SPITI PROJECTS NEWSLETTER 2013 Next year is the 21st anniversary of The Spiti Projects Charity I first heard of the Spiti Valley in 1992 when I went to a talk given at the Lady Willingdon Hospital in Manali where my son was working at the time. I was invited by the head surgeon, Dr Laji, to visit the valley the following year, and so, accompanied by twelve intrepid travellers, I arrived in Manali at the appointed time. We hired a bus, the only available transport, and engaged a driver, cook and driver’s assistant. We took with us everything we needed – petrol, food, pots & pans, tents, bedding, as well as spare parts for the aged bus and set off in monsoon rain to the Rhotang pass, being delayed by landslides on the way: it was a baptism of fire! The Spiti Valley is a remote area high in the Himalayas on the Tibetan plateau and was part of Tibet until the 19th century. With little rain, snow-covered for 8 months of the year, and temperatures of - 40⁰ in winter, life is hard. At an altitude of 12,000 feet, life is physically tiring. The barren, mountainous land yields little and the population of 10,000 survives on subsistence farming of barley, peas and potatoes. Spitians are warm-hearted and generous and have a strong sense of spirituality. The Valley was once a vital trade link between Lhasa in Tibet and Kashmir in India. Pashmina wool and barley were exchanged for salt and other necessities. Spiti prospered until the political changes of the 1950s, when China invaded Tibet and Spiti found itself locked between mountain ranges and international borders. The valley was closed to the outside world for the next 32 years and became a buffer zone between China and India. Spiti has retained its Tibetan character and its Buddhist heritage and still has sacred Buddhist centres established in the 11th century. We are proud that our charity, The Spiti Projects, set up in 1993 has been running successfully for 21 years and we have achieved a lot thanks to your generous support over the years. Camping in Spiti on our first trip to Spiti in 1992 £150 a year will provide a child with the chance of an education and hope for the future
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Next year is the 21st anniversary of The Spiti Projects Charity
I first heard of the Spiti Valley in 1992 when I went to a talk given at the Lady Willingdon Hospital in Manali where my son was working at the time. I was invited by the head surgeon,
Dr Laji, to visit the valley the following year, and so, accompanied by twelve intrepid travellers, I arrived in Manali at the appointed time. We hired a bus, the only available transport, and engaged a driver, cook and driver’s assistant. We took with us everything we needed – petrol, food, pots & pans, tents, bedding, as well as spare parts for the aged bus and set off in monsoon rain to the Rhotang pass, being delayed by landslides on the way: it was a baptism of fire!
The Spiti Valley is a remote area high in the Himalayas on the Tibetan plateau and was part of Tibet until the 19th century. With little rain, snow-covered for 8 months of the year, and temperatures of - 40⁰ in winter, life is hard. At an altitude of 12,000 feet, life is physically tiring. The barren, mountainous land yields little and the population of 10,000 survives on subsistence farming of barley, peas and potatoes. Spitians are warm-hearted and generous and have a strong sense of spirituality.
The Valley was once a vital trade link between Lhasa in Tibet and Kashmir in India. Pashmina
wool and barley were exchanged for salt and other necessities. Spiti prospered until the political changes of the 1950s, when China invaded Tibet and Spiti found itself locked between mountain ranges and international borders. The valley was closed to the outside world for the next 32 years and became a buffer zone between China and India. Spiti has retained its Tibetan character and its Buddhist heritage and still has sacred Buddhist centres established in the 11th century.
We are proud that our charity, The Spiti Projects, set up in 1993 has been running successfully for 21 years and we have achieved a lot thanks to your generous support over the years.
Camping in Spiti on our first trip to Spiti in 1992
£150 a year will provide a child with the chance of an education and hope for the future
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The Community Centre will provide a focal point for social and cultural life in Kaza, as well as providing a location for health services. Once
completed, the centre will include a hall, and kitchen as well as a craft centre and a library. Most importantly it will incorporate a Dental Clinic and an Eye-Testing Clinic for which no facilities presently exist in the valley. There will be simple accommodation upstairs for home-stays which will provide income so that the Community Centre may become self-sustaining.
The first phase of construction of the Eco Community Centre in Kaza was completed on the 28th of September 2013. The construction period lasted 5 months. This phase included construction of the masonry foundations, rammed earth ground floor, ring beam lintels, ventilators and corbelling, and site preparation for the winter.
IN PROGRESS Spiti Eco Community Centre, Kaza being constructed by Auroville Earth Institute.
Local labourers and stone masons were hired. There were difficulties with the weather but the schedule was completed on time and the ground floor is now built. The construction uses earth-based technology; mud bricks and rammed earth are not costly, they retain warmth and are earthquake resistant; cement, on the other hand, is not thermal and is damaging to health. Solar panels will be installed on the roof to take advantage of the 300 days a year of sunshine in the Spiti Valley. Using eco-technology is an alternative to burning wood in winter which is expensive and damaging to the environment.
The building has now been covered for protection against snow and low temperatures. The second phase will commence at the end of May 2014 when the last of the snow has melted.
Compressed Stabilized Earth Brick machine
Building with rammed earth technique1st Floor of Community Centre completed
Construction in progress
IN PROGRESS Water Pump in Upper Mane
IN PROGRESS The Kanchen Memorial Girl’s Hostel
This year a boundary wall was erected around the land on which a girl’s hostel will be built by us in New Kaza. This is to provide lodging and
opportunities in a suitable atmosphere for the poorest
Construction in progress
One of our current projects is to install a water pump for Upper Mane village, to pipe water 350 metres uphill to an upper tank to save
the villagers carrying 20 gallon containers of water up a steep hill. During the winter months when the temperature is well below freezing, the track is slippery and it is hard work to find water for their basic needs.
Only spring water remains un-frozen in winter when the temperatures can drop to -30⁰. Students from The Hertford & Essex High School came to Spiti in 2011 and did a magnificent job digging 1 metre deep trenches in preparation for laying the water pipe. The tank is now built and in position and the pump will be installed this spring.
students in the valley so they may benefit from the best education available. We plan to start building next year. The girls are excited, as it will give much more space: they are now cramped 3 or 4 to a very small room.
Women carrying 5 gallon cans of water Herts & Essex High School digging a trench for water pipes
Girl’s hostel 4 students to 1 small room Land given by the government for the hostel
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THE MISSION HOSPITAL, Kaza
THE SCHOOL, Mane Village
The Mission Hospital in Kaza was built between 1992 and ’95. Until then, there was no medical facility for the 10,000 people living in the Spiti
Valley and patients had to walk for three days or take a 16 hour journey by jeep on rough roads to Manali. The Mission Hospital is efficient and is the only place offering surgical treatment in the valley. It is administered
from The Lady Willingdon Hospital in Manali, under the care of the senior surgeon Dr Philip Alexander. Spiti Projects brought teams of doctors to Spiti for many years; now local doctors hold medical camps in villages throughout the valley. Patients are referred to Kaza for medical treatment or surgery if necessary.
Eye Testing Hospital built by Spiti Projects Dental care
Operating theatre in our hospital Doctors consultation
The school in Mane village was built at the request of the villagers; it took three years to build and was completed in 2005. From a shack with a
corrugated iron roof, we turned it into a very smart school constructed on eco-friendly principles with solar
lighting. It has now been taken over by the government, and upgraded to secondary school level. It offers education for students up to 12th grade after which they are eligible to apply for college.
Pupils in the new School Mane village School
We built the Craft Centre in Lari following a visit to Demel, the village of weavers. Their work is exquisite; they specialize in their
own unique style of Spiti shawl and we saw an opportunity for the women to benefit from their skills by selling their hand woven shawls, knitted socks and other crafts. The craft centre is fitted with two looms and a spinning wheel. Over the years we have brought nine spinning wheels into the valley for different villages with the result that wool which would take three days to finish by hand, can be evenly woven in half a day. We shall be transferring the centre to the administration of the new Community Centre in Kaza.
THE VILLAGE CLINIC, Key Village
The village clinic we built in Mane village was completed in 2010 has a male and female paramedic to offer treatment to the local
inhabitants. Twice a year a team of 5 doctors from Simla visits to hold prophylactic health camps to check for heart disease, diabetes, TB and other ailments. If
test results are positive they are referred for further treatment.
Over the years we have held hygiene clinics in the villages, to wash hair, cut nails and offer toothbrush & paste. We have treated scabies and other skin diseases.
THE CRAFT CENTRE, Lari Village
Kitchen with Loom in winter
Washing hair at village pump Cutting nails
Spinning Wheel provided by Spiti Projects
Traditional Socks Traditional Spiti Shawl
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The knitters - our faithful knitters from all over the country have sent us hundreds of sweaters to keep the children of the
Spiti valley warm. The Sweaters have made an enormous difference to the wellbeing of the children and they love them. We distribute sweaters to nurseries and kindergartens where in winter they sit on cardboard boxes to keep warm. Many English nurseries collect outgrown children’s shoes for us, kindly donated by the parents.
We are delighted to be able to tell you that some of your lovely sweaters are now being worn by children in south India as well as Spiti - so please do Keep Knitting. We sincerely hope you will continue to support us in this way. Thank you on behalf of all the children.
Child sponsorship for Education - at local request, we set up a Child Sponsorship scheme, to pay for the education of children of poor uneducated
families which do not own land and consequently find it hard to make a living. These children would not otherwise have the chance to attend school and thereby be limited in future to earning their living as labourers. For £150 a year a child is given the chance of an education and hope for the future with the possibility of supporting their parents in old age.
CHILD SPONSORSHIP
THANKS!
THE KNITTERS
We owe enormous thanks to Adventure Ashram who have donated £90 000 towards the construction of the Community Centre in Kaza. We are delighted to be working closely with them. If you wish to contact Adventure Ashram, their project manager is Fritha Vin-cent ([email protected])
THANK YOU Janet Lancaster who has been in the chair of the charity for the last 6 years. Janet joined me, going to Spiti on a regular basis, checking on our projects and offering her expert advice, we shall miss her. We wish Janet the very best of luck in her retirement.
THANK YOU John Reeves who took over our book keeping three years ago, and did a magnificent job, in tidying up and keeping everything in very good order.
THANK YOU all very much for your support over the years without your help we could not have achieved the on going work in the Spiti valley. We still need your help.
Children receiving sweaters from the knitters
Children of Spiti
21st Anniversary of the Founding of the Spiti Projects Charity
We shall be celebrating this with a special musical evening, including a Bharatanatyam Dance Performance, on June 10th, 2014 at The Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent’s Park Road, London NW1 7AY.
We should be honoured if you would consider joining us for this celebration.
We need your help to continue to support us with our projects, the most
important of which is the Community Centre. We plan the Grand Opening of the Centre in July 2015.
Please make a note of this date in your diary. Programme and booking details to follow.
