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Published on Sunday, 09 October 2011 20:29

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10 runs, 10.8 kilometres each – 108 kilometres

Celebrating 10 Years of the Druk White Lotus School

Some time ago some friends from Live to Love and from the Druk White Lotus School UK project office asked me to do something special to celebrate 10 years of the Druk White Lotus School.

At first, I thought about organising a party, but I have always been rubbish at organising parties. At the time I was developing a regular running routine and came up with the idea of running once for each of the 10 years been celebrated, 10 runs.

Initially, I thought about running 10 kilometres each time. But 100 kilometres did not sound quite right. 10.8 kilometres per run, a total of 108 kilometres, sounded more appropriate, more sensitive. 108 is a number with significance. Ladakhis, like other Buddhist ethnic groups living on both sides of the Himalayas, often carry with them a rosary made out of 108 beads which they use to count the prayers they seem to endlessly recite. Although prayers are recited 108 times and not 100 times, 100 turns of the rosary count as 10,000 recitations and not 10,800! I view this as, so to speak, going the extra mile. So I decided to run 108 kilometres, instead of 100 kilometres, between the end of September and the New Year to celebrate 10 Years of the Druk White Lotus School, and, at the same time, raise funds for and awareness about this unique award winning project.

The Druk White Lotus School is both an ambitious construction and educational project, and a very special place in a very harsh environment; a place sometimes at the capricious mercy of the elements, not always just natural - for instance last year’s (hopefully rare) flash flood and mudslide, and, in general, the endless flux of change that life is.

Having been captivated by the place and the people, especially the children, I have acquired a very minimal experiential understanding of why it is so important to help educate the Ladakhi children: to preserve their traditions and give them a cultural identity, and, most importantly, to provide them with an education that could make the difference between living in poverty as adults or not.

If you are still sceptical or unmived, try imagining yourself as a 9 year old child living in a place where:

• winter lasts 6 months and temperatures as low as -20 C are reached regularly,
• there is no central heating, just a stove where cow dung is burned
• there are no toilets, just dry latrines or nature
• some children, those from a nomadic family, may spend their winter living in a tent made of yak hair

You may think that living in these conditions is living in poverty. Having breifly experienced this way of life, i am unsure if I would describe it as poverty. Povert is living in the slums of Delhi or Mumbai. By giving these children a good education, we are laying the foundations that hopefully will keep them away from the slums and will help them preserve their heritage,

Please help, and sponsor me on http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/108run, in return I will run 108 kilomtres and will update this website as regularly as I can.

If you cannot sponsor me, if your short of funds in these difficult times, please help by spreading the word.