Innovative solar cap going up!

One of the most special features of the Kilung Shedra is the solar cap. This large expanse of special glass will cover most of the inner courtyard and will provide passive solar heat for the building. It will create sun-warmed sheltered spaces where students and monks can study during the day, while producing passive heat to the adjacent areas.

From architectural rendering to reality!

Kilung Rinpoche, with the advice of specialized engineers, chose this design to avoid the environmental impact of heating with coal and to minimize costly electric heating bills.

Rinpoche and the Shedra contractor agree that completing the solar cap now is a priority in order to protect the rest of the structure and to potentially provide space where temporary tents can be set up for ongoing use by students or workers.

The Shedra solar cap will also offer an innovative model for earth-friendly construction in this region where abundant sunshine is a renewable natural resource.

Help us finish the roof!

DONATE HERE

2020 construction on the shedra restarts!

2020 construction on the Kilung Shedra and Community Center began again on the auspicious day of Saga Dawa, June 5th.

Here are some photos and videos of the construction now ongoing.

Click on photos to see full-size slide show.

Orgyen Terja tea business – Sustainable economic development

In 2019, working with the local nomad community, Kilung Foundation successfully established an herb tea business, Orgyen Terja, in Dzachuka.

In folk stories, Orgyen Terja was brought to Tibet as a hidden treasure by Guru Rinpoche. The dried leaf made tea has been traditionally enjoyed by Tibetans for hundreds of years. However, in recent years, this herb tea was almost forgotten. But its delicate flavor and healthful properties inspired us to revive it for the benefit of people drinking it, and also to promote local economic development.

Professors in Peking University identified the herb as Potentilla tatsienluensis. Laboratory analysis showed that the tea is caffeine-free, and contains rich functional components such as the antioxidant falconoid.

Local nomads were hired to collect and process it. In order to obtain its best form, flavor and aroma, we adapted modern tea roasting techniques to making the tea.

  
At the end of last summer, we successfully obtained all necessary business licenses and permits. In addition to local sales, we opened an online store on Taobao, the Chinese leading online shopping website. Orders are coming in from China and Taiwan. In the future we hope to expand sales beyond Asia.

The tea production ended with the coming of winter. Not only did the local nomads receive their payment, but the profits will support Kilung Foundation’s humanitarian projects in Dzachuka, in particular the rebuilding of the Kilung Shedra complex.

Help rebuild the Kilung Children’s School in the Shedra

This is Sonam Yonten, now in his early 30s.

Sonam’s parents died when he was a young boy. He joined Kilung Shedra when the first Shedra program started and became a monk. Sonam studied very hard, completed his training and later became a teacher for Kilung Children’s School, before the fire destroyed the Shedra.

After the fire, he and the Shedra and Children’s School students have been waiting for the Shedra to be rebuilt so that they can return to study. In the meantime, he is teaching adults in his community how to read and write. The children are now far from home in government schools, and not able to benefit from Tibetan education near their families.

DONATE HERE 
to help rebuild the Kilung Shedra and Community Center.

Click HERE to follow the progress of the Shedra rebuilding.

Help build the Community Health Clinic in the Kilung Shedra

This little girl was famous for her “Big Belly” in the community. She was once starving near death, but no one was aware of it.

Her family caught Tuberculosis two years ago, after they gave up their nomad life and moved to town to send their oldest girl to school. During the TB treatment, her mom became pregnant. She decided to stop the medication and save the baby. After the baby was born, she was sent to live with her grandparents, to avoid getting TB transmitted to her. From day 1, she was fed by yak milk. At the time when we saw her, she was 3 months old, with the size even smaller than month old, with fever, and a painfully distended belly, because she couldn’t digest the overly rich yak milk.

The Kilung Foundation was able to get her infant formula and she rapidly responded, gained weight and is now thriving.

She is the lucky one. But her experience is also the example of thousands of not that lucky Tibetan nomad families who suffered TB, Hepetitis B and Hydatid Disease, which are all preventable but so prevalent in Dzachuka (almost every family we met are affected). With health education for family planning and child nutrition, and with vaccinations and health checks, we can help to prevent this desperate situation from happening again and again.

Donate HERE to help build the Kilung Shedra and Community Center where the health clinic will be located.

2019 Building Season Ends

The construction of the Kilung Shedra and Community Center has ended for the 2019 season. View video about the shedra construction and year-end progress HERE.

What tremendous progress has been made!

From cleared ground in 2017…

…and architectural design and rendering…

…to September 2019 construction progress!

Support from around the world is helping to rebuild
the Kilung Shedra and Community Center.

DONATE HERE

Please help us pay all bills from the 2019 construction season
and begin to fund the 2020 season!

End of August Construction progress and videos

Construction continues at a high rate with great progress! Here are photos and videos from the end of August.

Your support is greatly needed to rebuild the shedra!

DONATE HERE

Your support is greatly needed to rebuild the shedra!

DONATE HERE

Late August 2019 Shedra progress

Your support is greatly needed to rebuild the shedra!

DONATE HERE

Remarkable progress on Kilung Shedra – late July photos 2019

Remarkable progress on the Kilung Shedra as the rooms are now taking shape.
Click on photos below to see full size.

Dza Kilung Rinpoche, Monks and Construction Workers at the Shedra

Tremendous progress is being made with the shedra rebuilding. Here also are some photos of Rinpoche, the monks and the construction workers at the site.

Click on photo to start full-size slide show.