|
VISTA, the Vajra Institute for Sustainable Training Assistance, aims to assist the Tibetan nomadic community of Sershul County who are now being housed in urban areas, to adjust to urban living, and to develop the skills and their business applications to support their economic livelihood.
As a first step, the Vajra Body, the outreach arm of Ju Mohor Monastery, with assistance and guidance from the Rigdzin Foundation, purchased a commercial venue, the Vista Building.
It is being run as a commercial enterprise, with the aim of being self-sustaining in the future, along with being developed as a training centre.
- Ground floor: shop spaces and workshops for mechanics, tailoring and carpentry training
- Second floor: boarding house for Tibetan and Chinese workers of Sershul
- Second floor: restaurant to service boarders, tourists, students and townspeople.
- Third floor: tourist accommodation during the summer season, and housing of vocational training students during winter.
Once capital repayments are complete, the building and programmes will be self-financing.
The training schemes will be short term, personalised and highly focused, aiming to develop practical skills and confidence. These training programs can run all year round, even in the harsh winter months, using VISTA’s premises—accommodation, training rooms and workshops.
During the summer months, VISTA will turn its attention to tourist development and management, providing high quality accommodation within a Tibetan cultural environment, with access to cultural heritage sights and workshops featuring Tibetan cultural arts.
Tourism, which is growing at 20% per annum in China offers many economic benefits but must be carefully managed to ensure benefits flow to the local people and cultural integrity is maintained.
VISTA will develop four program areas of skills training and enterprise development, using the resources of VISTA’s commercial premises and the Ju Mohor Monastery, through a staged implementation process:
- Tourism Development - accommodation services, catering and hospitality training, tourist transport and tour guiding
- Technology Skills Training - motor mechanics, dress making and tailoring, sanitation, waste management and water supply, and information technology
- Health Care and Education - public health education and basic health care.
- Heritage Conservation - carpentry, stonemasonry, decorative painting, thanka painting and calligraphy.
VISTA will address the following development challenges facing nomadic Tibetans in Sershul:
- Poverty alleviation through increased opportunities to participate in the cash economy. Currently cash incomes are less than $150 per annum.
- Improved health and education through health education, health care and training. Local literacy rates are estimated at less than 10 percent.
- Heritage conservation through the development of artisans trained in carpentry, stone masonry, and decorative arts.
- Integrated tourist development linking accommodation and hospitality with tour guiding, cultural events and heritage emphasising the unique Buddhist heritage of the area.
- Cultural revitalisation and capacity building, providing outreach capability for the Ju Mohor Monastery to enable monks and nuns to provide social benefit to the people of Sershul County, as well as continue the rich tradition of Buddhist education and spiritual support.
The complete project proposal can be downloaded here.
Progress so far
So far donations have been received for US$72,500
This has enabled:
- Payment of a deposit of US$62,000 on the VISTA commercial premises
- The investment of US$5,430 in training 25 mechanics over the next 3 years and two people in hospitality training at the guesthouse.
- Two loans of US$2,535 each over ten years to local women for business start-up.
Fundraising Target 2007-2008
Capital costs:
Purchase of furnished 3 storey commercial premises |
1.6 million Yuan |
US$207,000 |
Establish training programs:
($12,000 /program) |
|
US$36,000 |
Micro-financing fund for enterprise development:
($7,500 per program area) |
|
US$30,000 |
The Rigdzin Foundation is forming partnerships with organisations in donor countries so that donors receive tax deductions in these jurisdictions:
 Rigdzin Community Partners of the AFAP (Australian Foundation for Asia and the Pacific). Australian donors may support VISTA through cheques payable to AFAP, Box 12 Crows Nest NSW 1585, or through credit card at www.afap.org
Money donated through the AFAP is eligable for tax deductions within Australia.
- Rigdzin Foundation Holland, a non profit charitable organisation.
Contacts:
Catherine Herriman (Australia) -
Elisa Kriek (Holland/Europe) -
Shelley Keach (New Zealand) -
Tim Lewis (UK) -
Niki Barton (USA) -
Visit the Rigdzin Foundation website for more information.
|
