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Activities
of the Yangrima Ex-student Society (YESS) |
| Roundtable
Discussion: |
Roundtable
Discussion (RTD) was organized to allow
all the members to discuss and agree on
various agendas such as strategic planning,
reviewing the Constitution, Reopening of
Yangrima School and developing an action
plan. It was held on, 1st, 15th and 22nd
September 2007.
The outcome of the RTD was that we were
able to refine our vision and mission statement
along with an extensive work on brushing
up the YESS constitution. On the 22nd of
September, we gathered to discuss our role
on Reopening of Yangrima School Project.
Of the written outcomes, we have the following
to adopt formally.
Vision: YESS envisions
a strong, united, well-functioning organization
committed to a wide range of educational
development activities, thereby building
the capacity and confidence of its members
to achieve our shared goals and develop
innovative ideas to prosper in the global
society. |
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| Congratulation
and Orientation Ceremony for SLC Graduates: |
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One
of the aims YESS had taken on back in 2000
at its first meeting was to encourage students
from Yangrima School and the Helambu region,
and to give them academic and career counseling.
Congratulating the School Leaving Certificate
graduates has been our major annual event
and we have made it a bigger event as we now
organize in partnership with several different
organizations from the Yolmo indigenous community
of the Helambu region. |
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To enrich
this event, YESS works several months ahead
to organize some scholarships for financially
disadvantaged students in order to support
them. YESS would like to thank following
institutes and colleges for their generous
support extended to us. They are New Summit
College, Ideal English Boarding Higher School,
White House College, Universal College,
Sagarmatha College, Global College of Management,
KEBS Academy, JayaDevkota Memorial College,
United Academy, and New Era Institute. Please
check here for detail to review who are
on Scholarship Benefit from SLC 2006 Batch.
We are particularly pleased to announce
two Scholarships that we have been able
to set up permanently and they are YESS/New
Summit College Scholarship Award and Karpu
Lama Scholarship Award.
Please click here for Scholarship detail:
In order to encourage SLC graduates 2063 group and with the view to generate and promote leadership skill inside them, YESS organized two days long Youth Leadership and Development training in June 2007 a month before the SLC result was published. There were about 20 participants gathered who all expressed us how they benefited and how the event became an opportunity for them to work with their likes and age group.
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| Documentary
on the Greater Nepal: |
YESS
hosted a documentary screening of “The
Greater Nepal” to inform and appreciate
the work of one of the Nepalese Youths who
spent an onerous time in accomplishing this
project about Nepal before a popular treaty
called Sugawali Sandhi was made with East
India Company during the British regime
in India.
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| YESS
Peace Marathon 2007: |
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YESS
has grown to become a springboard for new
ideas and a setting that nurtures them.
In June 2007, we organized a peace run tilted
YESS Marathon for Peace and Education 2007
escorted by one of our members, Mr. Tshering
Lama, a professional marathoner who has
won several national and international medals.
Coordinated by Mr. Tshering Lama and Mr.
Pasang Tshering Lama, YESS was able to gather
hundreds of people to run for peace carrying
the message of education. We were joined
by prominent marathoners of Nepal and some
of the latest heroes who have scaled Mount
Everest. Thanks to Nepal Television, Kantipur
Publication, Kathmandu Post and Himalayan
Times for highlighting this peaceful event
as healthy sport news and all those participants
for ignoring quite a heavy rain and messy
traffic. Special thank goes to the Everest
Hard Wear and its Managing Director, Mr
Sonam Lama for supporting the event financially
and logistically. YESS will organize this
event every year from now on. |
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| Partnership
with SJK School, Canada: |
In
the beginning of March 2007, our age long
Canadian yet Nepali friends Rob and Judy
and friends brought a group of their students
for a cultural exchange program and to do
some community service work in the mountain
schools in partnership with YESS. Along
with several of YESS friends, their group
was arranged to make a circuit Trek of Helambu
stopping in almost all the schools all the
way to Yangrima School from where we made
our acquaintance back in 1996. In the light
of Yangrima remaining out of operation,
the group worked hard to re-order things
and clean, and we celebrated their presence
by organizing a football tournament between
YESS group and SJK group. We are thankful
to the SJK group for their generous support
to fund the work of reopening of Yangrima
School. Please check here for the details
of how the SJK funds have been utilized
or are going to be utilized. |
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| Anthony
Lunch Visit: |
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Anthony
Lunch needs no introduction for YESS group or
any Yangrima family. The director of MondoChallenge
who supported Yangrima School from the UK through
Sermathang Project right from its early development
until the school was forced into closure made
a sojourn to Nepal in early February 2007. We
had a great meeting with him and it was the
first time that he personally witnessed what
the YESS group is really doing, though he had
been supporting us in many ways from its start.
The ex-president of YESS, Jimmy Lama, before
departing for Abu Dhabi, was invited for a quick
meeting with Anthony Lunch to discuss the Reopening
of Yangrima School. In the meeting, he reassured
us of his support in several ways from rebuilding
costs to teachers' salaries to future volunteer
placements. Before his departure from Nepal,
all the YESS group and Yangrima family were
invited for a dinner party at a restaurant in
nearby Boudhanath. |
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| YESS
T-Shirt: |
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produced 150 T-shirts with new logo to raise
our campaign of fundraising. The new design
gave a slogan reading YESS! Never Say No.
The T-shirts have traveled to our friends
living all over the places around the world,
and it is being used for all occasions at
YESS. We are thankful to Alpha Phi Omega Group
in American University for helping us raise
funds by selling and promoting YESS T-shirts. |
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| YESS
Picnic 2007: |
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A
delightful picnic for YESS at Yangrima School
was organized on the 1st of January 2007.
An unexpected number of friends joined us.
Half of the participants who were not YESS
members represented different youth-related
organizations and colleges. The amazing thing
about this three-day event was that all the
activities came under the cost of Rs 500 per
head. And this was all possible because of
the generous support we received from our
friends and we would like to thank them all.
The picnic also became first step towards
our goal of reopening Yangrima School. A large
number of local people who arrived for a meeting
from different villages gave us a very positive
response and showed their full solidarity
with our effort to reopen Yangrima School. |
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| Exchange
with Brenderup Hojskole. |
Yangrima
Ex-Students Society (YESS) and Brenderup
Hojskole built an educational relationship
in order to promote cultural exchange in
our respective countries. Brenderup
School Exchange Project used to be a
vibrant exchange project set up by Yangrima
School under the auspices of Democracy Fund.
Later in 2001, due to the end of Democracy
Fund, it could not continue. In the MoU
with YESS, we state the Brenderup Hojsokole
will take care of students coming from Nepal
through YESS in Denmark and similarly YESS
will be responsible for supporting Danish
volunteers coming to Nepal for cultural
programs. The underlying interest of YESS
and Brenderup in our agreement is to support
each others educational objective mutually.
It is a pleasure to announce the set up
of YESS Brenderup Scholarship Award at Brenderup
to support YESS activities, School Projects
in Helambu including Yangrima and subsidize
the cost of any YESS members going to study
at Brenderup. This idea developed after
the visit of Ole Dedenroth followed by Peter.
The project will be further enhanced in
February with a properly written Memorandum
of Understanding with Mr. Ole Dedenroth
in between his plan of visit for a month
and half.
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Ever
since the closing of Democracy Fund, the exchange
idea has been continued by two members and three
friends of YESS members who left for Brenderup
Hojskole, Denmark for their six-month course
for International Class to learn about topics
such as Globalization, Internationalism, Democracy,
EU, Culture, Conflict, UN, and also to gain
some skills in the end of February of 2007.
They were Punam Lama (Vice-President), Mendo
Lama (Executive member), Pemba Lama (Ex-Yangrima
Student), Manjo Dahal (Friend) and Anoj Silwal
(Friend).
We are thankful to Mr. Nima Lama a long time
friend of ours from Yangrima for introducing
the Brenderup Project with YESS. |
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| Reopening
of Yangrima School Discussion Series: |
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As
part of its long term goal to reopen Yangrima School,
YESS set off a discussion series among varied groups
including ex-students, ex-teachers, locals, ex-supporters,
ex-administrators. The idea behind holding a discussion
program was to receive plenty of feedback from different
individuals and groups about their opinions and views
regarding the reopening of Yangrima School. Please
read some reports and articles that YESS produced
from the discussions and related activities. |
The
progress to this date convinces us of three things:
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That
everyone is unanimous about the reopening of
the school.
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The school will run in a community model through
TRUST.
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Yangrima
School will set up partnerships with local schools
for their academic support whenever and however
possible.
For more detail on Reopening of Yangrima work and
information, please go to Reopening of Yangrima
School Project.
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Highlights
of YESS Activities in the previous years |
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