Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Discussion of ordination, the Vinaya and monastic life. How and where to ordain? Bhikkhuni ordination etc.
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WaterProject
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Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by WaterProject »

Hello all,

On our buddhism journey, we have have come across people from all walks of life and obtained lots of blessings and knowledge from them. During one of our conversations, which lead to a visit to Luang Prabang, Laos, we came across the plight of novices mainly hailing from the the poverty stricken mountainside villages.

The families of these novices send them to the Vat Pha-O School which was specially built to offer financially disadvantaged Laotian children a holistic environment for a chance at receiving education and inculcating proper values in life.

The establishment houses up to 1,000 Child novices aged between 10 to 20, and up to 70 monks and nuns during peak seasons.

The school is currently lacking in clean water, a basic amenity required for the personal hygiene of the inhabitants.

This lack, coupled with the cramped living conditions of the premises, has resulted in widespread skin conditions, which are transmitted easily due to the contagiousness of these diseases.

The novices have a hard time focusing on their hopes of improving their lives through education amidst living in such stressful conditions.

We are hoping to put we have learnt about giving back to society into practice, as well as to benefit the Sangha.

We sincerely hope to be able to raise the required funds to build a functional water treatment distribution system to better the lives of these children, and hope the community can help us out with this project as well.
Last edited by retrofuturist on Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: (link removed - see closing two posts for details)
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DooDoot
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Re: Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by DooDoot »

In Thailand there are many wealthy monastery foundations. I suggest to ask them, such as :

http://www.watpahnanachat.org/
https://en.dhammakaya.net/contact/
http://www.bia.or.th/en/
https://www.facebook.com/suanmokkhbangkok/
There is always an official executioner. If you try to take his place, It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood. If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter, you will only hurt your hand.

https://soundcloud.com/doodoot/paticcasamuppada
https://soundcloud.com/doodoot/anapanasati
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salayatananirodha
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Re: Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by salayatananirodha »

i was compelled to donate but i had concerns about the site; any way you could alleviate them?
I host a sutta discussion via Zoom Sundays at 11AM Chicago time — message me if you are interested
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retrofuturist
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Re: Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,
salayatananirodha wrote: Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:47 am i was compelled to donate but i had concerns about the site; any way you could alleviate them?
It looks like you can send a message to the Campaign Owner (Kingsley Sok) via the donation site if you have any questions for them.

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
paul
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Re: Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by paul »

I have contacted the Buddhist Heritage Project to verify the information:

http://buddhist-heritage.org/academy.html
paul
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Re: Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by paul »

Message from Buddhist Heritage:

We are very familiar with the water situation at the Buddhist Academy site, and I know nothing of this latest “emergency”. I was there a little over a week ago and will be so again on this coming Tuesday.

I’ll assess the situation and get back to you later in the week,
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Virgo
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Re: Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by Virgo »

salayatananirodha wrote: Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:47 am i was compelled to donate but i had concerns about the site; any way you could alleviate them?
While I would like to see you donate, I notice that while they have a "secure" https connection, the certificate is issued by CloudShare. Their certificates are somewhat controversial and do not provide as much security as many, including myself, would like to see.

Kevin...
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pilgrim
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Re: Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by pilgrim »

I have nothing against this project or any other charity but wish to clarify whether posts like this are against DW's Terms of Service?

. Action

The following actions are not permitted at Dhamma Wheel:

c. Solicitation of funds
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retrofuturist
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Re: Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings Pilgrim,
pilgrim wrote: Tue Feb 12, 2019 11:38 pm I have nothing against this project or any other charity but wish to clarify whether posts like this are against DW's Terms of Service?

. Action

The following actions are not permitted at Dhamma Wheel:

c. Solicitation of funds
It's a grey line, because we do also promote Dhammaduta and have a section here devoted to it.

We're allowing it for now because it appears as if it's a genuine attempt to do good works that will be beneficial both to the Sangha and to its surrounding laypeople, but if anyone determines it to be a scam, it and the member will be wiped off the forum.

Until then, I'd suggest members apply their discretion, but in the principle of respecting their intellectual autonomy, I'm not going to tell them what to do.

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
paul
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Re: Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by paul »

Message from Buddhist Heritage Project:

For the water situation at Vat Pa Pha-O and the Buddhist Academy, there is no emergency. We have been there, and spoken to some of the monks and novices, and in particular to the Abbot.
They have clean drinking water (and have for some years now thanks to us and some others). Water for bathing comes from variable sources depending on the season. About 3 years ago there was an outbreak of skin rashes etc., but given that it was never medically diagnosed it could have been anything. More likely it was something like bed lice or scabies or some such.
However at that time a visiting Swiss / Japanese monk (?) offered to raise money to build them a water treatment plant, but apparently nothing ever came of it. In fact that’s a very bad idea unless one also deals with the practical issues and costs of on-going maintenance etc. Those costs, in the long run, would be significant and probably more than the initial capital expense of building the plant.
There are approximately 600 novices in the lower secondary school, along with several dozen Monks, Nuns and support people. The very young novices are in the process of building a series of small “khutis” so they will no longer have to sleep dormitory style on the floor in the temple.
While it’s a lifestyle that many westerners would not find comfortable, the fact is that most of these kids are far better off here (and more comfortable) than at home in their remote villages. There is no overcrowding, and the ambience and environment is harmonious and cheerful.
There are many things to help them with, in particular at the moment (aside from building the Arts School) we are focusing on the challenge of solid waste disposal, and other more mundane matters.

I hope this helps to clear up the apparent mis-information (fake news?) that has been posted on your site. Our own website is long overdue for an update on the school construction, and I hope to get to that this coming month.

The Coordinator.

Donations should be arranged with Buddhist Heritage Project
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retrofuturist
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Re: Urgent Clean Water needed for Skin Disease Outbreak among Buddhist Novices

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

In light of the likelihood that this is a "misguided" project, rather than actual fraud, I'm going to close the topic and remove any links to the initiative.

Thank you paul, for your investigation.

Metta,
Paul. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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