Bhutan Nuns Foundation

2010 was a banner year for the Bhutan Nuns Foundation, as our work began to take shape

Training Center:

The Bhutan Nuns Foundation Training Center will be the first ever gathering place in Bhutan for nuns to meet each other, and receive training, outside of their own nunneries.  BNF will provide all aspects of this center, from acquiring the land to later providing training and supplies to the nuns, once the center opens.  We are very proud to create this important space for the nuns of Bhutan.

Thanks to the generosity of Drathshang Lhentshog (the Central Monastic Body of Bhutan), the Bhutan Nuns Foundation was awarded 9+ acres of land in Tsalu Maphey on the outskirts of Thimphu for the purpose of creating our Training Center. We are deeply grateful for this donation to BNF.

The center will provide a space for nuns from across Bhutan to meet each other, enhancing the sense of community between the nuns of Bhutan, and receive training on health & hygiene, nutrition, management & leadership, teacher training, basic entrepreneurial skills, and instruction in many other hands-on skills.  This center will not only help the nuns develop their own self-reliance and sustainability, but also create a ripple effect for the society at large, as the nuns will be trained to later provide similar instruction and services to the people of Bhutan.

In addition to acquiring the land, the existing farm road to the land was widened, lengthened, and resurfaced, and drains on the roadside were also completed.  We do hope to pave it in the future once funds are secured for this purpose. In the meantime we have volunteers working on the design of the training center and we plan to break ground before the end of 2011.

The BNF provides a high leverage means of empowering and educating Bhutanese girls and women, improving the living conditions and economic vitality of rural villages, and preserving Bhutan’s strong, sustainable culture as it faces rapid economic development.

Many girls and women in Bhutan enter nunneries for short to long periods to gain an education and escape poverty and abuse. These women dedicate their lives to serving society. They are very involved in local communities, often helping needy families and serving as role models for other girls and women. Despite the great contribution nuns make to society, Bhutan’s twenty-one nunneries receive nearly no support. They often lack basic sanitation, sleeping and cooking quarters, trained teachers and learning materials.

The BNF is under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck.