Our day at Pelri Pema Choling Monastery:
During 2025, new and existing sponsors continued to support their nominated children at primary and secondary schools across Bhutan.
Along with Martin and myself, many people also get involved with sponsoring young monks at The Pelri Pema Choling Monastery in Paro.
Each time we visit Bhutan, we spend a day there and this year was no different.
My companions early summer were friends Mr Leki Dorji D who is an amazing teacher and our driver on the day,
as well as Ms Ugyen Lhamo, previous UK student who always helps me with Hope 108.
She came armed with drinks and snacks for all the monks.
The journey to get there was up an extremely windy, bumpy dirt track.
Any discomfort is immediately forgotten once we reach the monastery and see all the smiling monks, in red and orange robes, lined up to greet us.
After photos outside, we were ushered inside the cool, calm interior and treated as special guests of honour.
Tea and sweet rice is brought to us, followed by fresh fruit and other delicacies.
Meanwhile the monks perform a wellbeing ritual for us with prayers, music and dancing.
Even the youngest, smallest monks aged 4, join in by blowing conch shells.
The biggest surprise came when Kuengo, the monk I sponsor, performed a special masked dance which he had learnt specially. It was amazing.
After speeches, perfectly translated both ways by Leki, Lama did our astrology readings which were fascinating.
We finished the day walking around outside and checking progress on building work whilst chatting to some of the monks in English and Dzongka.
As the sun started to set, we also set off back down the bumpy road and away from the monastery; with so many happy memories which will last until we return the next time.
A day in the life of a monk:
For anyone who was wondering,
Kuengo and the other monks spend their days at the monastery exactly like this:
6am-
Morning prayers
7-8am-
Morning Meeting
8am-
Breakfast of rice with suja
9-11am-
Lessons held within the monastery
12pm-
Lunch break with rice and vegetable curry
1:30-3pm-
Prayers
3-3:30pm-
Tea break
3:30-5-
Lessons
5-6pm-
Debate is held
6:30pm-
Dinner of rice and vegetables
7:30-8:30pm-Prayers
9-10pm-
Homework
10pm-
Bedtime meditation
Ability Bhutan Society:
Hope 108 is mentioned as an international partner in the latest annual report from Ability Bhutan Society (ABS)
We have previously donated items from a swimming pool to exercise kit to help improve mobility of these children who are unable to have a standard education.
Hope 108 has sponsored many children with severe disabilities at ABS.
This enables them to have additional bespoke learning they need, even from home and to ensure we support their families too.
Thank you!
A big thank you to all the Hope 108 sponsors who sent me letters and packages to bring to Bhutan for their nominated children.
The children were delighted to receive gifts from their sponsors and practiced their English by writing thank you notes of appreciation.
We are absolutely delighted to announce we have reached and exceeded our target of sponsoring 108 children through Hope 108. Most of our generous international sponsors continued supporting their child over the years and until they completed school. Some sponsors even took on responsibility for more than one child! Others additionally posted personal gifts, including toys, football kits, footballs and letters to further delight and encourage the children. We really appreciate such generous support from our sponsors, thank you all! Principals and teachers worked in partnership with us to receive funds, spend them on necessities for the child and update us on how they were doing, academically and holistically. A big thank you to them all for working collaboratively with us in their own time. Aside from getting updates from the schools, we also travelled to meet them in person. It was a joy to meet the children, parents and their teachers over the years in Bhutan. There are still a few remote schools left to visit. Parents told us of the relief they felt when they knew the cost of essentials would be met by the sponsor. School uniform, shoes, bag, coats, blankets, sports kit, stationery as well as compulsory nominal school fees were taken care of. This enabled the children to purely focus on their studies. To date, everyone of the 108 sponsored children stayed at school and did not drop out. Working together we have achieved our goal to H elp O ptimise P upils' E ducation. Moving forwards, we shall continue to be inclusive and support diversity by offering sponsorship opportunities at either a school, a monastery/nunnery, or a centre for children with disabilities. If you would like to get involved or find out more, we would be delighted to hear from you!
Hope 108 Update