Swiss association in Ladakh :Gamyul Phanday Tsogspa

 

Who we are


Gamyul Phanday is an association composed of Mara Casella, Tsering Rinchen, Tsering Tundup, Saira and Dolma Tsomo, who all live in Ladakh, and of Marianne Aerni who resides in Switzerland. Frequent reunions are organized in Ladakh. Mara is in touch with Marianne, who makes the connection with Switzerland and returns to Ladakh every Summer to follow the project. The committee has become a solid structure. Each project is extensively discussed, and discussions are sometime very animated.
In order to help the village, our team regularly visits the area to talk with the locals and evaluate the situation with the chief of the village who has transmitted the villagers' priorities.


The assistance with the handicapped children is done in close collaboration with their parents. Many contacts are made with organizations working in that field.


Since she settled in Ladakh, Mara Casella has come back to Switzerland every Winter. The association organizes then many conferences to raise fundings.

Our values

Gamyul Phanday Tsogspa is extremely careful to make decisions with the concerned ladakhi people as to not generate unnecessary needs and insure, for as much as possible, the continuity of its actions. Therefore contracts of collaboration with these people or communities are systematically established to determine precisely the objective of the grant, its amounts and its length.

  • Respect the ladakhi language and culture at the educational, religious, administrative and organizational level.

  • Respect the handicapped person by considering his/her intellectual, physical and psychic abilities.

  • Collaborate with the parents and local infrastructures in the field of education.

  • Respect the environment following the local legislation concerning the construction and exploitation.

 


Our team

 

  • Mara Casella is a special education teacher with an extensive experience in the field of teaching and education of handicapped people. From 1991 to 2001, she was the pedagogic leader for the adult branch of the Institution “Home/Ecole Romande Les Buissonets” in Fribourg, before teaching in the integration service (support of handicapped children integrated into regular primary and secondary schools). In 2005, she left Switzerland to settle in Ladakh.

  • Marianne Aerni was a journalist at Radio Suisse Romande for 10 year, then responsible for the communication of the department of Finances in the canton of Geneva, department presided by Micheline Calmy-Rey. She is currently in charge of the communication at the Haute Ecole de Gestion de Geneve (HES). She holds concurrently several mandates in communication and organization of events, one of which being the Comedie de Geneve.

  • Tsering Rinchen is a teacher. He is originally from Alchi and his family is established in Leh. Like many ladakhi teachers, he's currently working far from his home, in the region of Chantang. He knows the ladakhi situation extensively and is eager to bring help to people in difficult situations.

  • Tsering Tundup is an accountant. He is originally from Spituk and is established in Leh. He works as an accountant at the department of environment.

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