New clothes and support for studies

Dear friends, thanks to your generosity, we distributed 2,900 Francs in December in Bhutan to help three monasteries and monks with their studies

In November 2023, I (Simonetta) was in Bhutan, where I met the monks/monks we help, staying in three monasteries, two male and one female, where we are present with concrete support. I returned regenerated and with new insights. From the end of March, Abbot Tenzin Thinley, our trusted person in Bhutan, will come to Ticino for three weeks. We would like you to meet him!
The government has set a daily tax of USD 250 for tourists, limiting access to those who can afford it and hindering the recovery of the economy revolving around tourism. This is not an easy situation that also affects the monasteries, where young people, many of them orphans, find shelter, food and education.

Our friend Abbot Tenzin Thinley has been considering how best to distribute the aid. In addition to continuing to support three nuns (Pemo, Pema, Sangay) who benefit from sponsorship (because they have no family to support them), we have sent socks to many children, supported both a small nunnery and the Pagar Astrological Monastery, where the abbot is seeking funds to build housing for some 30 monks. We also continue to support two nuns in additional training in traditional medicine in Thimphu: nun Thubten, 27, and her companion Choki, 25.

(*) On-site contributions from Simonetta

Many are children from poor families or orphans

Every donation, says Pagar monastery abbot Khenpo Wangdi Tshering (centre) makes a big difference, enabling everyone to live better.
At Pagar, they are like one big family.
Everyone takes care of the smallest.
And we need decent rooms
for the young monks…

The English classroom …

… and the space under the temple where the new dormitory will be built

The day begins with prayers at 6am, then study, shifts in the kitchen, the older ones help the younger ones, laundry… Many projects: building a new kitchen, a wing for the elderly nuns, a shop for handicrafts so they can finance themselves.

The Pemo, Pema, Sangay nuns benefited from the sponsorships ($250 each).
Thank you Davide, in addition to the money they received a much appreciated Swiss Army knife provided with the generous participation of Fly Tacco Espresso di Gilberti Flavio.

The eleven nuns of the small Tshogyel Shedrub Chokhor Ling nunnery in the eastern part of the country, in a remote area, where you can get there by walking 10 kilometres, received box-cabinets for clothes and food.

They are in the 2nd year of their 5-year training in traditional medicine.

Thubten (above and right) and Choki in Thimphu.
My niece Julia is also there.