness of the local drug problem. We were proud that Leo came 10th in a field of around 75 riders!
