2018

Old people’s home

India – Lugsung Samdupling Refugee Camp in Bylakuppe (Karnataka)

Project sponsored by the Nel Nome della Donna Trust

Along with the construction of the new hospital in Kollegal...
in 2012 and the construction of a home for ex-political prisoners in Dharamsala in 2015, the construction of new living quarters for the elderly women in the Lugsung refugee camp at Bylakuppe was without doubt the most important project we completed. It consists of two blocks of 4 rooms, each with two occupants, and one block with 2 rooms. Altogether they will house twenty elderly Tibetan ladies. The sanitary installations were especially designed to meet their needs with one bathroom between every two rooms.

Renovation of the Dekyiling hospital

India – Dekyiling Hospital at Dehradun (Uttarakand)

Project sponsored by the Bertarelli Foundation and GAB Charity Foundation

With the help of the...
Bertarelli Foundation in Geneva and GAB Charity Foundation in Lugano, the complete renovation of the Dekyiling Hospital was completed. In 2017 we renovated the wing for tuberculosis patients, this year we turned our attention to the hospital. A sheet metal roof was installed as protection against the monsoon rains, a drainage canal was dug all around the building to avoid infiltrations, all the walls, both inside and outside, were repaired and repainted, The hospital, which was founded in 1986, is 13 km from the city of Dehradun and serves a community of more than 10,000 Tibetan refugees but is also open to Indians. The staff of 14 consists of a doctor, pharmacist, physiotherapist, dentist, nurses, director, bookkeeper, cook, cleaner and driver.

Renovation of the school electricity plant

India – Ngoenga hostel/school in Dehradun (Uttarakand)

Project sponsored by Arpe Foundation

The renovation work of the school for disabled children in...
Ngoenga was continued this year with renovation of part of the electricity plant. The meters were changed and repowered and the electrical wiring in the children’s dormitories and in some of the staff’s living quarters were changed and put out of sight. The Ngoenga School for children with special needs was founded in 2000 with private funds of his Holiness the Dalai Lama. 50 children between 6 and 22 years old suffering from autism, dyslexia, epilepsy, polio, Down’s syndrome, mental retardation and cerebral paralysis stay there permanently. It has a staff of 30 including teachers, medical staff, “adoptive parents”, administrative and service staff. The children are housed, fed and treated and attend school lessons according to their possibilities.

Vaccination against B hepatitis

India – Lugsung Samdupling Refugee Camp in Bylakuppe (Karnataka)

Project sponsored by Sokhrates

Sokhrates accepted to finance a part of the Hepatitis B...

vaccination programme in Bylakuppe through Vimala Association. Thus the Tso-Jeh hospital was able to start vaccinating young people up to 16 years of age. We very much hope to be able to renew the programme for many more years, considering its extreme preventive importance.

Installation of a sheet metal roofing at the CST and CVP schools

India – Lugsung Samdupling and TDL Refugee Camps in Bylakuppe (Karnataka)

Of all the projects we were able to complete in 2018, many...

of them were decided due to urgency after the flooding in the summer seriously damaged central and south India, creating serious structural problems in buildings that were already in poor condition. The two schools in the Bylakuppe refugee camps were in disastrous conditions after the rains: infiltrations of water flooded several classrooms, causing short circuits in the electricity system, damage to computers and other teaching aids. The most urgent intervention was to cover the buildings with sheet metal roofing to avoid a repeat of the situation, and then carry out the repairs later. Vimala association immediately offered to finance the installation of the roofs, which was also made possible by the marvellous and moving response of all our friends to the appeals we launched on the media. Heartfelt thanks to everyone!

Renovation of wards for tuberculosis patients

India – Lugsung Samdupling Refugee Camp in Bylakuppe (Karnataka)

One of the projects decided as an urgency after the...

floods that last summer caused serious damage in central and northern India was to install sheet metal roofing over the tuberculosis patients’ ward of the Tso Jeh Lugsung hospital. This ward is one of our own “creations” as it was built in 2006 by the Vimala association thanks to financing by a sustaining member. The exceptional rains this year caused heavy infiltrations which seriously damaged the structure. It was therefore decided that in addition to the roofing the structure itself should be made safe and take advantage of the opportunity to dig a drainage canal around the building, enclose the two inside courtyards which produced a lot of humidity and move the water tanks from the roof to a new specially built tower. Heartfelt thanks to the generous financer, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Renovation of A and B nursery schools

India – Gurupura refugee Camp at Hunsur (Karnaraka)

The two nursery schools at Gurupura had for some time been...

asking us for a renovation. The exceptional monsoon rains this year worsened the situation so we quickly decided to do something about it. In the “A” nursery school the kitchen was renovated and new bathrooms were built. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, it was not possible to replace the roofing of the classrooms. In “B” nursery school the bathroom and kitchen were renovated. Heartfelt thanks to all those who responded so generously and rapidly to our appeals on social media!

Renovation of the library at the CST school

India – TDL (Tibetan Dickey Larsoe) Refugee Camp in Bylakuppe (Karnataka)

At the TDL School a benefactor, in memory of a dear...

friend who had died prematurely, donated furniture for the library. The shelves are not closed: it was explained to us that if, although it was very rare, a book disappeared … well it would mean that there was one extra reader!

Purchase of outdoor games

India – Clement Town refugee camp in Dehradun (Uttarakand)

The association was happy to sponsor the purchase of new...

games for a small piece of ground for the children, since the request was motivated by the desire to encourage children to socialise in after school hours, instead of always watching television or playing electronic games.

Purchase of shoes for the children

India – Chennai (Tamil Nadu)

Every year the Vimala Association cooperates with...

Shabnam Resources in Chennai on a small project aimed at children or mothers in the slums as an end of year present; this year we bought shoes for the children.

Alternative medicine

Guinea Bissau – Bissau, Mansoa e Bissora

This year our annual support for the Missions in...

Bissau, Mansoa and Bissora in Guinea Bissau ended. For many years we have made a contribution to the training courses and purchase of material to keep alive natural medicine alongside the “whiteman’s” medicine. Now the Missions are able to carry on with this wonderful project independently so we can move our support somewhere else.

Construction of a new water well

India – Gurupura refugee Camp at Hunsur (Karnaraka)

Project sponsored by the Vandoeuvres Municipality

The well that supplied water to 45 families in village “A”...
was nearly empty and could no longer supply sufficient water to fill the cans, so that both hygiene and maintenance of orchards and gardens was precarious. Thanks to Vandoeuvres Muncipality, which financed the project, we were able to build a new well and thus supply the population with sufficient water.

Children’s assistance centre

Papua New Guinea – Vanimo

This year we ended our annual support to the Mission in...
Vanimo, Papua New Guinea: for 10 years we made a contribution to enable the Centre to take in children from the poorest families who could therefore go to school, learn cookery, sewing and cultivating vegetable gardens and so keep them off the streets where drugs, thieves and prostitutes are rife. The Centre is now well established and is able to function independently, thus enabling us to move our aid somewhere else.

Purchase of a refrigerator

India – Dekyiling Hospital at Dehradun (Uttarakand)

Thanks to one of our faithful supporters, we...
were able to donate a refrigerator to the Dekyiling hospital to store the most perishable products.

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