NEWSLETTER SPRING 2005
Introduction and Welcome
As current President of the Board of the Dutch Foundation for Ladakhi Nuns (
DFLN),
it is my great pleasure to welcome you to this first edition of our
Newsletter.
The Board is delighted to share with you news of the past two years--from our
incorporation as a non-profit organization founded to enable projects and initiatives
of the Ladakh Nuns Association (
LNA), to the recent progress with our special undertaking
of building a nunnery at Nyerma, Ladakh for elderly nuns from the area of Thiksey.
We hope that you will find these brief news items, reports and updates of interest,
and we thank you for your continued support of the DFLN.
- Professor Jan Willis (Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA)
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Report on DFLN's Work Thus Far:
Many of you have been keeping abreast of the DFLN's activities through our
website (www.ladakhnuns.com). However, our work may be new to some of the readers
of this Newsletter. For this reason, before informing you of current and future
plans, we'll give here a very brief summary of our organization.
The DFLN was founded by three women (Marlies Bosch, Jan Willis and Bea Bosch,
who later served as its first officers, with Erica Terpstra agreeing to serve
as the foundation's Patron) in early 2003. The Foundation was incorporated
later that same year as a non-profit organization in the Netherlands (and we
are still seeking this status in the U.S. and Germany).
In the summer of 2003, the three members listed above, together with Bea's
husband, Jaap Hazen, traveled to Leh, Ladakh carrying a 1,000 Euro donation to
the Ladakh Nuns Association (LNA), under the guidance of President and Amchi,
Dr. Tsering Palmo. Arriving in early July at a most auspicious time, we four
were able to attend the four-day teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama given
in Choglamsar, Ladakh. Thereafter, we offered several workshops--on dental hygiene,
self-empowerment, financial accounting and computer power-point training--to
a group of nuns brought together by Dr. Palmo at the LNA Office. Following the
workshops, the four of us joined a group of nuns for a four-day bus tour of several
nunneries in various parts of Ladakh. Marlies took hundreds of photographs of
these activities and shot a number of digital film segments for future development
as a fund-raising tool.
The DFLN team unanimously decided to make sponsorship of the construction of
a nunnery for elderly nuns to be built at Nyerma its primary fund-raising target.
Before returning to the Netherlands, we met with the proposed nunnery's architect
along with the project's construction manager and attended a groundbreaking
ceremony for the new nunnery.
In the Fall of 2003 a new slate of DFLN Board members was chosen. Current officers
are Professor Jan Willis as President, Marlies Bosch as Secretary, and Myra de
Rooy as Treasurer. Dr. Annette Stokroos is our fourth Board Member-at-Large.
Ms. Terpstra continues as the DFLN's Patron.
In the summer of 2004, Board members Myra de Rooy and Marlies Bosch returned
to Leh. Myra, author of the book,
Vrouwen in Boeddha's
Bergen (Women in Buddha's Mountains), spent five months in the area visiting
nunneries at Temisgang, Wakkha, Mahabodhi Pandeling and Karsha in Zangskar and
conducting interviews, while Marlies visited for five weeks in late July and
August. Together the two led a three-day workshop for the Thiksey area nuns who
will live at the Nyerma nunnery when it is completed. Originally planned as an
opportunity to discuss the dynamics of living together in a community, the workshop
was soon transformed into three days of testimonies and life stories from the
twenty-seven elderly nuns in attendance about the numerous hardships of their
lives thus far. There was much sharing of health-related and other life stories
between nuns and visitors. De Rooy and Bosch emphasized that all gathered there
were women equal to each other, and the workshop closed with the shared feeling
that we all sometimes face suffering but that we all also experience joy.
photoreport workshop.
Following that workshop, the two DFLN members visited the homes of several of
the nuns who had attended the workshop. With the exception of two nuns who have
jobs at a local garden that grows vegetables for the Indian army and who thus
live in a modest house on the site in relative luxury, most of the individual
nuns' homes were little more than abandoned cowsheds. The two nuns who work
at the garden already contribute to the well being of the older nuns and said
that they were willing to raise flowers and vegetables once the Nyerma Nunnery
is finished. Following these home visits, local laywomen organized a meeting
and ceremony at the Nyerma building site. Mr. Yeshe, construction manager, read
aloud the names and numbers of villagers who have contributed to the building
project thus far. It is clear that the nunnery rests on the efforts of numerous
committed villagers who continue to take an active part in seeing the new nunnery
come into being; they are happy to see that their nuns will finally have a home.
At present, the nunnery has completed the kitchen and five rooms, capable of
housing two nuns each. The final plan calls for twenty rooms, showers, guest
rooms and a central
gompa (tempel). Construction, of course, is limited
by weather and available funding.
photoreport
construction.
Myra and Marlies made a number of visits to the LNA office and attended a Naga
ceremony as part of the official opening of the completed office complex. The
main LNA
Gompa is now completed thanks in part to DFLN sponsorship.
Now, the nuns who work and take classes here can also perform their daily prayers
in the
gompa.
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Other items of interest during the summer of 2004 included the following:
Nel de Jong, a Tibetan amchi from Holland, came to Ladakh and, accompanied by
one of the LNA nuns, traveled into the mountains to collect plants and flowers
for making Tibetan medicine. Marlies offered a short course on making power-point
presentations to the LNA Office helpers. Doris Eddelbüttel, a German woman who
has developed a method for teaching English as a second language was visiting
the area. She and Marlies discussed plans for founding a German branch of DFLN
(named Deutsche Förderung gemeinschaft fur Ladakhische Nonnen). Since the
summer, Doris is working on opening a German Bank account and the two women have
collaborated on designing and mailing out 1,500 posters and brochures.
Dr. Palmo called together a number of local women, some of whom are board members
of the LNA. These women agreed to found a new organization called the Women's
Action Group (WAG), with a mission to oversee and investigate nuns' and laywomen's
claims of abuse, especially cases of reported rape, and to look into issues facing
the older nuns as well. Mrs. Dolma is an active member of the LNA Board who has
taken the aims of WAG very seriously. She sees the importance of local lay women
being supportive of the nuns'
cause.
Myra de Rooy carried 4,000 Euro with her to Ladakh. Part of this amount went
to the Nyerma Nunnery Building Fund, part to the LNA and part to specific projects
at other nunneries. Marlies carried an additional 1,500 Euros when she arrived.
The specific allocations of this latter amount can be found in the appendices.
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Plans for 2005:
Four students from Wesleyan University will spend six weeks during the summer
in Ladakh at Nyerma to help with the construction of the nunnery. The four students
are paying their own way in order to be of service to the nuns of the area.
Marlies Bosch will return to Ladakh for three and a half weeks in June. Thanks
to her vigorous fund-raising efforts and to a number of extremely generous donations
during the past year, she will be carrying on this trip close to 8,000 Euros,
most of which is earmarked for the Nyerma Nunnery construction. Some of it is
meant for LNA projects, and some for other nunneries as well.
An American former teacher in the Netherlands, Ms. Deb Williams, in 2006 will
spend five months in Ladakh leading a
"train-the-trainers" curriculum geared to teaching Ladakhi
nuns how to teach English to other nuns in their respective nunneries. The LNA
sees this initiative as one of the most important steps toward self-sufficiency
in the future.
A volunteer from OBOS in Boston, Massachusetts plans on coming to Ladakh to help
the LNA to establish a standardized curriculum for visiting teachers.
There are plans to network further with the Dutch organization known as the Chomo
Foundation to see whether and in what ways we might work together. Chomo now
works mainly in Dharamsala, India but was originally instrumental in establishing
the nunnery at Temisgang. Nel Willekens, known for her input in building the
Temisgang nunnery, is now also working together with the DFLN.
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Funding Plans:
A major part of our efforts continues to be focused on how to generate funding
for completing the construction of the nunnery at Nyerma. A secondary though
very important concern is how to make the Nyerma nuns and the other member nunneries
of the LNA self-sustaining and self-sufficient. Our hope at the DFLN has always
been to offer support and funding for a maximum term of five years, after which
time we hope that the nuns can care for themselves, and no longer be dependent
on foreign funding.
With regard to fund-raising, we have plans to submit a project proposal to the
NCDO for a matching-development grant. We also have plans to make an application
to Wilde Ganzen (Wild Geese), an organization that sponsors small initiatives
in the Third World.
We plan to send out a mailing to all Roman Catholic nunneries asking whether
they would be willing to sponsor nuns from Buddhist traditions in Ladakh in sisterhood
and solidarity.
We hope to garner pledges and commitments from our donors to pledge donations
of whatever amount for at least the next four years on a consistent basis. That
will be easier for our limited all-volunteer staff, and it will help us to be
better able to gauge the amount of our yearly contributions to the Nyerma Nunnery
and to the LNA.
We want to work on completing a film about the nuns' situation in Ladakh
that can be used for fund-raising purposes. Marlies now offers power-point presentations
on this subject, for a fee of 100 Euros plus expenses, all proceeds going directly
to the nuns in Ladakh. Additionally, photos taken by Marlies that appear on our
website are available for purchase, all proceeds going directly to the nuns.
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Our Chief Goal:
Completing the Nyerma Nunnery will require roughly 50,000 Euros. One room for
two nuns can be built for about 600 Euros, but this figure does not include a
good bed, linoleum for the floor, or equipment and utensils for the kitchen.
Schoolrooms for the younger nuns who will come in the future need to be added,
as well as two or three guest rooms to provide continuous income for the nunnery.
When completed, the Nyerma Nunnery will be located in one of the most beautiful
and peaceful spots in all of Ladakh, not far from the famed Thiksey monastery.
Visitors will find peace, rest and a comfortable, simple room. Board can be provided.
With the income generated by visitors doing retreats here or simply visiting
during the summer months, the nuns will be able to run the nunnery during the
wintertime when visiting is impossible owing to the weather. Self-reliance is
the goal of the LNA and the nuns of Nyerma.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all those who have already given generously
to this effort and we urge others who are thinking about a way to help to consult
our website at www.ladakhnuns.com and to consider making a donation or a multi-year
pledge.
Sarva Mangalam! All Auspiciousness!
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