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Saratoga Sampler
Award-winning letter rips animal abusers
By Mary Ann Cook
ADVENTURER: When JoAn Lambert goes on a trip she seeks out one with plenty of adventure inherent. Birding and photography are always an integral part of the travel package, but Lambert definitely takes the road less traveled. For instance, she's recently returned from three months in Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.
She's trekked in Nepal before, some years back, but had never set foot in the other countries. At 16,000-17,000 feet above sea level, southern Tibet "is the rooftop of the world. It's a wonderful feeling to look out over the rest of the world," she says. She used Kathmandu as home base for most of the trip.
From there she would journey out on sightseeing trips. On her return to the guest house, the proprietor would say, "Welcome, home." A nice feeling when you're halfway around the globe from your permanent address and the culture is so vastly different.
Bhutan is a country seldom visited. Indeed, it had no tourists until 1974, when the kingdom was brought into the United Nations. And travel there is still quite restrictive. A visitor pays $200 a day for a driver, a guide, food and lodging: that's the only way tourists are allowed into the country.
And considerable paper work is filled out beforehand. Lambert was there, in particular, to photograph the black-necked cranes.
Another unusual side trip: She stayed a few days in a refugee camp in eastern Nepal. The refugees had been evicted from Bhutan and the camp was run by the Lutheran World Federation.
One refugee camp in Tibet has been turned into a carpet factory and the inhabitants have become noted for their work. Since Lambert's return, she has been giving slide show talks--to the American Association of University Women travel group and to her church, Immanuel Lutheran.
Her next audience will be the Los Gatos-Saratoga Camera Club. The intrepid traveler has been to Africa several times, has traveled widely ever since her son, Dan, was in the Peace Corps and she planned to go to Kenya to see him.
Comfort isn't an issue in Lambert's travel arrangements. On this recent trip, for example, there wasn't much that was easy. Flat land? Forget it. "You're stepping back in time," she says. "You don't drink the water, there are few phones and the ones that are there don't work."
The whole point is the travel itself and living among people in a culture far removed, in nearly every way, from our own.
YOUNG WINNER: Here's a letter winner of a different stamp than the traditional letter winners in sports. He's Sean Ghavi, 14, an eighth-grader at Redwood Middle School, who won a $50 savings bond and a certificate for his letter-writing skills in a national RespecTeen Speak for Yourself contest.
His letter was deemed the most outstanding from his congressional district. Nationwide, nearly 10,000 letters were received from seventh- and eighth-graders. Sean's letter was written to Rep. Mike Honda on the subject of animal abuse.
Sean's position is that animal abuse should be declared illegal and punishment made harsher. He maintains there is a definite tie between animal abuse and violence against humans, citing several examples of killers who had first been animal abusers.
Destroy the seeds of the problem, Sean proposed, by making animal abuse laws stronger.
Sean is a pianist and sports enthusiast, but his chief interest is writing. He is the son of Ahmad and Melinda Ghavi. both of whom laud Redwood teacher Rosalie Chako. "She really challenges her students," says Melinda.
SACRED HEART JUBILEE: The biggest tent you've ever seen is the way Andrea Kenter described the festivities that celebrated the recent 50th anniversary fundraiser for Sacred Heart Church. Some 440 attended the black-tie dinner and silent and oral auctions.
Final figures aren't in yet, but organizers are hopeful they reached their goal of $200,000. This is the third year for the gala and it's grown by leaps and bounds. First year's total was $100,000, next it was $150,000.
The money raised will help fund the expansion to house pre-school and administrative offices, said Monsignor Alexander Larkin. And 30 percent of the total will go to the school's scholarship endowment. Co-chairs of the event were Lori Fox and Kelly Mollahan.
Chez Vous catered the dinner. The gala was held in the parking lot of the church, the same grounds the temporary library will occupy.
FOR COURAGEOUS KIDS: Rinconada Hills residents raised $10,000 for the Courageous Kids arm of the American Cancer Society with its dinner/auction fundraiser earlier this year. The children are treated to a day at Great America with their families. Le Velligan is the force behind the annual fundraiser and she presented the check to Kathleen Russ of the ACS.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
