NEW DELHI: A remarkable group of people are helping with relief efforts in Nepal, coming to the aid of those affected by the massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake last month that killed over 8000 people and devastated the country. These heroes, or rather heroines (to use a gender-specific term), are using their special set of skills to help the country return to normalcy.
Meet Nepal’s “Kung Fu Nuns” -- from the Amitabha Drukpa Nunnery just outside of Kathmandu. When the earthquake struck on April 25, shattering the nunnery where the nuns live and train, they sprung into action. “None of us shrieked in fear or crouched on the floor crying. We moved quickly, dodged falling pieces of the wall and escaped,” said Jigme Konchok, 21, as quoted in the Washington Post.
Konchok and several others like her are trained in speed and agility. The 26 year old nunnery is a unique example of gender reversal in the world of monastic life, where monks occupy the main positions of power. The nuns, therefore, are typically left to handle menial chores. At the Amitabha Drukpa Nunnery at Ramkot, however, nuns learn what monks do -- plumbing, electrical fitting, computers, riding bicycles, the English language, praying and most interestingly, Kung Fu.
The nunnery was established when a group of nuns took issue with the inherently patriarchal monastic system and deviated to from the 800-year-old Drukpa order to the more feminist Druk Amitabha Mountain nunnery.
Kung fu was introduced to the nunnery a few years ago, and the young nuns say that it helps them. Rupa Lama, a 16-year-old nun from India at the nunnery, told the BBC that "it's good for our health. Meditation is very difficult and if we do kung fu, then afterwards meditation becomes much easier." Another nun, Konchok, also from India, said that "it's very helpful for our safety. If somebody teases us or something, then we can hit them and be more powerful," as quoted in the BBC.
“In many monasteries, women are not given a chance to rise up the hierarchy. Nuns are typically made to cook, clean and serve food, while the monks take big decisions and run the administration — just like it is in many of our families,” said Jigme Yeshi Lhamo, 26, an office administrator who fled her home in India to join the nunnery a decade ago, quoted in The Washington Post.
These “kung fu” nuns have brought this confidence -- rare in the monastic-male dominated society -- into other aspects of living. They have taken up issues such as women’s empowerment, toxic waste and the dangers of plastic for the environment. “Community duty is also a form of spiritual exercise, and our strong limbs are now trained to work hard and for long hours,” said Konchok, who oversees the Internet and sound system at the nunnery, as quoted in The Washington Post.
Following the earthquake, the nuns quickly took to relief and rescue work. Every day, the nuns trek to nearby villages, helping with work such as removing debris, distributing food and supplies, and working in shelters.
The locals appreciate the assistance. “I lost my daughter and my husband in the earthquake. My house is destroyed. I have nothing left,” Tamang told the Post. “The kung fu nuns said they will give me a hand because I have no older person in my family now to help. I did not ask them for help; they came on their own.”