Buddhist Education Project for children in need of the Kathmandu monasteries – two new buildings for two monasteries that house about 180 children in need
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Nyanang Phelgyeling Monastery Family Project, Kathmandu: safe accommodation for 70 young guests!
Nyanang Phelgyeling Monastery was founded in Tibet in 1689 by the 5th Dalai Lama, near one of Milarepa’s hermitages. In 1959 a group of monks reached Nepal, bringing with them ancient and venerated sacred objects. In 1970 the Monastery was re-established in Nepal near Swayambunath Stupa, one of the most important sacred sites of Kathmandu.
Unfortunately, the main building, built 50 years ago, suffered damage in the 2015 earthquake: the walls and ceilings are crisscrossed by deep cracks that are opening wider over time. It rains into the classrooms and in the monks’ rooms making them unusable. The small kitchen is very old and unhygienic, and the dining hall is in a poor condition and too small for all the monks.
Nyanang Phelgyeling, like Sed Gyued, despite economic and logistical difficulties, also generously took in many children, who had been left without a family after the earthquake or whose families were no longer able to take care of them.
Many new requests for hospitality for young children unfortunately continue to arrive, also as a result of the economic emergency caused by Covid, and today there are about 70 young guests.
They receive accommodation, food, clothes, medical care and education within the Monastery, also following the government curriculum of studies so that they will be able to leave the Monastery one day if they wish.
The seriously unsafe building in which the monks were housed prompted the Monastery to ask the Foundation for help with a complete reconstruction: an architectural and structural design with earthquake-proof foundations was drawn up by a Kathmandu-based firm.
The project includes a new kitchen and dining hall capable of accommodating all the monks on the ground floor, and rooms for the small monks upstairs.
To everyone’s great joy, the Project submitted to the 8×1000 Italian Buddhist Union was approved in 2020!
The 8×1000 Italian Buddhist Union contributes 70% of the total costs: the remaining 30% is borne by the Foundation. Due to bureaucratic difficulties, work only started in 2022: as of today (October 2022), the unsafe building has finally been completely demolished, and excavations for the foundations have begun. The work is expected to be completed in about nine months.
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