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Loden Zhitshog: Knowledge has no owner

3 January 2009

Sonam Wangdi is the first student to be sponsored a two-year degree course by Loden Foundation in BSC Visual Communication in Patrician College of Arts and Science, Chennai.

Sonam said, “I am grateful that such a foundation exists because it has made a difference in the lives of people like me. Loden is indeed realising GNH by reaching out to needy ones.” Loden Zhitshog, a non- profit organisation run by trustees and volunteers in Bhutan, believes that “knowledge has no owner, everyone is entitled to it.” It has sponsored more than 50 students till date.

The foundation is dedicated to promote education and learning in the Himalayas to create awareness on the region’s culture, religion and environment. It has a scholarship scheme, vocational training programmes and a resource centre to help the underprivileged students and farmers.

The trustees of the foundation are Ashi Kunzang Choden, Dasho Meghraj Gurung, Dechen Chime and Karma Phuntsho. Their principal benefactors are Anne and Gerarad Tardy. In 2008, the foundation awarded six loans and one grant to four women and three men after intensive interview and assessment by a jury comprising international and Bhutanese experts.

There are local mentors appointed to monitor their businesses and help them because after six months, they have to start repaying their loans so that the money can be used for new projects. Loden established its first public day care and Early Learning Centre (ELC) in Ura, Bumthang, on April 22, 2008, with three teachers. The centre was aimed at providing rural children kindergarten facilities like urban children. There are now 32 regular children, aged three to six, learning nursery rhymes, numbers, letters and games.

The foundation is planning to establish the second one in Samtse within a year and extend the project to the rest of the country. Loden provides a walk-in opportunity to students, who do not qualify for further studies, for whom finding a scholarship is impossible. The foundation has a small library with relevant books for higher education and entrepreneurship along with a few computers with free internet facilities.

Since 2000, Loden has been supporting children in Bhutan and Tibet with an annual sum of Nu 8,000 for high school students and Nu 6,000 for primary school students. With the money, children could buy school uniforms, stationeries, sports gear and travel. For tertiary students, the cost depends on the subjects they study.

By Eshori Gurung

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Posted by Bhutan Observer · Filed Under About Town 

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