Gangchen Drupkang, Nepal

Gangchen Drupkhang is located in Arubari (Tinchuli-Boudhanath), on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal. It is a densely populated area where Fondazione Lama Gangchen Help in Action Onlus has worked for 25 years to to bring aid to many families living in conditions of poverty. In this area there is high unemployment, a lack of health and educational services, and people have to live in shabby and unsafe homes.

Gangchen Drupkhang was built in 2006, under the guidance of Lama Gangchen Rinpoche, with the aim of creating a permanent base for the preservation of traditional Himalayan handicrafts and culture: hand-carved wooden furniture and objects, traditional paintings and works of art, healing incenses and herbal remedies of the ancient Tibetan tradition, a centuries-old heritage of the Himalayan medical culture.

In Nepal, handicrafts are considered one of the sectors with the greatest potential both in terms of business opportunities and in terms of development and employment: in fact, it has a growing market, it makes about 6% of the national GDP and represents about 60% of the production of manufactured goods in the country. In recent years Gangchen Drupkhang has created real opportunities for training, employment and social inclusion for hundreds of people – among the poorest in the outskirts of Kathmandu – with particular attention to mothers in difficulty, young people, unemployed with families to support and disabled. It has offered them a renewed sense of dignity, whilst using and supporting the precious Himalayan artistic, spiritual, cultural and medical knowledge at the same time.