The Soup Kitchen at Dolma Ling Community Center
The Dolma Ling Community Center officially opened on August 1st 2003. Since then, we have been serving food and providing basic medical assistance to the underprivileged and impoverished people of the Bayanzuurkh District of Ulaanbaatar.
The Community Centre was established with the specific aims of expanding the social services offered by FPMT Mongolia to help alleviate poverty and to benefit the extremely poor and underprivileged sectors of the community.
Since the end of the communist regime, with many nomads leaving the countryside with the hope of finding a better life in the city, high rates of unemployment and homelessness continue to generate living conditions well below the poverty level.
Soup Kitchen
The first goal of the community center was reached with the opening of the Soup Kitchen. The soup kitchen provides a nourishing hot bowl of soup with bread and tea on a daily basis to over 80 adults and children, including many homeless people.
A small vegetable garden has been cultivated beside the community center to provide fresh vegetables and herbs for use in the daily meals.
Temperatures can drop to -40 degrees C in the extremely cold winters and many homeless children take to the underground heating systems to stay alive, a regular meal of hot soup and milk helps to alleviate the chronic conditions of everyday life.
Health Clinic
The community center is intended to be not only a place of warmth and nourishment for those in need, but a source of practical information on hygiene and child care, both in the small health clinic and with our specially prepared videos. Basic medical attention and advice are always available. These are much needed services, especially in the outlying ger (nomad tents) districts of Ulaanbaatar, where many Mongolians must face a daily struggle to survive.
A fully qualified nurse with a Masters qualification in health promotion is the new manager of the community center, and will be expanding the social services we offer in basic health and well being.
Dolma Ling Working Group
In the winter of 2004, a local working group was established in the community center. The aim was to help local residents improve their sewing and knitting skills and to gain experience in management in order to create independent working groups which can make a modest living.
After two months of training and support from the community center, the initial group of 6 people has become independent and are now sufficiently trained to make clothing and other products for sale. FPMT Mongolia still continues to support this group by advertising their work in the Stupa cafe in Shedrup Ling and by arranging meetings and displays with the local embassies and companies to arrange orders for them. We plan to start a new working group in the winter of 2005 to train a new group of people.
Future Plans
The community center has been a great success and FPMT Mongolia now have a solid foundation from which to continue and expand the social services needed to help alleviate poverty.
Initial funding has been received to set up a soup kitchen in Darkhan in northern Mongolia and local governors on other parts of Ulaanbaatar have approached FPMT Mongolia to co-operate with new social programs in other parts of the city.
How you can Help
It is currently estimated that the Soup Kitchen requires $1200 per month to purchase food, pay for personal and administrative costs, maintain equipment and serve up to 2,500 meals every month.
Just think, for significantly less than a dollar, we can provide a nourishing meal to a person so desperately in need.
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I also think if you, as a Buddhist organization, were eventually able to do more in the area of social service, in the fields of education, health and counseling for the resolution of family and community problems, it would be of great benefit. This would not mean teaching the Buddhadharma, but simply using the techniques or messages of the Buddhadharma to try to solve problems through social service for the welfare of society. It would not be done as a Buddhist or Dharma activity, but simply to service and benefit humanity. |  |
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–His Holiness the Dalai Lama
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Click here to view the Soup Kitchen Photos
FPMT has established Mongolia, FPMT (MGN) as a designated purpose fund, which with the support of generous benefactors, supports the work of FPMT's affiliate, Mongolia, FPMT (MGN). All donations made to the fund are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.