Last week 10 former street-children performed in Kagyu Samye Dzong’s shrine room in front of a full house.

The children were brought to London by the ROKPA charity, which runs the orphanage in Kathmandu where the kids have been looked after, cared for and educated after becoming homeless in often very traumatic circumstances.

The evening started off with a moving speech by the co-founder of ROKPA and vice-president of the charity Lea Wyler. She explained how much it has helped the children to be given a platform to tell of their traumatic experiences in the form of song, dance and play.

The children’s lively eyes, engaging smiles and faces full of hope could not fail to melt every one of the 120 hearts in the room. Photographs and film footage projected onto a screen behind the young performers provided the context to their story showing shots of their home country and also of what their lives were like before they were taken in by the ROKPA children’s home.

After the tumultuous applause had quietened down, Dr Akong Tulku Rinpoche the founder of Samye Ling Monastery in Scotland, and co-founder of the ROKPA charity was invited onto the stage. He spoke of his own struggles of facing a situation of near-starvation when he escaped Tibet, having to beg and experiencing tremendous suffering and explained how that has lead him to see how important it is to provide, food, shelter and, possibly above all, much-needed kindness.