Gangchen Drupkhang

The Gangchen Drupkhang Vocational Training Centre is located in Arubari (Tinchuli-Boudhanath), on the outskirts of Kathmandu. It is a densely populated area, where the Association has been operating for about 20 years: many families live in conditions of poverty, with high unemployment, a lack of health and educational services, shabby and unsafe homes.

Gangchen Drupkhang was built in 2006 with the aim of creating a permanent vocational training base for traditional Himalayan handicrafts and culture: hand-carved wooden furniture and objects, traditional paintings and works of art, healing incenses and herbal remedies of the ancient Tibetan tradition, a centuries-old heritage of the Himalayan medical culture.

In Nepal, handicrafts are considered one of the sectors with the greatest potential both in terms of business opportunities and in terms of development and employment: in fact, it has a growing market, it makes about 6% of the national GDP and represents about 60% of the production of manufactured goods in the country.

Gangchen Drupkhang Vocational Training Centre is run by Tibetan monks who volunteer their service to others. In recent years it has created real opportunities for training, employment and social inclusion for hundreds of people – among the poorest in the outskirts of Kathmandu – with particular attention to mothers in difficulty, young people, unemployed with families to support and disabled. It has offered them a renewed sense of dignity, whilst using and supporting the precious Himalayan artistic, spiritual, cultural and medical knowledge at the same time.

The Gangchen Drupkhang building suffered serious structural damage as a result of the 2015 earthquake. In 2016-2017 it was renovated, thanks to help received from the 8×1000 project of the Waldensian Church, and was able to completely resume its activities.

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Make a donation to support the activities of GANGCHEN DRUPKHANG:
(purchase of materials and machinery, teacher salaries, management costs)