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Celebrating our Connection with Nepal

For the past seven years, Shawnigan Lake School has been honoured to partner with Shree Mangal Dvip (SMD), a school in Kathmandu that provides free education, housing, and care for children from remote Himalayan mountain villages. SMD, which operates fully through philanthropy, educates students through Grade 10. Graduates are encouraged to stay on at the school to work in teaching, mentoring, or administrative roles while completing their education elsewhere in the city. The school also works hard to find ways for their students to experience the world, with the hope that they will return to Nepal and work to improve the conditions there. Accordingly, SMD has connections all over the world – including with Shawnigan Lake School.
Shawnigan has now had three students from SMD come for their Grade 11 and 12 years, with a fourth currently in her first year at the School. Each of these students has made a meaningful and lasting impact on the School community and it has been our privilege to welcome them to the Shawnigan family.

On Saturday, June 4, Shawnigan took time to celebrate this important relationship, beginning with a powerful Chapel service that gave insight into the work of SMD and gave a taste of Tibetan Buddhist religion and culture. As an introduction to a short film about SMD that was commissioned by his wife, special guest Mike Schauch shared with the School the way in which his life was forever altered after an encounter with a remote village school – and with one special child in particular – during a hiking expedition. The close connection that he and his wife maintained with this young girl and her family led them to SMD.

The School was honoured to have a monk from a monastery in Vancouver join us for the day. During the service, he shared beautiful Buddhist prayers in the Tibetan language and explained the essence of Tibetan Buddhism.

Afterwards, many students remarked that they had found the service extremely powerful and enlightening.

The School was delighted to welcome back to campus Tenzin Lama ’21 (Strathcona) and Junu Dimdung ’19 (Kaye’s), two of our past scholars from SMD. They are currently both completing their university education in Canada and were pleased to have this opportunity to visit Shawnigan. We were also thrilled to welcome Shirley Blair, Director of SMD, and Shawnigan’s Board of Governors.

Following the Chapel service, guests were invited to a Scholars Lunch that focused on our partnership with SMD. Our Kitchen Team outdid themselves with a tasty Nepalese meal and there were more opportunities to learn about SMD and our scholars.

The event also introduced our new Impact Scholarships, which Shawnigan has just launched for new and returning students, both local and global, who have been survivors of conflict and/or circumstances that impede their access to the growth and development that education offers. The School has just this month welcomed the first Impact Scholar, a young woman from Afghanistan, and is looking forward to welcoming two students from Ukraine over the summer.

To watch a full recording of the Chapel service, please click here.
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We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.