Vocational Training

In eastern Tibet, Karuna-Shechen helps to support a vocational training program that teaches traditional arts and crafts and practical skills to the local community. 

Several workshops are specifically intended to train and employ women from nomad and farming areas. The weaving workshop teaches traditional Tibetan weaving under the guidance of expert teachers, using wooden looms made by the locally-trained carpenters. Similarly, the sewing workshop employs a number of women who manufacture traditional woolen materials and beautifully ornate leather bags. In the computer workshop, eight women input rare texts for publication.

Throughout Dzongsar Valley there are workshops dedicated to pottery, tailoring, thangka painting, wood-carving, wood painting, bronze statue-making, goldsmith, incense making, Tibetan medicine, and computer training. Once the students have completed their training, new trainees enter the programs.

This work not only contributes to the revival of traditional arts and crafts but has created meaningful and viable jobs for dozens of Tibetans.

Karuna-Shechen will expand its vocational training programs to include additional skills and locations.