We have great news! The new vehicle for the 62 nuns at Sherab Choeling Nunnery has been fully funded! The funding was completed before the end of August so the nuns can get the vehicle before the roads get bad in the fall. Thank you! We’ll report back more fully as soon as possible.
The nuns needed a new vehicle to transport people and supplies and to take nuns for medical care. In this remote region, the nunnery vehicle is their lifeline.
The nuns’ existing vehicle was very old and it was extremely hard to get parts for repairs. Sherab Choeling is a remote nunnery in the Spiti Valley of the Indian Himalayas. The area’s roads are infamous for their landslides, rocks, and bad conditions.
The total cost of the 10-seat, multi-purpose vehicle is $29,500. This includes taxes, registration, insurance, and warranty for repairs.
Photo from our archives of nuns unloading food outside Sherab Choeling Nunnery. The nuns need a new multi-purpose, 10-seat vehicle to transport people and supplies. Photo taken in 2015 by Olivier Adam.
About Sherab Choeling Nunnery
Sherab Choeling Nunnery was founded in 1995 to educate Himalayan Buddhist nuns who otherwise had no opportunity to receive formal schooling or spiritual education. It is a non-sectarian nunnery that recognizes the beauty and value in all Buddhist traditions.
Nuns practice Tibetan Buddhist debate at Sherab Choeling Nunnery in the Indian Himalayas. The nunnery is one of seven nunneries in northern India supported by the Tibetan Nuns Project. Photo courtesy of Olivier Adam.
Typically, women who live in remote areas like Spiti and who are interested in studying or practicing their religion have very few options. The Tibetan Nuns Project was approached by the nunnery in 2006 to help them develop their institution and we accepted them into our sponsorship program.
There are currently 62 nuns at Sherab Choeling Nunnery. They follow a 17-year study program which includes Buddhist Philosophy, Tibetan, Hindi, and English. The broad education provides the nuns with the skills to educate future generations of nuns and the communities from which they come.
Sherab Choeling Nunnery is in the high-altitude Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh, northern India. The name “Spiti” means “the middle land”, that is the land between Tibet and India. The nunnery is at almost 4,000 meters or 13,000 feet altitude.