Our Ashram

Over the past 7-8 years, our temple is this little rental room with green painted walls of a house where we ran meditation classes, dhrama teaching as well as other social engaged activities. It is a spiritual sanctuary for slum people. With in the small space and a handful resources we have, we manage to use Dharma teaching to alleviate people's suffering from inside. Some of the activities we have done are:

• Retreats
• Weekly Dharma Class
• 3 Sunday schools for 180 Children
• Buddhism for young people
• Public talks and Seminars
• Dharma teacher training
• Pilgrimages
• Monastic training (temporary ordination)

Now it's time to move on and grow so we can render more services to those in need. We are now moving into a new bigger rental place where we call the Ashram.

An Ashram implies a place for community, a home, a place of help and a spiritual refuge. Our dream is that one day we will have a permanent place of our own where we won't have to worry about the hiking rental rate notice from a greedy landlord. Bodhicitta Foundation is currently fundraising to buy land in order to build an Ashram and Community Centre. This Centre will provide:

• An adolescent Girls Home - an important step to empower girls with independence and skills to return to their communities and become change makers, and to avoid child marriage.
• A barefoot University where women and girls can study university degrees by correspondence
• Women's Job Training Centre Job Training in sewing, computers, English, Beauty therapies
• Youth group and guidance
• Domestic violence counselling and referrals

Some spiritual activities will also go on here such as meditation, monastic retreats, spiritual counselling and so forth, but these will be carried out separately (the venue will be shared). Slum people really need a quiet place to come and recover from the stress, poverty and challenges of their lives to renew themselves

We need $400,000 Aud to make make this wonderful dream a reality.