Objectives
Marlies Bosch visited Ladakh in 1995 as a photographer for the Chomo foundation the above conference for Buddhist women, organized by Sakyadhita. During the conference she came into contact with some Ladakhi nuns. In later years she continued to travel to Ladakh and was mainly involved in health projects and education for and with the nuns.
To improve the poor health and education of the nuns in Ladakh Marlies Bosch founded in 2003 the foundation "Dutch Foundation for Ladakhi Nuns" (DFLN), with the aim of supporting nunneries in Ladakh. In 1997 the Tibetan amchi and nun Dr Tsering Palmo founded Ladakh Nuns Association (LNA).
DFLN unfolds in the Netherlands initiatives (such as Ladakh Festivals), which aim to raise the interest for and knowledge about the situation of nuns in Ladak. In addition, the goal is to generate funds to support educational projects. In recent years a large number of goals have been reached. A nunnery was built to house a group of elderly nuns. Then a guesthouse was added with aid of Cordaid ("Homestay with nuns "), whith the revenues thus recruited, this guesthouse makes the nuns increasingly self-reliant.
The foundation has since revised its objectives and vision: from 2010 on, all nunneries in Ladakh can submit grant proposals for community education to a level of € 2000. No more construction grants are provided. The existing buildings have a maintenance obligation, which the DFLN continues to meet for as long as neccesary. The nunnery in Nyerma remains a part of the objective of the DFLN, but it is expected that in the coming years the nunnery will be increasingly self-supporting by means of the income of the guesthouse. There is solar energy installed, by a gift of Essent. The nuns increase their vegetable garden and drying vegetables for their winter stock.
In addition to supporting various projects, it is also possible to apply to the DFLN for support of the livelihoods of individual nuns in Ladakh.
The ultimate goal is that DFLN makes herself redundant and that the nuns make it possible, by ways of good education, through work and other activities, to provide for themselves.
