Girls Hostel

But our long term goal is to have a socially engaged monastery where young women can get a university degree by correspondence and also study Buddhism by taking temporary ordination. This girls' hostel/nunnery will help train women leaders /empowered women who can then return to their villages with skills to train other women, create employment and self help groups and become agents of change, whether they choose to stay nuns or marry. It is also our hope that some nuns from Ladakh will also be resident part of the year to help train the Indian nuns.

India has the highest number of child brides in the world, although the incidence has been decreasing. Less girls are marrying before the age of 15 (from 23.5% to 18.2%), but rates of marriage have increased for girls between ages 15-18 (26.7% to 29.2%).

Major factors perpetuating child marriage are economic considerations (poverty, marriage-related expenses, dowry), gender norms and expectations, concerns about girls' safety and family honour, and a lack of educational opportunities for girls.

47% of girls in India are married before the age of 18. 18% are married before they are 15. This stunts the girl's physical and emotional growth, exposes them to dangerous births, sex and responsibilities before they are physically and emotionally ready to deal with them and cuts short their chance to get an education and any hope of an independent life.

Girls who grow up in slums are often not able to study in peace, as they are expected to do many domestic tasks and serve their brothers. Their families lack resources to send them to college and will often see them as a 'thief at the table' and try to marry them off to relieve financial pressure and protect their virginity. Bodhicitta Foundation will offer these girls a safe place to study and finish growing up and give them skills they need for independent lives.

Our socially engaged Buddhist Centre will also be a place of retreat and refuge for Western monastics, lay friends who wish to practice and offer service etc.

In order to have a piece of land large enough to fill the double purpose of retreat centre/monastery/social work we need approx $300,000Au. After 6 years of fundraising all we have is $50,000Au. Rent has doubled in the last 6 years in Nagpur and land prices exponentially. We need to build a legacy that will last for the some of the poorest Buddhists in the world.

Please help us in this noble work. Together we can change the world!
To donate email moondakini@hotmail.com

or deposit (specify building fund):
Account Name: Bodhicitta Foundation
Account no: 153131719
Bendigo Bank
BSB : 633000

Dear friends, we have been very busy recently with our ever expanding work. We now have three slum tuition centres with 75 children studying after school (because the quality of education is so poor), giving children a good start in life. Our meals for malnourished children continue, with 7000 meals served every year! Our women's job training centre is going well and many women continue to study computers and sewing.