Recipient of the Month
Umoyo Girls School
Lusaka, Zambia

"I have yet to visit any other learning environment in southern Africa that does a better job of girls' empowerment." - Stephen Lewis. Race Against Time. 2005 - CBC, Stephen Lewis Associates Ltd., House of Anansi Press Inc.

Shenpen Fund Canada

In Tibetan, Shenpen means "of benefit to others". For Pencho Rebgey and his wife Tsering, the name was a natural choice for the fund they created to build a school for girls in their native Tibet.

The Chungba Primary School opened its doors in 2001 with the stipulation that girls be given first places. Its charter says at least 50 per cent of students at all times must be female and the remaining seats are for boys.

Classes currently go up to Grade 3. The 253 students are mostly from six to nine years old, with a handful of older girls who made strong requests for admission.

Students live in residence, and the Shenpen Fund pays for food and warm winter clothing, as well as schooling. A grade is added each year and eventually a secondary school will have to be built to accommodate the increase in student numbers. A greenhouse has been built (with the generous support from the Asia Foundation), and the cvhildren grow vegetables and learn about improved nutrition.

The Chungba Primary School is bilingual, teaching both Tibetan and Chinese. A future goal is to add English to the curriculum. The local county government pays the base salary of the teachers. To attract the best teachers to the isolated community, Shenpen Fund Canada pays a significant added bonus. There are currently 17 teachers, mostly Tibetan but also Chinese language teachers as well. Their hard work and effort have paid off. Among the 52 primary schools in the country, the Chungba Primary School students have achieved the highest results on country-wide standardized examinations for the school for the second year in a row. In particular, their Tibetan language test scores are approximately 17% above the county average.

The Chungba Primary School project requires far more than teachers and books. A pipeline had to be built to bring clean and plentiful water from the mountains because deforestation casued serious erosion problems, muddying surrounding streams and rivers. There is often no electricity, and a generator is required to light the classrooms and allow students to study in the evenings. The school is also overcrowded. Currently, there are not enough beds or even floor space to accomodate all the children. The school's storage facilities have become temporary sleeping quarters for many of the children.

There is a pressing need for a new dormitory so that the overcrowding can be alleviated. The cost of a new residence is $100,000.00. So far, only 20 percent of the cost has been raised.

The Chungba Primary School has benefited the whole community. Locals are employed in construction, as cooks, caretakers, cleaners, and to sew winter clothing and make boots for students, most of whom come to school without enough warm clothes. Moreover, the success of the school has created a new sense of optimism in this remote community.

The Chungba Primary School is a work in progress, started and still nurtured by many of the citizens of Lindsay, the small Ontario town that, because of contributions from people like Pencho and Tsering Ragby, has become an important centre of Tibetan culture in Canada.

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