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Earthquakes struck Nepal in April and May 2015 and killed almost 9,000 people.
More than 40,000 children were orphaned or injured following the disaster, and soon a spike in human trafficking was seen in the area. The Drukpa nuns wanted to do more than travel to disaster-hit mountain villages with rice on their backs.
22-year-old nun Jigme Konchok Lhamo commented,”We wanted to do something to change this attitude that girls are less than boys and that it’s okay to sell them,” she said, adding the extremely difficult bicycle trip shows “women have power and strength like men”.
The bicycle trek, from Nepal into India, is the fourth such journey for the Drukpa nuns. On each trek they meet with government officials and religious leaders to talk about gender equality and peaceful co-existence.
Traditionally Buddhist nuns are treated very differently from monks. They cook and clean and most are not allowed to exercise. But his Holiness the Dalai Lama thought this was nonsense and gave the nuns leadership roles. Kung Fu classes for them were even offered after they faced harassment and violence from monks who were unsettled by the shift of power dynamics.
Over the last 12 years, the number of Drukpa nuns has grown from 30 to 500.
“People think that because we are nuns, we are supposed to stay in the temples and pray all the time. But praying is not enough,” said Jigme Konchok Lhamo. “His Holiness teaches us that we have go out and act on the words that we pray. After all, actions speak louder than words,” she said.
Source: matadornetwork.com