24 June:The 88th Birthday of late Dr. Hermann Gmeiner, the founder of SOS Children's Villages was observed as SOS Day in his loving memory in SOS Tibetan Children's Village School at Upper Dharamsala on 23 June 2008.

Dr. Hermann Gmeiner was born in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg in 1919. His mother died when he was only young. The sufferings of so many orphaned and homeless children after the Second World War convinced him of the need to find a way of helping them. Out of Hermann Gmeiner's unswerving conviction that help can never be effective where children have no home, the SOS Children's Village idea was born, and it was first implemented with the foundation of SOS Children's Village Imst in Austria in 1949. Since then the SOS Children's Village idea and educational principles have been acclaimed all over the world.

1960 Hermann Gmeiner was elected the first President of "SOS-Kinderdorf International", the umbrella organization of all national SOS Children's Villages Associations. He held this function until 1985. Hermann Gmeiner died in Innsbruck (Austria) in 1986.

In the morning, Children assembled at ground and took part in the Drawing Competition. When the drawing was over, the children were provided with the doughnuts and muffins to relish the day's work. In the afternoon, the Gmeiner Cake Football tournament's final match was held between 2 School Teams: Class IX and X who have earlier beaten another school team and 3 staff team. While the final trophy was lifted by the Class X Students who defeated their rival Class IX students by 6-5 goals.

Similarly, the day is being observed in all the TCV Schools and Children's Villages to pay their homage and gratitude to its beloved Dr. Hermann Gmeiner on that day.

About SOS Children's Villages of India
SOS Children's Villages of India is a non-government voluntary childcare organization, committed to the care of children in need. The aim & objective of the SOS Children's Villages of India is to help orphaned and homeless children by giving them a family, home and a strong foundation for an independent and secure life. Since its inception in 1964, SOS-India has expanded its services for children in need at a rapid pace. Today, there are 31 SOS Children's Villages including the new projects under establishment and 122 allied projects like Kindergartens, Schools, Social, Medical, Vocational Training Centres and Outreach Initiatives spread across the country reaching out to thousands of children. SOS-India is a member of SOS-Kinderdorf International, operational in 132 countries.

13 June: Kangyur Reading and Soltsok during the Holy Month of Saka Dawa
Starting from 11-13 June 2008, all the Tibetan Children's Villages and Schools organized a Kangyur Reading Program at their respective halls and temples by inviting lamas and monks to read Kangyur along with the school staff, TTC trainees, Mother trainees and senior students followed by Soltsok (Food Offerings).

Kangyur or "Translated Words" consists of works in about 108 volumes that were spoken by the Buddha himself. It is divided into sections on Vinaya, Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, other sutras, monastic discipline, metaphysics, the Tantras, etc. Some describe the prajñ?p?ramit? philosophy, others extol the virtues of the various Bodhisattvas, while others expound the Trik?ya and the ?laya-Vijñ?na doctrines. Though the exact number of texts in the Kangyur is not fixed and currently there are about 12 available versions of the Kangyur. These include the Derge, Lhasa, Narthang, Cone, Peking, Ugra, Phudrak, and Stog Palace versions. Yet all extant Kangyur appears to stem from the Old Narthang Monastery Kangyur.

During the Kangyur reading at Upper TCV School, donations in various forms were flowing from all the walks of people including children so as to do offerings and earn spiritual merits. With the kind help of more than 60 monks from Kriti Monastery of Mcleod Ganj, it only took less than 2 days to finish 100 Kangyur verses. On the third day, the Staff Welfare Committee in close cooperation with School Cultural Committee organized a grand Soltsok (Food Offering). This was one of the most looked forward events for every TCVians to do lots of offerings and gain maximum merit in a year.

7 June: His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama has kindly accepted to give an exclusive Introductory Buddhism Lecture for the School and College/University going students once again this year from 5-6 June 2008 at the Tibetan Children's Village School Dharamsala Cantt.

Thousands of Senior School Students and College and University Students as well as huge number of public assembled at the TCV School for the second Introductory Buddhism Lecture by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In order to relax the minds of the attendee, His Holiness first broke the ice by cracking several jokes and kept everyone laughing and made them happy. During his lecture, besides all the Introductory Buddhism Lectures, His Holiness gave special emphasis on the very identity of the Tibetan people, our culture, morality, ethics and social values when we as Tibetans walk side by side people of the other countries. It is indeed our pride to possess such a wonderful attribute that has been passed out for generations. Also as a follower of Gautam Buddha, we must develop or nurture those innate feelings of kindness, sympathy and empathy for those in need and suffering and show them that you care for every sentient being in this world.

The last 15 minutes of the session was kept for interaction and question-answer between the His Holiness and the students for any need of clarifications on the said lecture. After the lunch, group of learned Buddhist teachers were again called to further discuss and interact on the said lecture in groups with the students and the interested attendees at 3 different places inside the school campus. The main aim of the afternoon session is to deliver a quick follow up for the attendees and also to clarify all those doubts in their mind concerning Buddhism.