ROKPA USA 1:1

ROKPA USA
NEWS
ROKPA International and Lea Wyler
in the first UN Women Conference
NO. 1/2011
Registered Charity No. 501(c)3
Non-profit ID number: EIN 31-1331706

ROKPA supports UN Women
to improve gender equality
Lea Wyler, the Vice-
P r e s i d e n t o f
R O K P A
INTERNATIONAL,
was invited to take
part in the launch
and thus the first
U N W o m e n ' s
Conference in New
York last February.
U N W o m e n ,
formally known as
the United Nations
Entity for Gender
Equality and the
Empowerment of
Women, represents
the United Nations’
most ambitious
e f f o r t e v e r t o
accelerate actions
t o a c h i e v e g e n d e r
equality.
“It is inspiring to be
among dedicated and
capable women who are
looking for ways to
r e s o l v e t h e g e n d e r
inequality problems in
the world, and ways to
protect little girls from
abuse,” Lea Wyler says.
“With the birth of UN
Women, we welcome a
powerful new agent for
progress on gender
equality and women’s
empowerment,” says
UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-Moon.
“The challenges are
great, but I believe that
with the new energy, the
new momentum and the
new authority that UN
Women brings, these
challenges will be met.
True gender equality
should be our shared
l e g a c y i n t h e 2 1 s t
Century.”
A real change starts
from within
Lea Wyler, a former
a c t r e s s f r o m
Switzerland, founded
ROKPA INTERNATIONAL
together with her father
Dr. Veit Wyler and with
D r . A k o n g T u l k u
Rinpoche, a Tibetan
lama and physician, in
1980.
Helping women and
children is close to Lea
Wyler's heart. She tells
about her experience of
starting a soup kitchen
in Nepal, in a country
w h e r e w o m e n a r e
commonly abused. It
t o o k h e r a w h i l e t o
understand why women
took their food and then
went to sit and eat on
top of garbage piles.
“These women are so
used to being abused
that they believe they
are worth nothing. The
real change begins only
when these women feel
that they have integrity,
and once they realize
that there are thousands
of women and men who
support them. Only then
will they be able to
stand up proud of the
beauty and integrity of
who they really are.”
UN Women will support
individual countries in
moving towards gender
equality in economics
and politics, and ending
t h e w o r l d w i d e
phenomenon of violence
against women. It will
a s s i s t i n s e t t i n g
international standards
for progress, and lead
coordinated UN efforts
t o m a k e n e w
opportunities for women
and girls central to all
U N p r o g r a m s f o r
development and peace.
Fresh efforts
in fundraising
for ROKPA
ROKPA supports around
150 projects in places
where other charitable
organizations have found it
difficult to initiate and
sustain humanitarian work.
“I hope and wish that
American people will be
generous and help us fulfill
the needs of the poorest of
the poor in the world,” Lea
Wyler says.
Lea Wyler clearly explains
that the money donated to
ROKPA is well spent:
“ROKPA takes only 10
percent of the people's
d o n a t i o n s f o r t h e
administrative costs. All the
rest goes directly to the
projects”.
Lea Wyler and Dr. Akong
Tulku Rinpoche spend six
months each year travelling
and personally visiting
ROKPA projects around the
world.
Lea Wyler knows from her
own experience how
helping others definitely
alleviates one’s own
suffering. She lost her
mother to cancer when she
was a young adult.
“Akong Tulku Rinpoche then
said to me: ‘Now you have
so much grief and you are
so lonely, but the way to
overcome that is to help
another person. The more
you help others, the more
your mind goes towards
others and not towards
yourself.’”
Lea took these words to
heart and now enjoys a
busy life heading up ROKPA
INTERNATIONAL in Zurich
and developing and
monitoring projects in
Nepal and Tibet.

Who we
help now
Tibetan areas
of China
O v e r 1 5 0 e d u c a t i o n ,
health, social and cultural
projects supported. 10,678
students in education and
many thousands more
benefiting through our
healthcare projects.
South Africa
Food and training for up to
300 in the streets of
Jo h a n n e s b u rg. S o c i a l
support & skills training for
200 around Groot Marico.
Nepal
8 0 c h i l d r e n a t t h e
Children’s Home, up to 800
people a day at the Soup
Kitchen in the winter, 10 at
the Women’s Workshop, up
to 50 ‘start-up’ funds for
small businesses every
year.
Zimbabwe
Up to 1,000 of the most
v u l n e r a b l e : t h e s i c k ,
orphans, the disabled and
the destitute are helped
every month. An orphanage
for 900 children can now
be suppor ted through
ROKPA.
India
Up to 5,000 meals at
B o d h g a y a . W e a l s o
continue to suppor t a
n u m b e r o f T i b e t a n
refugees.
UK
Currently 5 students in
Edinburgh.
Help to Zimbabwe
The replacement of the Zimbabwean dollar by US and South African currency in
2009 made it much more difficult for people to survive. Most people are
unemployed and as a result have no money. The number of homeless, destitute
and despairing people is increasing, often wandering the streets in search of
anything that will help them and their families to survive.
ROKPA Support Network has an open door approach for those who need help of
any kind, but there are extremely limited funds. Most people are looking for
medicine and food and
also school fees, accommodation, spectacles,
bus fares, home, hospital fees, artificial limbs and walking aids. We help as many
people as our resources allow.
Medicines take a large part of our budget as the health services have collapsed.
Last year a cholera epidemic killed over 4,000 people. It is feared this will return
this year, especially since the water and drainage systems have not been
maintained. Income Generating Project workshops also help the unemployed to
gain knowledge how to earn money, be it for example low input gardening and
selling produce, making peanut butter or soap making.
We are ROKPA USA volunteers
Edie Irwin
At the request
o f A k o n g
Rinpoche, in
1 9 9 7 E d i e
Irwin took on
t h e r o l e o f
R O K P A
representative
for USA.
Her aspiration is to raise substantial
funds in the USA for ROKPA projects,
especially in Tibet.
Edie practices internationally as a Tara
Rokpa therapy trainer and therapist in
12 countries, including South Africa and
Zimbabwe.
Laura Jones
Laura Jones is a
retired aerospace
systems engineer
and former high
s c h o o l
t e a c h e r. S h e
vo l u n t e e r s w i t h
S o r o p t i m i s t
I n t e r n a t i o n a l ,
which has goals consistent with those
of ROKPA. Laura became involved
with ROKPA USA when she was offered
the job of building a new website in
response to the Yushu earthquake
relief effort.
Virginia Dempsey
G i n n y i s a
p r o f e s s i o n a l
business woman
w h o h a s b e e n
w o r k i n g i n t h e
printing/engraving
industry for over 25
years. She has
been working for
ROKPA as Secretary for the United
States branch since 1997.
- The wide range of help categories,
and the fact that these are delivered
directly to people in need with a
minimum of administrative cost - the
American branch, for example, is
entirely volunteer - make the work of
RO K PA a t r u e c o n t r i b u t i o n t o
humanity, Ginny says.
Kirsi Jansa
K i r s i i s a n
i n d e p e n d e n t
j o u r n a l i s t a n d
filmmaker, and a
native Finn living in
Pittsburgh since
2008.
Kirsi is responsible
for putting together
the ROKPA USA newsletter. She is also
starting to run Tara Rokpa Healing
Relaxation courses.

ROKPA USA
ROKPA USA
NEWS
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the poorest of the poor in the most remote areas of the world.
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Alexandria, VA 22312