A little goes a very long way when you support Tibetan Buddhist nuns in India!
In this blog post, we want to share the cost of some basic food items at the largest nunnery we support so that you can see the impact of your support. We are extremely grateful to those who sponsor a nun and our monthly donors. If you would like to sponsor a nun the cost is just $1 a day and we are always looking for sponsors.
Inside the kitchen at Dolma Ling Nunnery by Robin Groth
Here is a list of items that $5 could buy at Dolma Ling:
FLOUR: 28 pounds or 14 kg of rice
NOODLES: 13 packages
COOKING OIL: one gallon or almost 4 litres
RICE: almost 14 pounds or 6 kilos
POTATOES: 60 pounds or 28 kilos
COOKING GAS: almost half a cylinder
ONIONS: over 50 pounds or 22 kg
Rice
Rice is a staple food in all the Tibetan Buddhist nunneries we support in India. One of the most common meals for Tibetans in exile is rice and dal. Here’s a recipe for you. This simple vegetarian dish is nutritious and inexpensive.
Just $5 will buy about 14 pounds or 6 kilos of rice. Each month at Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute, the nuns use about 1,411 lbs or 640 kg of rice to feed the 270 nuns plus staff. The cost of the rice for the whole month is $507.
$10 buys 28 pounds or 13 kg of rice
A nun on kitchen duty at Dolma Ling checks rice. Photo courtesy of Brian Harris.
Flour
Flour, like rice, is used daily at the nunneries to make bread, noodles, and steamed buns. A donation of $5 will purchase 31 pounds (14kg) of flour and the nuns use over 1,000 pounds of flour per month.
$13 provides a day’s flour for about 300 nuns and staff
A few years ago donors helped the nuns purchase dough-making machines. Until then all the kneading had to be done by hand.
Potatoes
All the nunneries have a vegetarian diet and potatoes are important staple food. The nuns at Dolma Ling use 600 kilos or 1,323 pounds of potatoes a month and the cost is just $108.
$5 buys 60 lbs or 28 kg of potatoes
The nuns at Dolma Ling use over 1,000 pounds of potatoes a month. That’s a lot of peeling! $5 buys about 28 lbs of potatoes.
Onions
Some Buddhists follow a strict diet that avoids aliums including onions, garlic, and chives but Tibetan Buddhists use onions and garlic in their cooking, especially in exile in India and Nepal. India is one of the largest producers and consumers of onions, however the price of onions fluctuates.
$5 can buy over 50 lbs of onions
Tibetan Buddhist nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute chopping onions ⓒ Robin Groth
Other necessities at the nunneries include cooking oil, tomatoes, other vegetables, dals of various types, thukpa (noodles) and canisters of cooking gas.
Tibetan Buddhist nuns on kitchen duty at Dolma Ling. Photo by Brian Harris. Thank you for supporting the nuns!
Thank you again for helping the nuns!