Christmas in the Himalayas! “Science, Spirituality, and Education” with the Dalai Lama. Sikkim, Northern India, December 20-23, 2010
As the days darken and shorten here in Northern California, December 2024, I am reminded of the many different winter holiday experiences there have been over the years. Today I am sharing excerpts from a long report sent home to family and friends 14 years ago, and a link to the entire message.
The government of Sikkim allots 20% of its budget to education and the teachers are the highest paid in all of India. The government is very serious about education because the rate of suicide of teenagers is on the rise as it is everywhere Western modern culture is introduced. They hope that an improvement of education will change this. They covered the complete cost of everyone invited to attend, hotel, food, local transportation. Lhamo and I were grateful to the Michael Olaf Company and friends in Amsterdam, Beit Jala Palestine, Rome, and the USA, who covered our very expensive travel costs.
The government brought together a stellar group of scientists, medical doctors, philosophers, thinkers, and educators, including five Montessorians, in hopes of solving problems through the education of children. Because of the talks by Lynne and Jean, and the many conversations about Montessori education among us participants, a day was added just for the educators to talk to us about how Montessori ideas could be of help.
The Montessori Teachers and teacher trainers present: Cheryl Ferreria, Jampa Palmo, Lynne Lawrence, Jean Miller, Susan Stephenson, Lhamo Pemba.
CONFERENCE FORMAT, 4 DAYS
Session 1: Understanding our Brain
Session 2: Understanding our Mind
Session 3: Brain Plasticity and Mental Transformation
Session 4: H.H. the Dalai Lama’s Participation and Guidance on Introducing Moral Ethics in the Modern Education System
Session 5: Discussion on the Implementation of the Vision: Introducing Moral Ethics in the Modern educational system
Session 6: The Art and Science of Meditation
Education System
Session 7: Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Education
On the left is the Dalai Lama and Adele Diamond, neuroscientist and AMI Montessori admirer, who has become a good friend over the years. And on the right a picture of Lhamo Pemba with her parents in Darjeeling, where we spent several days before and after the conference.
During the solstice and the full moon, we held a Montessori Christmas celebration with a lovely Indian meal at the most beautiful of the four hotels of the conference. Lhamo and I had brought a Christmas cake from Darjeeling; I gave everyone a greeting card with an image of one of my paintings (now framed and hanging in the AMI office in Amsterdam); and Lynne gave everyone a special box of chocolates. One of the people at our dinner was a great surprise for me. Jampa is a Montessori teacher at TCV, Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala, India, where I gave talks in 2002 and we remembered each other!
During the time with Lhamo and her parents she visited many old friends and I found work at the clinic where her father worked—sorting the patients record books into numerical order – 500 patients. I would love to have been able to talk to them, especially the 13 elders with no family who were living in little rooms and being cared for by the monastery. We do not share languages but smiles and gestures and laughter sufficed! In the evening I was treated to Tibetan momos and Tibetan tea by my friends Tsewang and Tsomo. We have been in touch for some years as Jim and I help with the tuition for their son, Tenzin, in Dharamsala, India. It was wonderful to be able to meet them in person, something none of us thought would ever happen.
December 26th, I began the trek home: 3 hour drive to Siliguri, overnight in a hotel, then flights: Gangtok to Delhi, Delhi to Dubai, Dubai to San Francisco and then Arcata for a late and so looked-forward to family Christmas.
I do hope you enjoyed this. I wrote a lot more and the details of these incredible days can be found here: CLICK: Sikkim
Happy Holidays to you, and may 2025 bring hope and peace and joy.
Hugs,
Susan
Click: Susan’s Home Page
AID TO LIFE, MONTESSORI BEYOND THE CLASSROOM. This book tells more about the Sikkim conference and the contribution of the Montessori teachers. CLICK: Aid to Life
TIBET AS I KNEW IT. If anyone reading this is interested in learning about the history of Tibet from a brilliant man who lived it, left to attend medical school in the UK, and returned to help Tibetan refugees, this is the book. It is the length of a text book, and I ordered, the $100 hardcover edition as soon as it was released. Now a paperback is available on Amazon. The writing is interesting, personal, historically accurate, and most enjoyable.
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