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Albella News Flash 
December 2008
News from Heshron, Principal of Albella
Dear Friends & Well-Wishers,
This is just a brief line to inform you that I have just returned from the Hospital (Christian Medical College & Hospital) in Vellore, South India after completing all the medical tests and I am very pleased to say that all my test reports such as MRI , EEG , ECG and various blood & Urine tests came out normal.
Exactly a week back (22.11.08) I had an attack of severe giddiness and fell unconscious on the floor for a couple of minutes. This happened while getting out of the toilet around 3 AM in the morning and then banged my head against the table with bruises & lumps on my head. Fortunately Ebi was by my side and she informed the doctor friends who all came to help me that morning. I was immediately taken to a Nursing Home in Siliguri.
After the CT Scan of the brain and the ECG I was referred to a bigger hospital for thorough check-up to rule out any other complications.
Our eldest son Andrew (doctor) accompanied me to the Hospital and was a great support to me all the way.
So now I am back Home feeling quite well .However, I am advised to contact the doctor in CMC Vellore by telephone or email incase of any further problems which I don't think will be necessary. I do hope so !
I would like to thank you dear friends and well-wishers for your prayers and concern for me.
Sincerely yours,
Heshron
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Albella News Flash
August 2008
News from Heshron, Principal of Albella
We are all keeping well here despite the political unrest in the hills. Every day we have processions with thousands of people demanding for a separate state of Gorkhaland. We have not been able to pay our Telephone, Electricity and other taxes to the government for the past few months now. It’s a non co-operation movement against the West Bengal & Central government till the demands are fulfilled. We just hope and pray that our lines are not disconnected. There were prayer meetings of different faiths in the Darjeeling district which went on for a month for the same cause. Please do pray for an early settlement of our political problems in the hills.
Our work is going on well without any setback. No major sickness till now and all the children are keeping fairly in good health. Soon we will be celebrating the Independence of our country (15th August). Most of our senior boys are taking part in the Parade and various other events for the day.
We have had a lot of rain in the past few days but now it has started clearing up again, so now we can dry our wet clothes. We will be happy when the monsoon is over! No major landslides till now.
Thanks you for all your love and concern for this place.
Heshron
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Albella News Flash
May 2008
News from Heshron, Principal of Albella
We are all keeping quite well and our work is going on fine despite the political unrest. Today is the 14th day since all the government offices are closed for an indefinite period. So we have not been able to pay our electricity, telephone bills etc. which are already overdue. We hope that we don't pay fine for late payment when the offices are opened. The local political party continues to put pressure on the government for a separate statehood as Gorkhaland.
We are happy that schools & colleges are spared and the shops are allowed to open which is a big relief unlike in the past. We just hope and pray that this political unrest in the hills is settled quickly.
We have already started with the retaining wall at the Vocational Training Centre which was damaged last year due to the landslide. We should be able to complete the work in another 10 days time.
Our senior boys once again won the final Cricket Match in the town and brought home a Trophy as usual. This is the first Trophy in the Cricket for this year. All the big boys who had sat for the Board Exams this year in March are waiting for their results which should be out by end of May 2008.
Please do continue to pray for our political situation in this area so that the peace may prevail once again.
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Albella News Flash
February 2008 (2)
News from Heshron, Principal of Albella
This is just to let you know that we are all keeping fine despite the political unrest in this area for the last couple of months now. All the government offices including the banks & post offices, shops are closed and vehicles are off the road for an indefinite period.
Today they lifted the strike for 4 hours so that the public can buy food & necessary items within this 4 hours time and then the strike will continue for how long nobody knows. All the schools and colleges have been spared which is a good thing they have done. We have stored enough rations to last us for a month except for the perishable items like meat & vegetables which we are managing somehow.
Please do pray for our political problems in the hills so that the normalcy will return soon. Our big boys are presently writing their Board exams both Matric & Higher Secondary which will last till next month.
Albella News Flash
February 2008 (1)
News from Heshron, Principal of Albella
We are all well here except for the political unrest. We have just completed with the painting and distemper works and now we are doing the children's lockers and mattresses repairs and mending works. We should complete all this by the 1st week of Feb.
Andrew & Anamika will be with us for a few days next month before they leave for Shillong to join their duties. Anamika also got the appointment in North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Sciences as a residential doctor. Mark is in
Regards & best wishes.
Heshron
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Albella News Flash
December 2007
News from Heshron, Principal of Albella
We greatly appreciate your love and concern for this place. We are all well here and our work is going on just fine without any set back despite all the strikes that we have had in the past. We just hope and pray that the political unrest in this area will be solved without any further disturbances.
Right now all children are busy writing their final term exams and thereafter we are going to have our Christmas programme as we have every year. So we are all looking forward to celebrating this great event. Around third week of December the Christian community in Kalimpong have decided to organize a Carol Fest starting from 17th to 21st Dec. Please do pray for this programme as well.
During the winter break we will be doing a lot of repairs & painting works as we always do. We will have with us a couple big boys to help us with the painting works as they always do during the winter holidays. We also plan to make a few new wooden lockers for the children replacing the old ones as they are not fit to be used anymore.
All the boys in the Home are keeping in good health and no major sickness or broken bones. Our children are doing well, Andrew is in Shillong in the North Eastern Regional Indira Gandhi Institute of Health & Medical Sciences in the Department of Medicines, his wife will be joining him in the same Institute around Feb.2008. Mark is working with Microsoft in Bangalore and he seems to be quite happy with his job. He will be home during Christmas for a few days.
You are often in our prayers.
Heshron
Albella News Flash
September 2007
There were many major landslides in Kalimpong in the recent days affecting thousands of people. Our place is still quite safe except for some major cracks in our Technical Block. The road to Siliguri is still closed for the 16th day today, and there is no sign of restoring the normal traffic.
We just hope and pray that the situation will come back to normal soon. The cost of everything has gone up by more 50% as most of the food items have been routed through
Please do uphold us in your prayers.
Regards & best wishes
Heshron
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Albella News Flash
August 2007
News from Heshron, Principal of Albella
It has been raining quite heavily for the past few days. We just hope and pray that nothing drastic happens this year. Luckily the road to Siliguri which is a life line for Kalimpong & Sikkim is still alright, but if this kind of rain continues for a few more days, we can anticipate some big landslides around the area.
One of our boys by name Santabir Tamang had a successful Appendectomy operation, and he is doing fine at the moment. There have been a few sicknesses among the boys but now all are doing fine. All the older boys who had sat for the final Board Exams a few months back have passed their exams in a good division. Four of the big boys have joined the Kalimpong College to do their B.A. and one of them has opted for B.Sc.
We won the first prize in garden competition with an additional Trophy from the Member of Parliament for being the All – Rounder, and winning first prizes for both compound and Terrace for three consecutive years. It was an honour to receive a special trophy from the MP too. This is mainly due to the sheer hard work of Ebi, who spends all her extra time taking care of the garden.
Family news : Since the elimination of Leprosy programme from Kalimpong, Ebi has been given a new assignment by the Government as the Assist.Chief Medical Officer of Health for the entire Kalimpong sub-division with added responsibilities. It is good that she enjoys taking on all these tasks. Andrew is working in Shillong, in North East Indira Gandhi Regional
Institute of Health & Medical Sciences. He is posted in General Medicines. He plans to do post graduate either in Medicines or Orthopaedics as per the availability of the seats. His wife Anamika is still in Punjab working in a Mission hospital till the end of this year as per the agreement with the hospital, and then she will join Andrew in Shillong around January, 2008.
Mark is working with Microsoft in Bangalore. He was in Bangkok recently for some meeting and enjoying his work. Naomi is in the Boarding school; we do see her sometimes but we are looking forward to having her back home, when she gets her long winter holidays in December.
Please remember all these matters in your prayers.
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Albella News Flash
June 2007
From Heshron Rahmi, the Principal
All is well here despite the heavy rain and landslides around Kalimpong & Sikkim.
OurJunior boys have completed their 1st Term exams, and now the Senior boys (VI-XII) are starting their exams. Let us hope that everyone does well.
You will be glad to know that all the older boys who had sat for the Board exams in March 2007 have passed their Higher Secondary exams. We have four boys who want to do their B.A. in Kalimpong College. We have already submitted their application forms to the college. Those who passed Matric exams will be doing class XI & XII (Higher Secondary exams). There were no failures; all passed in good divisions.
One of the older boys, Tshering Lepcha will be leaving soon to go to Darjeeling. One of the relatives has come forward to help him to go to college in Darjeeling, so he is quite happy to study in Darjeeling.
I am sending some photographs taken during the recent Bonami sports, senior boys cricket match and health check-ups etc. I am still working on video pictures; I have taken some but have not covered fully and then I will have to make a DVD after transferring the programme in the computer.
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Albella News Flash
March 2007
To all our friends and sponsors - You are often in our thoughts and prayers.
We have had a very busy time right from the beginning of February. First it was our son Andrew's wedding in Jallandhar and thereafter we had the Reception in Kalimpong. Soon after that we had the opening of the new session in the school plus the new admissions and so on and so forth!
Now we are little relaxed, but we are still having so many boys wanting admission in the Home. This is the usual process here and there is no end to it. Our work is going on well without any setbacks. Our Dining Hall looks much bigger now after the extension. We have put 5 extra Tables so the children have a lot of space to move around and not crowded.
Andrew and Anamika`s wedding at Jallandhar , Punjab went on very well and also the Reception Party in Kalimpong which was well attended by our families and friends from Kalimpong and out-stations. At the moment Andrew is working in a Mission Hospital in Raxaul, and Anamika in another Mission hospital in
Punjab. It is likely that both will be working together in one place in the future.
Heshron and Ebi
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Albella News Flash
December 2006
We are all keeping in good health and continue to enjoy our daily walk in the morning. We are up by around 5 a.m. and by 5:15 we are on the road for our walk. No rain to disturb us for another couple of months. So we are making best use of the season.
All the boys are busy writing their Final Terms Exams, including our own school in Bonami. Results will be out by the 3rd week of December for the promotion to next class. Soon it will be Christmas, and all are looking forward to this day.
We have just completed our retaining wall behind the Boys Dining Hall. Now we plan to extend the Dining Hall, and we are getting around an extra 400 square foot, so we should be able to accommodate another 5 tables. The present Dining Hall, (which we had built in 1988), has become too small and very congested. So with the extension we will have more space and should be able to take more children on.
As to family news, right now Andrew is working in the Duncan Hospital, Raxaul, Indo-Nepal border. He seems to be quite busy attending night duties and heavy OPD's but liking his job as well. He is getting a lot of exposures and experiences, which have given him the confidence in the medical profession. His wedding is fixed on the 3rd February, 2007 in Jallandhar, Punjab, and thereafter we will have a Reception in Kalimpong. Mark has been away on a business tour to Switzerland for about two weeks. He is now back, and thoroughly enjoyed his first trip overseas.
With all good wishes & kind regards.
Heshron and Ebi
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Albella News Flash
August 2006
Message from Heshron, Principal of Albella
Fondest greetings from ABH. We are all well and our work is going on fine without any problem. Despite the heavy rain we have had no landslides till now except a few places on the way to Siliguri & Darjeeling . Let us hope and pray that there are no major landslides in this area this year.
The engagement ceremony of our eldest son Andrew went on very well. The wedding will take place sometime at the end of Jan.2007 in Punjab. Andrew is likely to join the Duncan Hospital which is one of the biggest Christian hospitals in India sometime around the 2nd week of August, 2006. The place is in Indo-Nepal Border, a place called Raxaul where Ebi and I served as Medical doctor, and Administrator many years back when Andrew was just a small boy.
Andrew wants to study further, after serving for about two years in the hospital.
All our staff members are well. The oldest staff member Miss. Blungmit Lepcha is about 65 years old and she has nobody and same goes for another two male staff Ruben Lepcha who is a Warden about 53 years old and Dal Bahadur about the same age and he looks after the cows. All these three staff live in the compound. Miss. Blungmit Lepcha does a great job looking after the small children at Bonami, along with another younger lady.
Albella News Flash
July 2006
Warm & sincere greetings from us all at the ABH. We are all well here and our work is going on well too. Right now most of the senior boys are doing their 1st Term Exams which will last for a week. The smaller have already completed the exams and are now waiting for the results.
Last week we had group of young girls from the U.S.A. just graduated from the college, seven of them who had given their life to serve Jesus and
wanting to come out as missionaries in the future. They all gave their
testimonies and how they accept Christ as their personal Saviour including skits, and sing-song programme with the children. They spent about hours with us. The boys really enjoyed that evening and they also took part in the sing-song programme. Before they left we all had dinner together.
We are having a lot of rain but so far there is no major landslides, let us
hope and pray the main high way to Siliguri is not affected due to severe
rain. This is the life line of Kalimpong & Sikkim.
Albella News Flash
May 2006
Early May From Heshron :
This is just a brief line to say that we are all well and our work is going on well too. Today being the Election Day here, we are going at
Last week we had a cottage meeting in our place conducted by the local church, there were around 100 believers from outside and then our own 110 boys plus the staff. We had the meeting in our new hall (Hamilton Hall), so there was no paucity of space. It was a time for spiritual blessings to all of us here. We also had the provision for refreshment to all those who had attended the meeting including our own boys and staff.
Our son Andrew's engagement to his Fiancé who is also a medical doctor is fixed for
Anamika comes from a very good Christian family, her father is a retired IGP and her mother is a teacher in a senior school. Anamika has two sisters and she is the youngest.
Albella News Flash
April 2006
Heshron’s message at the end of March.
“We are all well and our work is going on well too except for the rain.
We have had no rain for quite sometimes and because of this most of the water sources are drying out.
Many people in Kalimpong depend on spring water and lot of the water stores are on the verge of drying out because of no rain. So the biggest problem that Kalimpong is going through at the moment is the Water shortage, mostly in the town area where they get just 15 minutes of water supply on alternate days. We hear that some people manage with just one mug of water in the morning to wash their face !! They cannot afford to have a bath at least for a week or two.
Fortunately we are quite ok with the water as we still have plenty of water in our underground water tank (rain water harvest) which will see us through till the monsoon. We also get water supply from the government for about 30 minutes every day which is quite sufficient for the kitchen and drinking purpose. So we thank God for it.
Thanks for your prayerful concern.
Our regards & best wishes to all.”
Heshron & Ebi
Albella News Flash
March 2006
Heshron sends "Warm & sincere greetings from we all at the ABH."
He tells of the recent enjoyable Junior school sports at Bonami, and of the older boys who won the final trophy cricket match against one of the local clubs in Kalimpong.
"This is the 4th consecutive years when the boys are bringing trophies home. So everyone is very excited about it."
He says that "Our work is going on well. We had a hectic period during the last few weeks, due to the starting of new session in the school, which means buying new sets of text books, stationeries, school uniforms, shoes, paying out school fees and so on and so forth. Now we are little relaxed !"
He asks us to remember in our prayers the annual Prize Distributions Day on
Photographs of the Sports Day can be viewed in the Gallery
February 2006
Friends may well be interested in hearing about some of the staff at Albella. In this newsflash we spotlight some of the longest serving staff…
Rube Lepcha is the oldest staff member : he is about 54 years old, and came to Albella about 27 years ago. He is a staunch Christian, and although he suffers from poor vision, he manages well as a Warden. About five years back he left this
Home for good to stay with his brother who is also partially blind, but decided to come back within a month. Ruben is a bachelor and gets along very well with the children and always looks very happy and contented.
Miss Blungmit Lepcha is aged 68, and has been working for the last 19 years as a warden for the small children, and spends most of her time with them. She had a major surgery last year but now she looks very well. We have a younger lady to help her with the small children at Bonami.
Dal Bahadur has been working at Albella for last 15 years. He is now looking after the cows and other odd jobs. He is about 60 years old, and does not have any relatives left.
The Principal Heshron Rahmi reports:
‘This is a busy period for us all here due to the opening of new session in all schools in Kalimpong. It means buying new sets of text books, stationeries, books, uniforms, shoes, paying out school fees and so on and so forth. This is the usual practice when the school open for an academic session.
Otherwise our work is going on well without any setback.
Weather is getting slightly warmer now after a very cold winter.’
November 2005
From the Principal, Heshron Rahmi
Warm & sincere greetings from us all at the ABH.
This is just a line to say that we are all keeping well, and our work is going on well too despite the nasty rain in October.
Calcutta went through a very bad time due to the rain, the water in the city went up to the knee level and it was flooded everywhere. We are now all well here and were not badly affected.
Our work is going on well. Most of the children are busy preparing for the final term exams which will start in a few days time.
Our primary school is doing very well and you will be happy to know that all our boys who had joined the high school in the town secured 1st to 9th position from our school. We had 16 boys who joined the high school in the beginning of the year after completing their 5th standard from our own school. So we are very happy about the standard that we are maintaining in the school.
I may mention here that two of our junior boys from the primary school won the Drawing competition held recently. It was organised by the local primary school. We do have this kind of competition from time to time, either on folk dances, music, or drawing and our boys always get some prizes.
We continue to have the Christian fellowship in the local church. A few of our big boys do take active part in the church activities whenever they are off from the school attending cottage meetings, and the Sunday service. We do have our usual morning and evening prayer meetings with the boys. Everybody has got a Bible each both in Nepali and English. We use full Bible (Old & New Testament) Almost 100% of the Christian community uses the full Bible here.
Our eldest son Andrew returned to his hospital last week after spending a month in Jammu & Kashmir attending to earthquake victims, with the Medical Relief Team in those earthquake affected areas. There were about 10 of them or maybe more from the Christian Medical College & Hospital, attending to the earthquake victims. They were there for about 2 weeks. It seems that they had to walk every day for about 3-4 hours to reach the villages from the Base Camp. He seemed to be quite happy helping out those in need.
It was a very good experience & exposure for him and he has got a lot to say when we see him in December end. Both Andrew & Mark will be home during last weeks of December for about 2 weeks. Naomi will also be coming home next
month when her school closes down for the winter.
We thank God for His enabling grace which is just sufficient for us.
Thank you dear Friends for your continued prayerful support and all you are doing for this place. We are always very thankful to you and appreciate all you do.
With kind regards & best wishes.
Heshron and Ebi
Albella News Flash
September 2005
Warm and sincere greetings from us all at ABH.
We are all well here except for the nasty rain which has been a real nuisance due to the landslides in various places. The national highway is still closed. Luckily we have an alternative route but it takes a longer time to reach Siliguri (about 5 hours instead of 2 hours). Any way there is nothing we can do about it as it is beyond anybody’s control and we just have to accept the fact.
Our work is going on well without any setback. A couple of photographs are being sent separately. All our boys in the Home are doing well and keeping in good health.
As for some personal family news, my son Mark completed his final MBA Exams in the first class. Andrew is doing his Internship (Medicines). He will join one of the
Best wishes to all our friends and supporters. Remember us in prayers as we pray for you.
Heshron
Albella News Flash
July 2005
From the Principal, Heshron Rahmi
In our April News Flash, Heshron wrote:
The new building work is progressing well, and we hope to complete the entire work by the end of May, 2005. We would have finished earlier but it took a lot of time for building a retaining wall prior to the construction of the school building. We will have three new class rooms on the ground floor which will accommodate at least 35-40 children in each class, and the first floor will be a hall which will have a capacity to hold at least 350-400 students. The size of the first floor will be much bigger than the ground floor. We will send you the photographs of the new building when it is completed.
Now in June, Heshron writes:
We have named the Hall as Hamilton Hall as an honour to Col. & Mrs. Hamilton for their long association with
the Albella Boys' Home and the financial help they extended towards the construction of this building. Both of them jointly inaugurated the building / Hall . We can how accommodate more than 300 children for any kind of programme for both residential & day scholars. Earlier we could not accommodate all in one hall. So we are quite happy with this new building.