The Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP) provides education and support to nuns and nunneries from all Tibetan Buddhist lineages in India and Nepal. TNP is dedicated to:
- Improving standards of food, sanitation, medical care, and education in Tibetan nunneries.
- Working towards future self-sufficiency through educational and training opportunities.
- Training nuns to take leadership and service roles within their communities
- Improving the level & status of ordained Buddhist women.
- Assisting recently arrived refugee nuns from Tibet.
- Continuing to establish further facilities for Buddhist nuns.
The Beginning
A group of 66 refugee nuns appeared overnight on the streets of Dharamsala, India. They had been on a two year pilgrimage from eastern Tibet that had ended in a journey over the Himalayas. Ill and exhausted, they had nowhere to go. The Tibetan Women's Association organized emergency assistance to provide their basic needs and the Nuns Project was formed to find a long-term solution to the problem of how to secure housing, medical care and most importantly, education for refugee nuns. The Project created a sponsorship program, reaching out to people and foundations around the world.
Funding
The Project is primarily funded by generous donations from individuals and organizations, including the Heinrich Boll Foundation of Germany; the Norweigan Tibet Committee Women's Group and the Norweigan organizations Fokus and Norad; the Swedish foundation Soir-IM; the American Himalayan Foundation; the Rigpa Foundation of London; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Hershey Family Foundation. Money also derives from the nuns' income-generating projects. |
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Director Rinchen Khando Choegyal, former Minister of Education in the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, is sister-in-law of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She resides in Dharamsala.
Co-Director Elizabeth Napper, PhD., a scholar of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, is author of Dependant Arising and Emptiness and co-editor of Kindness, Clarity and Insight, by HH the Dalai Lama. She has lived in Dharamsala since 1991 to oversee the Project full-time.
Co-Director Venerable Lobsang Dechen, received her B.A. from St. Bedes in Shimla and her B. of Ed. from Punjab University in Chandigarh. She resides at Geden Choeling Nunnery in upper McLeod Ganj.
Our Staff
We have a small administrative office based in
Seattle, WA which is staffed by Annie Wilson,
Development Officer and Kristina Sherman, Project Administrator,
and a number of committed volunteers. Most of
the work is carried out in India by Tibetan staff. It
is the vision of this organization that, after
completion of the educational programs currently being
set up, all of the administration of the Tibetan Nuns
Project will be carried out by the nuns themselves.
web site credits
TNP Photography
Jeff Davis
and Rob Holmes
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