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Introduction | About Project Juley! | Project Plans | Help the Children of Ladakh | Real-life Interviews

Introduction

Ladakh, or Little Tibet, is a high altitude desert located at the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

North of the main Great Himalayas and South of the Kunlun mountain range, Ladakh is renowned for tis remote mountain beauty and culture that is strongly influenced by Tibetan culture.

Historically a Buddhist kingdom, Ladakh is now populated by close to 300,000 residents of whom most are Tibetan Buddhists with the rest mostly Muslims.

Many of the Ladakhis stay in remote villages in the Himalayan Mountain Range. They experience both bone-chilling winter temperatures of minus 35 degrees Celsius as well as suffer from dry desert droughts. The winter period is 6 months in a year. Due to these harsh living conditions, the villagers suffer from poor farming harvests. Poverty pervades thousands of people living in Ladakh and thus the children do not have a chance to have an education.

Now you can make a difference to their lives!

Project Juley!

Project Juley! is a long-term private initiative to provide Ladakhi children a chance at a better life. When completed, up to 200 children of Ladakh will enjoy free education, food and lodging at the planned school and hostel, with no strongs attached.

Geshe Tsewang Dorje is an eminent Buddhist scholar and an experienced teacher and administrator. He has undertaken this personal responsibility to build Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, a learning centre with comprehensive facilities to house the underprivileged children of Ladakh and provide them with a well-rounded education. This project was endorsed by the Office of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama in September 2008.

After visiting Singapore in 2009, Geshela requested Lama Thubten Namdrol Dorje, founder and resident spiritual teacher of Thekchen Choling (Singapore), to help in this project. After understanding the needs of this project, Lama Dorje immediately instructed the community outreach arm of Thekchen Choling (Singapore) to aid in this project and named this Project Juley!.

In June 2009, Lama Dorje graced the opening of Geshe-la's Jamtse Ling temple in Leh, the capital of Ladakh. During the trip, Lama Dorje and accompanying students were able to witness first-hand the difficult conditions of the Ladakhi villagers.

Project Plans

Already, the government and local people of Saboo village have allocated a large piece of land of about 10 hectares for this project.

When complete, the facilities will include a school, living quarters for students and teachers, a library, kitchen and dining hall, medical clinic, playground, prayer rooms and modern sanitation facilities. There are also plans to tap on solar power, irrigate the desert land and forest the area with suitable greenery that will provide added oxygen in this high altitude location.

For now, the first phase of building is planned to accommodate about 10 students in the first year and expected to expand quickly to its full capacity in 5 to 10 years.

Once ready, Geshe-la plans to travel to the most remote regions of Ladakh such as Zanskar, Changtang and Nubra Valley, to inform villagers of this opportunity in Leh that will give their children free education and hope for a better life.

Help the Children of Ladakh

On behalf of the children of Ladakh, ask that you lend us your support to Project Juley! that requires an estimated US$200,000 for the initial phase and up to US$5million for complete facilities.

Thekchen Choling (Singapore) has already made a US$35,000 donation and has pledged to lend continued support in terms of creating awareness, project co-ordination and volunteer efforts.

Ways You Can Help include:

• Cash and in-kind donations
• Grants
• Volunteerism
• Publicity
• Partnerships
• Fund Raising Activities

• Individuals
• Corporations
• Service Organisations
• Student Associations
  

The children of Ladakh don't have much and don't ask for much. All they need is a little hope. With your donation, no matter what amount, you can give them hope for a brighter future.

Give these children some hope NOW. Donate to Project Juley!

Real-life interviews with the children and people of Ladakh.
Click HERE