Live to Love is an international non-profit organisation that is particularly active in the Himalayan mountain range. Encompassing several countries and multiple cultures and ethnicities, this is a region that can provide numerous challenges to its populations.
Live to Love was established with the aim of meeting these challenges and using sustainable development to preserve the heritage of the Himalayan people while protecting the area’s vast natural resources.
Michael Kern has travelled extensively in the Himalayas and is a long-time supporter of ‘Live To Love’ and its partner ‘Drukpa Trust’ that supports the Druk Padma Karpo School, a ground-breaking educational project in Ladakh, India. Here are some Himalayan initiatives of ‘Live to Love’.
Druk Padma Karpo School
The Druk Padma Karpo School is a bastion of sustainable design, featuring a green education model that celebrates both ancient traditions and modern culture in a specially designed environment. Also known as the Druk White Lotus School, the school caters for a wide age range of children, seeking to instil traditional values while preparing the next generation of Ladakhi people for life in the 21st century. The school has won multiple architectural awards, particularly for sustainable design.
Hemis Adult School
The Hemis Adult School is situated in Ladakh’s most-visited monastic site at Hemis and provides adult education to local people who were unable to access this learning as children. The educational complex utilises local materials and aesthetics incorporated into a sustainable contemporary design. The aim of Hemis Adult School is to provide a broad and practical education where it’s most needed.
Chakchen Ling School
Chakchen Ling School currently has 300 enrolled students, with a vision to ultimately provide a comprehensive education to 10,000 children over the coming decade. In keeping with the principles of Live to Love, this school has a green and sustainable design, providing a solution to meet the educational needs of thousands of children whose schools were affected by the 2010 earthquake that demolished several educational establishments in the region.
His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa
His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa is the founder of Live to Love and a recognised humanitarian, gender equality champion, environmentalist, spiritual teacher and author. The Drukpa school of Buddhism celebrates active service in the local community and diversity. Gyalwang Drukpa takes some of the key principles of Drukpa Buddhism and applies them to his work with the secular organisation Live to Love, encouraging all communities of the Himalayas to celebrate diversity through multiple cross-border projects.