The goal of this ambitious project is to build, staff, and equip a clinic and a school in Ruksin, Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India. This project was created to serve the local community’s needs. The Odiyana Health and Education Project is a coordinated effort between the Tibetan Aid Foundation, the Odiyana Institute, the Odiyana Charitable Society, and the community in Ruksin.

Pictures from the Odiyana Health and Education Project site in Ruksin, Arunachal Pradesh

Progress

The following parts have been completed:

• Power, water, and restroom
• Living quarters and kitchen 
• Public kitchen for the community   
• Storage
• Wall around the property
• Clinic Building
• A funding scholarship for a nursing student (Joyt Tamang). She will be graduating in 2025, and has committed to work in the Odiyana Clinic with a competitive salary.

Ongoing

The following is a list of the ongoing progress on the Project. We are still fundraising to complete this. If you are interested in donating, please visit our Contribute page.

• Odiyana Clinic
  • Fundraising to purchase Clinic Equipment and Supplies ($10,000.00)
  • Septic Tank and Leach-field  (to connect all facilities to a central  location ($5,000.00) – funding completed and work is underway)
  • Drainage System and Retaining Wall (to prevent flooding – $4,500.00)
• Clinic Staff Salary
  • A doctor ($6,500.00 per year)
  • A nurse ($3,500.00 per year)
  • A facility worker ($2,000.00 per year)
• Odiyana Orphanage School
  • Construction Costs ($250,000.00)
  • Furniture and equipment ($40,000.00)
  • Amenities and uniforms ($15,000.00)
  • Staff ($54,000.00 per year)
  • Repairs and educational supplies ($20,000.00)
• Gatehouse
  • Construction ($7,500.00)

Odiyana Clinic

As with any developing region of the world, access to high-quality healthcare services is of concern for many people in the Ruksin area of India, home to a Tibetan ex-patriot community. The TibetanAid Foundation has partnered with the Odiyana Charitable Soceity (an Indian nonprofit) headed by Tulku Rinpoche. The project’s goal is to build a small, but well-equipped clinic that will make such care is available to the public at little or no charge.

There will be a traditional Tibetan physician in residence, who can provide holistic diagnosis and treatment according to ancient wisdom and tradition. Additionally, modern “Western” medicine will be delivered by skilled visiting doctors and nurses from India and abroad. If you are a medical professional and are interested in offering services on a volunteer basis, we would love to hear from you. Please reach out to us here.

Tulku Rinpoche’s vision for the Odiyana Health and Education Project embodies the motto, “think globally, act locally.” It is a big vision, and it is no easy task to bring it to fruition, but Tulku Rinpoche knows from his many successful projects in the East and the West, that with pure motivation and steady, unwavering effort, it is definitely possible to make this vision a reality.

Buddhism teaches that everything exists in dependence upon causes and conditions. We invite you to be part of the causes and conditions that bring the Odiyana Health and Education Project into full manifestation. With the Odiyana Clinic, we intend to benefit countless families of the Ruksin area of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, and the benefits will ripple out to all living beings!

Odiyana Orphanage School

Many people in the Arunachal and Assam region live in relative poverty, and children do not have access to a good education. Therefore, the intention behind the Odiyana School is that roughly one-third of the enrollment spaces will be reserved for local orphans, who will receive not only a full education but boarding, food and clothing at no cost. Furthermore, tuition for day students will be adjusted based on financial need.

Currently, there are 11 boys ages 5 to 14 studying as monks at the Odiyana Health and Education Project site. In addition to their spiritual education, the boys will also receive a standard education, with an emphasis in the English Language. If you would like to sponsor a student, please donate.

Our goal for the completed Odiyana Orphanage School will include modern classrooms, administrative offices, a kitchen and dining hall, and a library. The educational program will offer a comprehensive K-6 contemporary curriculum in Language, Math, Science, History, Visual and Performing Arts, and Movement. A unique aspect of this modern academic program is that it will be informed by Buddhist principles of love and compassion, non-violence, interconnectedness, stewardship of the planet, and deliberate cultivation of the heart and mind through mindfulness and meditation.

Our vision is to recruit highly qualified, full-time teaching faculty from the local community. In addition, the Odiyana Health and Education Project will offer volunteer teaching opportunities to educators from abroad. Foreign volunteers will receive travel assistance, food, room and board. They will gain unique and life-changing personal and professional experience, while positively impacting the lives of so many wonderful children and their families, in one of the most remote and stunningly beautiful places on earth. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact us here. Tulku Orgyen Rinpoche envisions the Odiyana School as a place for developing kind people with leadership skills who possess peace, wisdom and may benefit society for generations to come.

Odiyana Orphanage School plans and pictures of students at the Odiyana Health and Education Project Site