Two very generous donors enabled the building of a watchman’s hut at the entrance to Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute, ensuring that the nuns are safer. Thank you!

In the spring of 2024, the nuns at Dolma Ling asked for help to build a watchman’s hut at the nunnery’s front entrance to protect them from intruders during the day and at night. The cost was $1,700 and two wonderful supporters stepped forward to fully fund this project.

Inside the new watchman hut at Dolma Ling Nunnery. The nuns now feel much more secure.

We’re happy to report that in October 2024 the new watchman’s hut was completed. It has been designed in keeping with the nunnery style and provides the watchman with a sheltered dry place to sit and manage the entrance gate. The 8×6-foot cabin has windows, a door and electricity.

The new watchman’s hut is next to the main gate to Dolma Ling, which is home to 270 Tibetan Buddhist nuns. The nuns are very grateful to have protection from intruders.

We’re happy to report that the watchman’s hut was completed in October 2024. It has been designed in keeping with the nunnery style and it provides the watchman with a sheltered dry place to sit and guard the entrance gate. The 8×6-foot cabin has windows, a door, and electricity.

Here’s a photo of the watchman’s hut under construction on June 7, 2024. Having a watchman on guard will keep the nuns safe from intruders day and night.

The nunnery has a public path running through the large campus and villagers are entitled to come through the main entrance gate and use the path even at night. However, the disturbances and unwanted intruders have scared the nuns and that is why they asked for help to build a watchman’s hut.

The area experiences torrential monsoon rains and it’s important to have a sheltered space for the nunnery guard. The nunnery used to be quite isolated, but the area has become much busier. The nuns had already added a main gate to the campus and made the front wall more secure. They prefer to keep the main gate closed to prevent cars from using the front entrance to turn around or as a parking lot.

During the day, when most of the nuns are in classes, praying, or attending His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings in nearby Dharamsala, there has to be someone at the gate. At times, the village cattle happily invade the nunnery gardens and they can be quite aggressive. Roaming dogs are also quite a problem. We are very grateful to the two donors who funded this project to keep the nuns and nunnery safe!

Here’s what we’re working on now.