Genla’s Dream: A glimpse of Jhamtse Gatsal Children’s Community

Jhamtse Gatsal is a children’s community located in remote foothills of the Himalayas, bordering Bhutan and Tibet, in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India. It is a non-profit organization which was founded in 2006 by a former Buddhist monk, Lobsang Phuntsok. The community provides a loving home, education, health care, and nutrition to over 90 children coming from diverse backgrounds of adversity and poverty from the surrounding villages of this remote region.

Over the duration of the Lakpar Fellowship 2018-2019 at the community, funded by the Pema Chodron Foundation, I engaged with the people there as a teacher, facilitator and action researcher to explore the role of material in shaping 21st-century skills to create a foundation for sustainable education, in a remote region, devoid of high-end technological facilities.