rokpa times november 2011 - english version

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ROKPAHelping, where help is needed.

Volume 31 / November 2011

ROKPA Gift Cards

It works like this:

Please order the desired card(s)

by e-mail to our secretariat: [email protected].

You can of course also order the desired cards

by telephone: Telephone 044 262 68 88.

We need the following information from you:

Number of the desired gift card

Amount (in CHF) that you would like

to donate

First name, surname and address of the

recipient

Your first name, surname and address

Dear ROKPA Friends

Gift card 1: Education for disadvantaged orphans and street children.

More information on page 4.

Gift card 2: Funding for talented students from the poorest backgrounds.


Gift card 3: Medical help for the destitute.


Gift card 4: Saving Tibetan medicinal plants from extinction.


Gift card 5: Fighting hunger

– thanks to ROKPA‘s soup kitchens.


Gift card 6: Food for Tibetan nuns.


Gift card 7: Supporting Tibetan monasteries – for the good of everyone.


Gift card 8: Symbolic statues of hope.


Gift card 9: Zimbabwe – supporting mothers and their disabled children.


Gift card 10: Startup capital for outcast mothers.

More information on page 13.3

CONTENTS

Meaningful giving 3

EDUCATION

Education for disadvantaged children 4

Funding talented students 5

MEDICINE

Help for the destitute 6

Saving Tibetan medicinal plants 7

FOOD

Fighting hunger 8

Why nuns need food 9

CULTURE

Supporting Tibetan monasteries 10

Symbolic statues 11

SUPPORTING MOTHERS

In Zimbabwe 12

In Nepal 13

ROKPA SWITZERLAND

News 14

Project sponsorships 15

Legal information

Editorial board:

Marie-Luce Le Febve de Vivy, Pia Schneider

Visual design: Volker Haller, www.vhvk.de

Image editor: Barbara Meier

All photos and text: © ROKPA INTERNATIONAL

Print run: 10,500 copies

Printed on FSC paper

ROKPA INTERNATIONAL has been

ZEWO-certif ied since 2004.

Dear ROKPA friends,

By the time you read this, your Christmas preparations will probably be in full

swing. You‘re wondering what presents to give to your relatives, friends or

partner. Sometimes you just can‘t think of anything that your loved ones

would like. Do they already have everything? Have you already given them

everything? What a dilemma!

But I‘ve got an idea! At the moment, while I write this and think of you, I‘m

sitting in a room 4500 metres above sea level in Tibet, which is packed with

people who urgently need our help. There is the nomad woman with her

disabled child, who is now too big to be carried on her back when she goes

to do the milking on the vast Tibetan plateau. Tears streaming down her face,

she asks for medical help for her child – she has seven other children!

And there is the wonderful professor who has built a small school for the

poorest children, where adults are also allowed to learn the Tibetan alpha-

bet: Ka, Kha, Ga, Nga! These are adults who have never had the chance to go

to school but are now completely helpless in modern times, when nomads

have moved to tiny houses in the cities. They have learned nothing other

than livestock farming and making butter and cheese. Without education,

many of them have become thieves and drug addicts.

There is the girl in Yushu, the destroyed city, who works in the tent of a

clothes shop. Her family lost everything in the earthquake, her father was

killed. The 15-year-old now spends all day in the shop to help her old mother

and three sisters get by, instead of fulfilling her dream of becoming a nurse.

But for that she would need CHF 2,800 per year for 4 years. No chance...! Or is

there? Imagine what a generous Christmas present you could give to her!

Why not – instead of spending a lot of money on a not especially appreciated

present – help someone in great need?

You will make everyone – the recipient, you and the person who receives

your gift, as well as us in the ROKPA team – enormously happy! Your help is

needed urgently – please make it possible for us to take it where it can really

make a difference. With many thanks for your important support and your

loyalty, I wish you a blessed Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year.

Yours,

Lea Wyler, Vice President, ROKPA INTERNATIONAL

Give your loved ones, friends and colleagues some-

thing special this year: a donation to ROKPA‘s aid

projects.

Our new gift cards make meaningful and sustainable

giving twice the fun!

Meaningful giving made easy

You will generally receive the gift card – including

payment slip – at your address within five working

days. We can also send the card directly to the person

receiving the gift, if you wish.

If it is urgent or you need a gift IMMEDIATELY, you can

download the gift card directly from our website as a

PDF.

More information:

www.spenden-statt-schenken.org

Gift card 1 Our suggestion

Gift card 2

As we have ourselves both enjoyed a

university education, this project for

funding talented students lies close to our

hearts. In Switzerland, a degree is accessi-

ble to more or less everybody.

In Tibet, however, higher education is

beyond the reach of most people. For

young people from homes with small

incomes – which is the case for most

Tibetan nomads – there are no state

support programmes for university

education.

Pema Yangchen is 22 and comes from a

nomad family. When she was a young girl,

Pema was allowed to go to primary school,

until her parents could no longer afford

the school fees. Nomad life in Tibet is very

hard, and families often rely on the

children working at home or in the fields.

Thanks to ROKPA‘s support, Pema now

attends the university in Dzamthang. She

still has five years of study ahead of her.

Her greatest dream is to become a teacher

in the nomad regions: „I want to be such a

good teacher that the children enjoy

coming to school.“

There are stories like that of Pema

Yangchen, which motivate us every day to

help ROKPA make it possible for many

other young people like Pema get an

education. Your donation will help young

Tibetans become doctors and teachers.

Your support not only helps individuals

and their families, but could benefit whole

regions in the future.

Our suggestionThese young people represent a total of 100 years of ROKPA help.

31 Jahre ROKPA – 31 Jahre Hilfe4 5

I have been travelling regularly to Tibet

since 2005, and I‘m impressed by how

much ROKPA has achieved in education

with relatively modest means. My favou-

rite schools are the two girls‘ schools:

„Kanze Girls School“ (91 pupils) and

„Gannan Girls School“ (150 pupils). In

Tibet, girls are not often sent to school, as

the opinion prevails that girls should help

in the home. In very poor families, girls are

also sold into slavery or prostitution out of

desperation. If a family has any money,

boys are sent to school by preference.

ROKPA places great value on girls being

able to go to school too – both for their

own development and for the develop-

ment of future generations. Educated

mothers will send their daughters to

school too! Meeting children and young

people who are supported by ROKPA is

always inspiring and moving, as they are

so spontaneous and eager to learn. At the

Education for dis-avantaged children

Education

same time, their life stories are often

heart-rending.

Ga Tso for example grew up in a nomads‘

tent with her parents, five sisters and four

brothers. When she was six, her mother

died while giving birth to her tenth child.

Her oldest brother was twelve then and

had to look after the cattle high up in the

mountains. As his clothing was not

adequate to protect his body, he cut his

legs on the rocks and bushes. He died.

Her eleven-year-old sister looked after the

younger siblings while her father tried to

find enough food for them all with

begging and odd jobs. Her life was very

hard. None of the children went to school

in those days.

When ROKPA opened a school in Kanze for

orphans and children from very poor

families, Ga Tso was accepted. Sometimes

she couldn‘t sleep from sheer joy. Now she

has good food, many friends, kind

Donate education –

now!This is how you can help:

Protect girls with education

Give a girl one year of schooling, including

food, accommodation and clothing: CHF

1,500.00

Or become a sponsor of the new ROKPA

project sponsorship „Education for disad-

vantaged children“ (see page 15).

Donations to PC 80-19029-5 – with the

reference „7800“ – are received with thanks

You can also donate ONLINE on our website

www.rokpa.org.

Pim Willems

ROKPA Country Representa-tive in Holland

teachers, a warm bed and clothes. Thanks

to her education, she has the chance most

importantly to earn her own living in the

future and, if possible, look after her

family. Something that she could not have

imagined before!

For this reason I ask you: Help ROKPA to

help these disadvantaged children – espe-

cially girls. Funding for talented students from the poorest backgrounds

Barbara Meier ROKPA Administration

Thomas Stettler ROKPA Intern

Donate education

– now!This is how you can help:

Make an academic education

possible: Give a gifted young person

the chance to study at a university.

The costs for a degree are at least

CHF 3,000.00 per year. It can be

more than this depending on the

university, as the students have to

pay high tuition fees.

Donations to PC 80-19029-5 – with

the reference „7888“ – are received

with thanks

You can also donate ONLINE on our

website www.rokpa.org.

Metok, Kangla and Delha have hit the jackpot: they can study!

31 years ROKPA- 31 years help

Gift card 3Our suggestion

Donate Health – Now!This is how you can help:

Help Tsondru out of her calamity: let your heart

speak through a generous donation.

Do without employee gratifications: we welcome

donations from employers who donate in the

names of each of their employees instead of

distributing Christmas presents to them (we are

happy to send a personal ROKPA present? card

toeach employee, see page 3).

Alternatively, you can become a sponsor through

the new ROKPA sponsorship project “Medical

Help, where the Need is Greatest” (see page 15).

We are grateful for your donation to

PC 80-19029-5 – reference “7600”.

On our webpage www.rokpa.org you can make

donations ONLINE.

Pia Schneider ROKPA manager

Donate Health –

Now!This is how you can help:

Nursery for medicinal plants in

Nangchen. Help Droni and ROKPA‘s

other Tibetan doctors to grow rare

medicinal plants in the wild. Your

donation will also enable young

Tibetan men and women to be

trained in environmentally friendly

growing and protection of plants.


PC 80-19029-5 – reference “7601”.

On our webpage www.rokpa.org you

can make donations ONLINE.


Droni Zhongnai

Tibetan ROKPA physician in training


About15 years ago my mother fell seriously ill – the medical costs

for the first month added upto more than CHF

300.000.–. Luckily we had a health insurance and only had to pay

a small part of this ourselves. We also knew that the medical

support and care were assured. But what, if this is not the case?

How does one find the way back into the future?

Last year, ROKPA reported about Tsondru (picture right) – since

her horrific accident in July 2010 she has been in hospital. Lea

Wyler and the ROKPA team have recently visited her thereUnlike

last year, Tsondru is now able to at least sit in a wheel chair and

move a few yards in it. However, the doctors assume that she will

never be able to walk again.

Now she should learn to deal with her handicap, even if that

“only” means learning to haul herself from the bed into the

wheelchair and back again. But how is she ever supposed to work

as a doctor and look after herself in the future? Differently from

myself and my family, Tsondru has no health insurance and also

no other means of funding. Her placement in the hospital and the

physiotherapy come at a cost of about CHF 3.200.– per month. In

addition to that, there is medicine, food and other things that

need to be paid for, amounting to around another CHF 1.000.- per

month (in Chinese hospitals, the family has to care for the

patients, including providing food, washing the patients etc.). In

short: Tsondru‘s costs for medicine and care amount to around

CHF 50.000.– a year!

There is no way that her family could afford this - and this is

where ROKPA comes into play. For years we have been suppor-

ting patients in need such as Tsondru, helping to provide their

medical care when they cannot afford it themselves.. We do this

with small amounts of money. But we need YOU, if we want to

help Tsondru.

Therefore I am asking you – your foundation, you as a private

individual: Please help Tsondru and other patients like her. Help

ROKPA to give these people a future again, even if it’s a different

one than originally planned.

Medical Help for those in Need

Health

Saving Tibetan

Medicinal Plants from Extinction

The supply of Tibetan medicinal plants is

not only important for Eastern markets,

but for the whole world. They allow

effective and affordable forms of treat-

ment, which have been developed over

centuries.

Harvesting wild plants with their entire

roots has led toincreasing shortages.

Certain valuable plants have already

become extinct. This is why medicinal

plants need to be reforested and multipli-

ed in specialised gardens. ROKPA supports

several doctors, including myself, to learn

everything about plant care and hatching

in Great Britain. In addition, ROKPA has

founded the very first reforestation plant

in entire East Tibet.

I firmly believe that natural herbs are

much better than chemical medicine in

certain situations. Therefore we should

preserve nature. When people just help

themselves to wild plants in the moun-

tains, without considering the conse-

quences, I get very upset. Yet I am aware

that this is a difficult subject, because the

people picking the herbs are often very

poor and desperately need money. They

don’t know how to pick the plants in a

sustainable way.

During my studies in Scotland I have

learned many new things, such as gene-

tics, physiology, statistics and ecology.

Before that, I had never been in contact

with any of these subjects in my life! Even

if my education is very demanding, it is

really fascinating! Therefore, I would like

to continue my studies and achieve a

Master degree.

My experience with ROKPA isthatprojects

for the support of people and environ-

ment are always established with a long

term view – not only a few years, but

generations. Young Tibetans who are

trained in gardening and plant protection

are important and can make a difference.

We urgently depend on your donation for

our pioneer nursery in Nangchen (Tibet),

so that we can save the medical plants

threatened with extinction and protect

them from further abusive picking.


Donate food – now!This is how you can help:

Soup kitchen Johannesburg, South Africa.

Give many hot meals to hungry homeless

people. With

CHF 100.– ROKPA can give out 170 meals.

Soup kitchen Kathmandu, Nepal

Give hot meals to hungry homeless people

during the winter months. With CHF 150.– ROK-

PA can give out 440 meals.

We are grateful for your donation to PC 80-

19029-5 – reference “12004” (Johannesburg) or

“5555” (Kathmandu). On our webpage www.

rokpa.org you can make donations ONLINE.

Donate food –

now!This is how you can help:

Food support for Tibetan nuns.

Thanks to your donation, nuns do not

have to starve and receive enough

food every day.


PC 80-19029-5 – reference “9060”. On

our webpage www.rokpa.org you can

make donations ONLINE.




Food

Relieving Hunger –

ROKPA Soup KitchensWhat does “soup kitchen” mean to me? In my view, it

is an expression of solidarity with human beings who

have nothing, who are forced to search rubbish for

edibles or have to beg. I have never experienced

being in need and am grateful for that.

I look forward to Christmas. Our little family gets

together, we spend time with one another, exchange

thoughts and news that has occurred since we last

met. And I repeat to myself all the things I need to

remember: Roast venison, oh yes. A good bottle of

red wine. This time, I must not forget the Gruyère

cheese again.

But what do the homeless eat at Christmas, when

there is no homeless shelter? Images of long queues

of people in Johannesburg, South Africa enter my

thouhts. These people are cold. They are waiting. A

vehicle arrives and ROKPA volunteers distribute hot

vegetable soup and bread with peanut butter.

Desperation goes through the queue, when it

becomes clear that the food that has been

brought will not be enough for everybody.

How would I feel if I was standing in that

queue? The people are cold. Our Christ-

mas roast will definitely be enough for

one additional person. But who wants to

eat with us? How do I find him or her, and

where? Share? Give. Give away! And then it

is decided: I will give 340 homeless people

in Johannesburg a hot meal. And what will

they eat the next day? This is where you

come into play. Take on that next day.

Please give a hot meal to the homeless

too. Let us join forces in helping people,

who are not as well off as we are. Share?

Give. Give away! Please make a donation.

Why Nuns have to Eat

In Tibet, monasteries often function as cultural

centres. When Tibetans are in need, the monastery is

often the first place they turn to for help, which could

come in the form of counselling or specific rituals.

This form of help has the power to bring peace and

inner stability and enables many people to tackle

their problems with an optimistic attitude.

Nuns commit themselves to preserving and and

keeping alive methods which Tibetan Buddhism

teaches to train the human mind. They help to

overcome many mental problems and to harmonise

the psyche.

All day long they perform deeply spiritual practices

for the benefit of all beings as well as world peace.

Since the monasteries in Tibet have to provide for

their own needs, they depend on help from the

outside world. Most monasteries are situated in

remote mountain regions. Under theses harsh life

conditions it is very difficult for the nuns to cover

even their most basic needs. Choosing the monastic

life means living in poverty. Because ROKPA wants to

contribute to the preservation of this old and whole-

some culture, from which we also benefit in the West

(many of the methods have been incorporated in the

therapies of modern psychology), we support

selected nunneries, such as the one in Kepcha, a

remote region of East Tibet. Here, I met an

86-year old blind and paralysed nun who

lives in a room with a mud floor, which

contains nothing but a simple bed.

Whoever came into contact with her, felt

her deep inner joy, her enormous love and

her compassion for others.

Over 300 nuns live in Kepcha. Modest as

they are, in order to continue dedicating

their lifes to the preservation of precious

Buddhist teachings, they need to eatand

they need medical help when they fall ill..

Since they live very simply, the support

they need is relatively limited. Most

pressingly, they need enough food to stay

healthy. As small as this help may seem: it

is of untold value and in the end, itcomes

back to us. Please donate for nuns!

Dr. Mingji Cuomo Tibetan Doctor

Gabriele Lenk Fundraising ROKPA


Cultural Support

Support Tibetan Monasteries – to Benefit all Human Beings

Last year, Yushu in Tibet suffered a terrible

earth quake. Thousands died, many were

injured. Within the day of the catastrophe,

innumerable monks and nuns arrived at

the site from the surrounding regions.

They brought tools and immediately

started to excavate those buried in the

ruins. Without having been asked to, they

worked incessantly, day and night, up to

the point of exhaustion.

Wherever I travelled during my work for

ROKPA, I haven‘t found a village or a small

town without at least one monastery - the

pivotal point of the community.

Though most of monasteries have been

destroyed during the Cultural Revolution,

most of them have been rebuilt, too. The

locals wanted it like that.

Monasteries are

the most important

source of strength

and thus indispen-

sible for the

country.

Donate cultural

power – now!

How you can help:

Tibetan monasteries are a pivotal point

of life. With your donation, you don’t

only help nuns and monks to preserve

and promote their cultural heritage -

you offer an important spiritual and

economic home to this deeply religious

people.

We are grateful for your donation to PC

80-19029-5 with the reference “9070”


can make donations ONLINE

Barbara Pfeif fer

Country manager

ROKPA, Germany

Within their walls, methods are taught and

practiced that help human beings to be

compassionate, attentive and tolerant and

in sum, to be able to deal more easily with

the challenges of everyday life. The health

benefits of some of these methods have

been recognized around the world and

they are practiced in various forms in

many places.

Monks and nuns are devoted to maintai-

ning and developing these beneficial

methods.

Most of them live off of nothing but three

portions of rye porridge a day. They have

no income and their relatives often lack

the funds to support them.

This is why ROKPA offers help to the

monks and nuns to be able to buy food.

Supporting a monastery is a sustainable

investment: It means supporting human

beings in looking for inner and exterior

peace.

I hope that you will donate for Tibetan

monasteries.

Statues, symbols of hope

I remember well when Akong Rinpoche

told me for the first time, that

ROKPA would support building at least

nine very large statues of Guru Rinpoche

on holy places in Tibet.

These statues are destined to bring

harmony to human beings and the

environment. Vajrayana-Buddhists

worship Guru Rinpoche as a second

Buddha who brought the teachings of

Buddha to Tibet in a form strong enough

to subject the violent demons of the

Himalaya.

As I had supported ROKPA for a long time,

I knew instantly how important it is to

conserve the Buddhist culture.

Inspired hope is an important feature in

every human life and especially for the

ones, who suffered much. They need

distinct, clearly visible symbols that contri-

bute to the continuity of their culture, a

marker in everyday life.

In 2009 I asked Akong Rinpoche, whether I

could join him on his annual control trip. I

wanted to experience for myself the

influence of a statue of Guru Rinpoche, so

that I could tell others of this singular

project. My dream had become true as we

approached Chopdrak in our Land Rover

on a very bumpy road in August 2009. For

the first time we saw the brilliant statue of

Guru Rinpoche standing in serene

tranquility at the very end of the beautiful

valley, near some of the caves in which

Guru Rinpoche once meditated in order to

liberate human beings from suffering. The

statue enhances the importance of this

place of pilgrimage and attracts many

tourists, thus generating a source income

for the locals.

It can be hard to understand for the

importance of donating for statues and

stupas. But humans don’t live off of bread

alone. Holy places are often more impor-

tant than food for people around here.

They are places of power, where young

and old meet, offer their prayers and find

relief during hard times, a place where

they obtain hope and reinforce their deep

spirituality.

You can help to nurture this hope. Please

donate generously to make it possible to

build further statues. They will encourage

solidarity. Make a smile appear and a tear

drop on the faces of all those who live

here and everywhere.

Donate cultural

power – now! You can help:

Support building holy statues.

Your donation will bring joy to

countless people and provide an

income for desperately poor inhabi-

tants, CHF 500.- will enable ROKPA to

employ a gifted sculptor for a month.


PC 80-19029-5 with the reference

“7795”



Edie Irwin

Country manager

ROKPA, USA





Support mothers and their disabled children

Supporting mothers

In Zimbabwe, most mothers are aban-

doned when they give birth to a disabled

child.

In many areas of the country people

believe that disabled children are a result

of witchcraft, as they can tend to be

ignorant or superstitious . The situation is

even more daunting in the case of HIV

positive mothers.

The government doesn’t offer any form of

help and the mothers usually aren’t able

to work on a regular basis to provide for

their children and themselves, given the

special care their children require. None

the less they face costs for healthy food,

hospital visits, doctor’s fees, clothes,

special nappies, school fees and mobility

aids such as wheel chairs. As a result,

disabled children often don’t go to school,

special schools are often simply too

expensive.

Excluded from school and society as a

whole, and economically disadvantaged

these children are at a high risk of being

sexually abused.

Winnie Mtapure, one of my colleagues,

shares her experience: „I am a widow and

mother of a disabled child myself. Today,

my son is 21. He was only nine, when my

husband died. Fortunately, I haven’t been

abandoned by my family, but it was a

constant struggle to get by.

I got to know other mothers of disabled

children and was very sad to see their

living conditions. These children have no

rights, they are treated cruelly. The group

of mothers started meeting regularly to

talk and to help each other, to look after

each others children and to exchange

simple exercises that would help the

children progress. “ ROKPA gives mothers

like Winnie and their children an opportu-

nity to escape poverty.

ROKPA helps by:

supporting education and rehabilitati-

on of disabled children.

helping to set up vegetable gardens,

allowing the mothers to grow part of their

own food and to sell parts of the produce.

Workshops to assess these mothers

very own entrepreneurial resources and to

make their ideas happen

Contributing to strengthening

children’s rights

I beg you from my heart to support

disabled children and their mothers in

Zimbabwe.

Donate dignified

living conditions

– now! How you can help:

Become a sponsor of the new

ROKPA project sponsorship “

women’s fund to support needy

mothers“ (see page 15).

But, of course, donations are very

welcome, too.



“8300”



Malini Patel

Country manager

ROKPA Zimbabwe


Start-up capital for expelled mo-thers in Nepal

It is not obvious, but if you look more

closely, you will find it everywhere:

discrimination against women. In Nepal,

women work much harder and longer

than men, but their work performance is

not reflected in their social standing.

Discrimination is enrooted in every aspect

of life, from the use of language to

old-fashioned prejudices, to religious

everyday life.

When visiting Nepal on my annual trips I

hear the same story over and over again.

Girls receive only very basic education, or

none at all, and don’t receive any vocatio-

nal training.

They are given into marriage at a very

early age and have children shortly

thereafter.

When they are abandoned by their

families, which is increasingly happening,

they can neither stay with their in-laws nor

return to their parents and end up living in

the streets with their children.

Now, they can only work in very low level

and burdensome areas, such as carrying

stones on construction sites, or they have

to beg.

ROKPA can help in such situations by

lending start-up capital to establish a

small business. The women are offered to

be trained in sewing; some of them are


Donate

self-reliance –

now! How you can help:

Become a sponsor of the new ROKPA

project sponsorship „women’s fund

to support needy mothers“ (see page

15).

But, of course, donations are very

welcome, too.



“8300”



also employed in ROKPA’s own sewing

workshop. These are economically self

reliant, the costs for material and wages

are covered by the revenues. I strongly

advocate this form of support, as in this

setting, the children aren’t separated from

their mothers.

With your donation to our women’s

projects, or by buying from our online-

shop (http://shop.rokpa.org) you help

women to lead a

self-contained life, as you are making it

possible for more women to be received in

our sewing workshops.

Bea Schmutz

Responsible for the

Women’s workshop in Kathmandu

31 Jahre ROKPA – 31 Jahre Hilfe12 1331 years ROKPA- 31 years help

ROKPA Switzerland News

Don’t miss:

“The fabulous ROKPA KIDS

on Tour 2012”

Finally, in May 2012: A group of former

street kids from Kathmandu found a

home, education and a new perspective in

life through ROKPA.. These children are

about to visit us in Switzerland.

They are telling their own story through

plays, dances and music in the most

impressive and touching manner. It is the

authenticity of their performances that

creates an incredible feeling of closeness

and touches the heart deeply.

Speaking for ourselves:

General children’s fund 8200

We at ROKPA try hard to keep administra-

tive costs low. If you would like to make a

donation for needy children, we kindly ask

you to make your donation to the general

children’s fund number 8200. This enables

us to be flexible and thus to support those

children who need support most urgently,

irrespective if they live in Tibet, Nepal,

Zimbabwe or South Africa.. It also helps us

to prevent excessive deficits in specific

projects.

We would like to inform you that begin-

ning 1. January 2012, we will automatically

report incoming donations for children (as

well as funds deriving from expiring

sponsorships) to the account 8200, even if

differently indicated on the payment slip.

If you would like to continue supporting a

specific project or child, please inform us

accordingly by 2. December 2011.

In a nutshell

In 2005 Lea Wyler had organized for the

most talented children to go on tour in

Europe in a similar event, which was the

first of this series. The world premiere

took place at the Club Kaufleuten- and

was accompanied by standing ovations.

This was followed by three weeks at the

sold out famous Edinburgh Festival.

The „ROKPA KIDS“ are also regular guests

at the well known BRAVE festival in

Poland. In 2012, the dance theatre will be

on tour for two weeks starting 13. May,

and will be visiting different locations

throughout Switzerland. Please save the

1st of May (around 4 pm) for the premiere

at Club Kaufleuten in Zurich. More

detailed information will follow shortly.

Project sponsorship

We also sell products from our women’s workshop at several Adventsmärkte.

31 Jahre ROKPA – 31 Jahre Hilfe

I become a project sponsor and donate 1 CHF a day! I become a sponsor for

education of disadvantaged children (PP 7800)

medical help where it is most needed (PP 7600)

women’s fund for the support of needy mothers (PP 8300)

Payment please send me payment slip(s) by bank transfer

First name, family name

street, house number

postal code, city

e-mail address

Please cut out coupon, copy and send to: ROKPA, project sponsorship, Böcklinstrasse 2 , 8032 Zürich. You will then receive a letter with further details.

Discover our new online shop!

Useful giving makes a gift twice as nice.

A sponge bag of raw silk, a colorful pouch

of velvet, or a yoga cushion cover: You can

order all this, as well as other great gifts

ONLINE in the comfort of your home.

These items have been crafted in our

women’s workshop in Kathmandu.

www.shop.rokpa.org

Visit our ROKPA markets!

23. of November: Visit our ROKPA stall at

the Adventsmarkt in Küsnacht, ZH from 1

to 7 pm or on 26. of November: in Zumi-

kon from 11 to 6 pm or on 2. to 4. of

December: at Xmas market in Löhningen.

Corporate sponsors

ROKPA thanks the following companies for

their generous donations: Beltronic

Information technology, Greuter AG,

Imagic AG and KPMG.

Payment

monthly

quarterly

twice yearly

yearly

14 15

NGOs offer two general types of sponsorships. These are either

sponsorships to support communities, regions or projects or to

promote certain topics. The other type are personal sponsorships

for individual children which add a lot of commercial appeal.

ROKPA INTERNATIONAL does not offer personal children sponsor-

ships in order to protect the children – this is in accordance to

ZEWO recommendations.

But we do offer project sponsorships – in order to support and

promote certain topics. In this way, whole families, communities

and regions are supported, not only specific children.

As a project sponsor, you help in a sustainable way. You regularly

support the project of your choice over an extended period of

time. – ideally for at least three years.

You can donate …

On a monthly basis: CHF 30.-

Every three months: CHF 90.-

Every four months: 180.- or

Once a year: CHF 360.-.

You can be a sponsor for as long as you wish;you can cancel your

subscription whenever you want.

„I am donating 1 CHF a day!“

But, of course, you can make a single donation for your favorite

project. The money will benefit exclusively the project you

specify.

The projects supervised by ROKPA:

Education for discriminated children: see page 4

Medical help for the needy: see page 6

Women’s fund for the support of needy mothers: see pages 12

and 13.

Thank you for your sustainable help!

For questions: Don’t hesitate to contact us 044 262 68 88.

Become a ROKPA sponsor


rokpa times november 2011 - english version

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