Reflections on HOW projects
A gift from God
The opening ceremony for the Mussoorie Workshop was performed on Tuesday 28th June 2000 as part of the formal proceedings organised by The Tibetan Homes Foundations administration team. As the ‘resource person’ for the workshop, Sharon Bassett performed the lighting of the butter lamps, a Tibetan tradition. Each staff member and each student from Hope then gave an introduction to themselves, their work and their contribution to Hope One World followed by the key note address on management by the newly named ‘Mrs Sharon’.The three day workshop began after a short and very sweet (tasting) tea break. (The team is very grateful for the abundance of tea; the Dalai Lama once said that if anyone drinks tea more than the English, it’s the Tibetans!) All of the Tibetan participants were eager to get started and had been encouraged to actively take part by the General Secretary, Thupten Dorje. The workshop was considered ‘a gift from God’ and at this point ‘Mrs Sharon’ was feeling just a little nervous. Within the first few minutes the group’s enthusiasm and sense of humour shone through. Sharon said: “Thinking of the first workshop is still making me smile! In one particular group, the Village Director and the Senior School Headmaster set themselves the task of each volunteering the other as many times as possible - much to everyone’s amusement. The Village Director ended up losing this competition and was gunning for the Headmaster for the rest of the workshop!”
The workshop ended on Friday 30th June 2000 with the presentation of a traditional Tibetan costume and a personal thank you address from the Assistant Secretary, Gendun Rinchen, which he concluded with the words ‘all good things must come to an end’.
Sharon Bassett
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