Harrosmith students enjoy a memorable visitor from Nepal

Nov 05, 2014

Pema Lama, a practicing Tibetan Buddhist and teacher from Nepal, visited students at local area schools last week. Students at Harrowsmith called the visit nothing short of “awesome”.

Pema Lama and his Canadian host, Leslie Myles, visited with grade four and five students at Harrowsmith Public School (HPS) on October 29. The day before they visited students at Loughborough Public School. Myles became acquainted with Pema during her numerous trips to Nepal and last year when she spoke to students at HPS about her trek to the Mount Everest base camp, she promised that she would return this year with a special visitor from Nepal. “The students knew that I would be returning with someone from Nepal and today they finally had a chance to meet him”, Myles said.

Pema Lama, who has been studying Buddhism with his great uncle since he was 7 years old as well as with other yoga and meditation masters, engaged and fascinated the students at HPS. His visit began with an introduction by Myles who spoke of Nepal, a country she became enamoured with years ago. She spoke of the capital city Kathmandu and its bustling population of 1 million people and of the smaller rural villages located high in the mountains, particularly the village of Mugu located near the Tibet border, which Pema Lama calls home. She spoke of the differences of village life compared to life here in Canada and of the many small mountain villages that have no roads, and where animals like yaks, donkeys and sheep share the many walking paths with the local villagers. She described the village farms and how the villagers live off of the produce they grow. There are very few schools, which are located many miles away and students spend often up to four hours a day walking to and from them.

Myles told the students, “It is very different there but also very beautiful too”. She then introduced Pema who told the students about his village, how he studied Buddhism in a cave with his great uncle. He explained the meaning of his name: “Pema means lotus flower and Lama translates to mean mother power or mother art.”

This was Pema's first ever visit to Canada and he spoke to the students of his respect for all people and all religions and explained to them how “even though people look different and speak different languages, we are all, in mind and heart, the same.” He took questions from the students, one of whom asked him about the shawl he was wearing. He explained that the shawl is an important part of his practice and it represents the wings that the freedom of his practice brings him. He also stressed the importance the practice places on positive rather than negative thoughts.

Following his talk he demonstrated some different yoga exercises, inviting the students to participate, and also later invited the students to join him on the floor to practice meditation.

Myles, who is the managing director of the Limestone Learning Foundation, together with Pema Lama has been involved in an international student dialogue called the Nepalese Global Connection, a pen pal program where students from the Limestone District School Board and the Shree Himalaya Primary School located in the Solu Khumbu region of Nepal have been writing letters back and forth. Pema also brought with him letters from the Nepalese students.

It was a memorable visit for the Harrowsmith students and for the school principal Valerie Arsenault. Arsenault stressed the importance of bringing visitors like Pema Lama to the school. “Visits like this one from Pema Lama bring the outside world to the students in a way that no technology can. This visit brings the wisdom and experience of other cultures and countries to the students and makes for an especially authentic learning experience.”