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FPMT Mongolia Children’s Program, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Photo courtesy of FPMT Mongolia.
We are delighted to share a report from FPMT Mongolia’s Mahayana Children’s Program on the ways they were able to utilize a recent Merit Box grant.
FPMT Mongolia’s Mahayana Children’s Program began in 2007, aiming to engage children from 6–16 years of age every Saturday at the FPMT Mongolia Center in Ulaanbaatar. Each year approximately 80–100 children are enrolled and participate in learning activities focused on Dharma, traditional culture and practices, yoga, arts and crafts, and first aid/health education in order to further develop positive life-long coping strategies and positive stress-response skills.
The Mahayana Children’s Program has also been started at Lamp of the Path (LOP), the center’s local non-governmental organization (NGO). In the Ger district area, classes focus more on alternative informal education (based upon the 16 Guidelines) and positive social-emotional development activities for children who have access to fewer resources and are more “at risk” due to challenging family living situations.
Based on the wishes and vision of FPMT founders, Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, FPMT Mongolia strives to provide integrated education and opportunities for learning so that people’s–including children and youth–minds and hearts can be transformed. The 16 Guidelines provide a concrete and practical way to do this while also building important skills for children and young people so that they are enabled and empowered to successfully navigate the road to adulthood.
Children with the new desks for the FPMT Mongolia Children’s Program, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Photo courtesy of FPMT Mongolia.
With a recent upgrade and expansion to the classroom used at LOP for the Children’s Program, FPMT Mongolia requested and was awarded a Merit Box grant in the Spring of 2024, specifically to support further development of the Lamp of the Path classroom and to also publish new children’s learning materials and training resources for use in this location and beyond based on the 16 Guidelines.
Based on the 2024 Merit Box award, the team was able to purchase 20 adjustable children’s floor desks, seating mats, and other materials for use in classes, complete a translation of the 16 Guidelines children’s resource book “Ready, Set, Happy” in Mongolian for use by the FPMT Mongolia team (and others as well), and cover part of the costs of printing the first 500 copies of the new book.
Please rejoice that this Mahayana Children’s Program was able to utilize their grant so well, to really offer so much with what they were awarded.
The FPMT Social Services fund has been supporting the activities of LOP since 2003. You read a recent report on these activities.
With thanks to Susan Roe, the center director of FPMT Mongolia, for sharing this update on their Mahayana Children’s Program.
FPMT Mongolia Children’s Program, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Photo courtesy of FPMT Mongolia.
Update: The Merit Box Project was permanently closed at the end of 2024, after more than two decades of fostering generosity and providing aid to local FPMT centers, projects, services, study groups, and other activities that align with the FPMT mission.
To continue offering the vital resource that the Merit Box Project provided to local FPMT communities, we have transitioned to the new FPMT Community Support Fund, which will fulfill the same purpose in giving aid to local FPMT communities and projects. Grants will be made through the FPMT Community Support Fund later this year, and any offerings planned for the Merit Box Fund can be made to this fund now and in the future. We will be sharing more information about this new fund in upcoming communications.
Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), is a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.