Zangskar Project
Gaden Relief currently supports all ten nunneries of Zangskar, which are located in the villages of Karsha, Sani, Zangla, Skyagam, Tungri, Pishu, Rizhing, Manda, Bya, and Chumig Gyatse. It has been working in the region since 1991 on appropriate technology and other means of supporting the nuns' livelihood and health, as well as their ritual and scholarly activities. Our projects include passive solar classrooms and other constructions, efficient greenhouses, compost toilets, water storage systems, smokeless stoves, orchards and vegetable gardens, Tibetan wall paintings, Our decades of work, we emphasize using local labor, local skills, and appropriate technology this remote and high altitude desert environment. Passive Solar Constructions We have helped build passive solar constructions at Karsha, Sani, Skyagam, Manda, Zangla (in progress), and Bya (in progress). The classroom at Sani is used as a communal gathering room and classroom, while at Sani we built traditional mud mortar cells to house the very first nuns that founded the nunnery. At Skyagam, Tibetan wall paintings were completed in a new assembly hall. Future goals: Construct passive solar classrooms or kitchens at all nunneries. Sponsoring Ritual, Scholarship, and Enterprise All nunneries receive annual subsidies to help defray the expense of ritual assemblies, community training sessions, and to help defray communal expenses for the purchase of food, furniture, books, stoves, fuel, etc. Future goals: Help nunneries become self-sufficient in operating expenses and help nuns promote small income-generating projects and sustainable technologies at all nunneries. Greenhouses, Orchards, Gardens We have helped nuns build greenhouses as well as construct local vegetable gardens, poplar orchards, gardens, and other sources of sustainable foods. We have completed greenhouses Karsha and Skyagam nunneries and our building one of the first truly winterized double walled greenhouses in Zangskar at Sani nunnery, according to specifications developed by ICIMOD and a local NGO LEHO. Thus far, we have completed orchards or vegetable gardens at Skyagam, Karsha, Sani, Dorje Dzong, and Tungri nunneries. Future goals: Repair/construct gravity-fed water piping and storage facilities at all nunneries and train nuns in public health and clean water issues. Solar Panels Small solar panels and lanterns have been provided to all ten nunneries in Zangskar. Future goals: Bring solar power with sufficient fixed panels and battery systems to all ten nunneries that can serve women's alliance groups, health clinics, and other community groups besides nuns. Compost Toilets Gaden has built compost toilets following local design and technology at Karsha and Manda nunneries. These toilets provide a much needed source of biomass for vegetable gardens and fields, as most Ladakhi houses are equipped with compost toilets that produce human compost delivered to village fields every spring. Future goals: Build compost toilets and passive solar washrooms at every nunnery in Zangskar. 'Smokeless' Stoves Gaden helped design and commission efficient iron cookstoves that were built by local blacksmiths. Seven of ten nunneries have received at least one cookstove. Future goals: Purchase communal and eventually individual cookstoves for every nunnery and nun in Zangskar. Women's Health To date, several nuns have been trained in maternal and child health at Leh Hospital. We plan to increase nuns knowledge and capacities around women's health, as well as maternal and reproductive health more particularly. Future goals: We plan to train nuns as basic community health workers specializing in women's and reproductive health. Volunteering in Zangskar It is possible to work with Gaden Relief as a volunteer. If you are interested in helping the nuns, please visit our page on our Rules of Engagement for Summer Volunteers in Zangskar. More Information on the Zangskar Nuns Project
Zangskar Nunneries All
Zangskar Project photos on this site are by Kim Gutschow, Zangskar
Project Coordinator.
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