Another successful programme was the visit to the Kasih Hospice Care Society, a non-profit organization, established in 1997 together with other committee members of Losang Dragpa Buddhist Society.

It provides hospice services to patients with terminal illnesses in line with the Buddhist philosophy of universal compassion in dealing with the living and the dying. This aspect of community life is part of the Bhutan Nuns Foundation’s deep concerns; we are convinced that our trainings can provide the nuns with the skills necessary to meaningfully and cooperatively be beneficial to their communities in the field of hospice care giving.

We share Kasih Hospice’s belief that people who live fully eventually die well, and our future programs already include some of the training that the Hospice is providing, such as meditation techniques, healthy cooking and eating, setting up and managing support groups for caregivers and patients, and how to find spirituality in health. These are some of the values that our nuns, monks and spiritual teachers already believe in and live by.

The support system of the Bhutan Nuns Foundation will provide the framework for improved implementation in Bhutan.

Kasih Foundation aims to create public awareness and interest in hospice services, self-transformation and self-healing. Their activities include hospice volunteer training, workshops in professional skills in volunteerism, public seminars, study visits to other hospice organizations, and courses on how to live and serve better within the Buddhist philosophy.

This is something that Bhutanese Buddhist nuns could emulate under the guidance of Bhutan Nuns Foundation’s capacity building programmes. The Kasih Foundation’s members, especially Dr. Goh Pik Pin, are very much interested to help train our nuns and help us set up similar services with BNF.