Dear Friends,
We wish to thank you for your incredible support of the Plum Village France construction campaign, especially your beautiful outpouring of care following a fire in January that gutted Lower Hamlet’s Purple Cloud building, which included Thay’s room and housing for 10 nuns. Your contributions are making a huge difference.
Because of your generosity, we were also able to match a $1 million (US) donation last autumn, doubling its impact! And a growing number of local Sanghas are starting their own fundraising campaigns to support the projects. (Learn how your group can start a fundraising campaign here.)
While there’s still much work to do, we’re excited to share the first of a series of regular updates on the progress your support is enabling.
[Above: Sr Chan Khong and other senior monastics hold a recent land blessing in Lower Hamlet, expressing gratitude for all the support so far, the need for additional donations, and joy that after five years of planning groundbreaking for a new nunnery will take place this spring.]
LOWER HAMLET
In Lower Hamlet plans are being made to rebuild Purple Cloud as a museum memorializing Thay, and to build a series of “cherry garden huts” for the sisters displaced by January’s fire (digital rendering above).
The hamlet has also received environmental approvals for its broader improvements, including a watershed plan to protect water flow during construction. The immediate priority is building a new, ecologically friendly nunnery and training facilities to meet European code requirements and provide 60 beds and essential amenities (see the 3D model of the nunnery and some of the building materials under consideration in the photo below).
UPPER HAMLET
In Upper Hamlet, new solar panels have been installed (see photo above) and the hamlet has secured key environmental approvals from local French authorities, paving the way for construction to begin. Plans include expanding space for lay guests (see architect’s rendering above of one guest house) and children’s programs, as well as renovating Harmony House and adding new buildings and facilities for camping guests.
NEW HAMLET
In New Hamlet, construction of new monastic dormitories (photo above) is well underway for more than 80 nuns, featuring four pavilions centered around a communal garden, sustainable straw-bale insulation, and solar panels. A new outdoor pavilion, which will provide needed space for sharing circles and other small group activities, was completed this spring, and a new library (photo below) will give nuns a nourishing space to learn, study, and prepare Dharma talks.
None of this would be possible without our donors! So thank you for being there, and for helping ensure that Plum Village will continue to be a home for monastic and lay residents, training ground for aspirants, refuge for retreatants, laboratory for envisioning fresh ways to share the Dharma, and place of pilgrimage because of Thich Nhat Hanh’s indelible mark on this special place.
With gratitude,
The Plum Village Construction Team and the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation
