And more foundations laid...
THE BIG NEWS:
Dining hall at Draktsho completed before monsoon season It is a delight to see the students at the residential school for students with disabilities finally being able to all eat together indoors, protected from the rains in the spring and summer, and the cold in winter. This project was completed with so much help from you all as well as funding from the German Embassy. Opening Your Heart To Bhutan also managed to fund some sturdy, high quality dining room furniture once the building was completed. In our last newsletter in early spring, we announced our next fundraising focus for a two-storey Library and Learning Block at Draktsho East. We are very proud to announce that the foundations for this building have already been laid, thanks to the generosity of all our funders, all the people that organise local events such as the Blue Bell Walk which happened again in May, yoga workshops with Julie Page and Nina Dhiman and at Blackheath Yoga and the Yogific Vegan and Yoga Festival and Brighton Yoga Festival which helped us raise funds. And of course the ongoing success of Pema Deki's book, which has now been translated into German and Czech! We are also thrilled to have been chosen as the University of Kent's Charity of the Year. We are now not that far of raising a quarter of a million pounds since the charity began only three years ago. That is an amazing achievement for an all-volunteer-run small charity. We are currently on £232,000 so only 18K to go until our CEO Pema Deki can have that celebratory double shot full-caffeine cappucino with a fresh orange juice on the side - her most extravagant drinks as a nun. We have also achieved most of what we set out to do in our five year strategic plan but trustees are considering further ideas to improve educational provision in Bhutan's capital Thimpu, in partnership with Draktsho. You can read more project updates and subscribe to our newsletter via this link: mailchi.mp/af6ba02d19f3/opening-your-heart-to-bhutan-summer-2018-news