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The Conservancy seeks to build lasting relationships with our donors and supporters. The Conservancy hosts events and programs seeking to highlight Tibetan culture, Buddhist thought and in-disciplinary discussions.
We encourage you to sign up below to receive advance notice of events organized by The Conservancy for Tibetan Art and Culture and to keep up to date on our programs.
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By signing up for CTAC’s mailing list you will receive our bi-monthly newsletter on the work the Conservancy is engaged in, our forthcoming events and news related to the preservation of Tibetan art and culture.
Show your support for Tibet with a Friends of Tibet License Plate: How your Friends of Tibet License Plate Can Help Preserve Tibetan Culture
When you tell the world you’re a Friend of Tibet with the nation’s first Tibetan special license plate, you’ll be doing more than sending a powerful message — because of special legislation in the Commonwealth of Virginia, proceeds from the sale of every Friends of Tibet plate help Tibetan refugee families preserve their endangered culture.
Click here to order your Friends of Tibet license plate from the DMV or use the link below to order your own Friends of Tibet plate directly for the DMV — and even personalize it with a message of your choice. (There are also souvenir plates for Friends of Tibet who don’t own cars in Virginia.) Order your own Friends of Tibet Virginia license plate today, and help preserve Tibetan culture.
Create a Legacy to honor Lhundhup Gurung’s Dream
The story of a brave boy, his chance for education, and the altruism of a small and unknown school in the mountains of Mustang.
At 7 years of age, Lhundhup Gurung walked away from his impoverished home in the remote mountains of Dolpo, Nepal. He left his home, encouraged by his mother and father, in the company of his brother Palden, who was 11.
Through the highest mountain passes, this little boy walked for 10 full days, committed to his dream. He sought an education, it must be free, and he’d found his chance at the Kag Chode Monastic School in Kag Beni, Mustang.
Lhundhup Gurung reached the school, adapted well, becoming a star student. This smart, athletic, friendly little boy now found another goal, and he was adamant: he wanted to become a monk, and studied hard.
This past winter, though, illness struck the boy with high fever, weakness and severe head pain. Local treatment failed. Lhundhup went into a coma. Cared for at a hospital in Kathmandu, he stayed in ICU a month, and then in private care. He suffered from both meningitis and TB.
Lhundhup Gurung, age 8, passed away on March 11, 2011.
The cost of his care was covered by a small nest egg – his new school’s meager building fund.
The Kag Chode Monastic School of Mustang had carefully accumulated funds to build a new school. Cramming eager children in inadequate facilities, the monastery had slowly scraped together funds for the modest new school, a place where eager children could be housed and fed and educated.
To care for Lhundhup la, though, the monastery’s choice was clear: Funds were needed, first for the small boy’s care and then for his funeral, and the monastery did not hesitate to provide them. Those funds are gone.
But we can now make certain that the chance to build that new school is not lost. Please join us to build a Legacy Fund, in Lhundhup’s name. Replace the funds so kindly offered by the monastery –$5,000– and let other children have the dream that Lhundhup sought. The monastery remains committed to offering free education to the poorest children of Mustang and the surrounding regions, which have so few resources and offer so few chances for their children to attend a school.
Restore their funds, so they can build their school. They now have 22 children waiting for this chance.
Though he passed on, we know from the choices he made in his brief life, that Lhundhup la wanted to learn. His childhood poverty and leaving home at 7 did not rob Lhundhup la of his desire. Help other children just like him – living in an unusually harsh and desperately poor area—achieve their dream of learning. Please help the Kag Chode monastery accomplish this. Restore the funding for their school.
Any donation, large or small, is welcome. CTAC will use one hundred percent of donations received to replenish the monastery’s School Building Program in memory of Lhundhup Gurung la, and his desire to learn.
CTAC (The Conservancy for Tibetan Art and Culture) is a registerd 501 ( c ) (3) non-profit. Should CTAC receive donations in excess of the amount needed for replenishment, those funds will be used to support education projects in Nepal.
