The Singing Nuns

Ani Choying is a Buddhist nun in Kathmandu who has started a wonderful school for girls that we visited the other day. But first a word of what I know of Ani Choying-what little I know, from an article I read about her in Tricycle magazine last year. She is knows as the "singing nun" because of her beautiful, pure voice. I know that's true, having purchased quite a few of her CD's on my last trip here, but she discovered her voice in a sad way. She was severely abused as a young girl growing up in a poor family in Kathmandu, and her father would get drunk and beat her. To overcome the great sadness she'd feel at the abuse, she would sing to herself. She later joined a monastery for women in Nepal to escape her abusive father. As a young girl at Nagi Gompa, where she took refuge from her hard life, she saw how much support was given to the monks and their superior educational opportunities, while the same could not be said for the nuns. As her fame as a "singing nun" grew, Ani was able to use her resources and influence to build and start a school for poor and destitute girls, as she had once been. Today this is the Arya Tara School in Pharping, about 15 miles up in the hills outside Kathmandu.
I found myself there recently with Bree and Danny, we had a scenic and tense at times (drunk guy next to me falling out of his seat at every turn-steep dropoffs and tight turns as we climbed up and up in our Indian government bus) and finally topped out in a picturesque, green, wooded hillside of pine forests and gold spired "gompas" (Buddhist for temple). We walked a lovely dirt road with commanding views of Kathmandu far below us, and came to imposing gates that were opened by Danny's friend Tashi, who is a teacher here. He escorted us to see several of the classrooms, all full of girls from age 5 (the youngest) to in the teens. The girls were happy, cheerful and had excellent English. We chatted with many of them, who didn't seem at all to mind we had interrupted their classwork. Most are parentless for various reasons, one said her mother died and father no longer wanted her (common in poor areas like this) some had lost both parents, some had parents who brought them to the school because they could not afford to take care of them. None of the girls seemed to mind our nosey questions. We were curious, as we struggled to understand the needs of Nepal and how best we can use our HANDS in Nepal resources, above and beyond the building of schools. Here was a wonderful school, started by a singing nun, with 65 girls getting an excellent education and full care, from medical to art and music. We got a tour of the kitchen, where the girls take turns cooking, to the dorm rooms, with bunk beds made neatly and most with a stuffed animal on a pillow and books arranged between beds showing many of the titles enjoyed by girls everywhere ("The Little Prince, Harry Potter"), and even a large TV room ,with no furniture but a carpet to sit on, and the "puja" room for morning prayers and Buddhist chants. A huge garden filled one side, with corn and other vegetables, gray water piped from the shower and kitchen area, and there was also a large computer room equipped with desk tops and the "one for one" non-profit lap tops we've heard so much about. All in all, we had such a fun day "hanging out" with the girls, and talking and taking pictures of them. We were so happy to know they had a good home and such good care, all due to a singing nun who's childhood had not been so great, who took that pain and made such a wonderful life for others. We decided sponsor the littlest girl there, who's name is Urgen Dolma, as a HANDS in Nepal scholarship recipient. That makes seven children now that we've been able to help with our donations. Namaste!!
If you are interested in learning more about the Arya Tara school and Ani Choying, please goggle: Nuns Welfare Foundation of Nepal and Ani Choying Dolma.
We ended our wonderful day with a hike up to some ancient and historic Buddhist meditation caves. This area was known to have been frequented by the great yogi and guru Padmashambhava, or Guru Rinpoche. He was an Indian yogi who brought the Buddha's teachings to Tibet, turning Tibet and their warrior people into peace-loving Buddhist. Considering how hard it is just to get up to Pharping and some of the villages we've trekked too, that's quite a feat, to think of traveling to Tibet in the days of Buddha! Some say he could fly-some say he meditated in the caves we hiked up to for years without eating. Whatever is true, he must of been quite a character and a wonderful guru to sit in a cave and shoot the breeze with! We pressed our hands into imprints on rock walls supposably made by his very hand, and chanted softly his mantra ":Om ah hum vajra guru padme sattiva" and made our way carefully back down in steady monsoon rainfall, each of us silently immersed in our thoughts of life in Guru Rinpoche's days, and the singing nuns of Arya Tara School.