My association with Loden’s Founder Lopen Karma Phuntsho goes back a long time. I knew Lopen Karma Phuntsho as a primary school student in Bumthang when I was his teacher. Much later I reconnected with Lopen Karma Phuntsho when he was a student at Oxford. Already by then, he was helping some children in need of financial aid for education. I think of the birth of Loden as a big-hearted idea that was waiting to manifest in a more formal form.
Lopen Karma Phuntsho’s idea of Loden grew from his commitment to helping the most vulnerable but also the most deserving children to further their education. Thus, the first initiative of Loden was the formalised scholarships with Lopen mobilising funds to reach out to individual recipients.
Over the years as the idea grew bigger with even a bigger heart, the Loden Foundation was registered as a Civil Society Organisation (CSO). It was a privilege and honour for me to be invited to be one of the first batch of board members for the Foundation.
In 2008, Loden started the entrepreneurship programme at a time when school-leaving children, with limited opportunities, needed a stimulus to venture into the entrepreneurial world.
Today, the Loden Foundation is one the most successful and relevant CSOs in Bhutan, having touched and altered many lives. Now I am no longer officially associated with Loden Foundation, but Loden Foundation is one organisation that is always dear to me. Like a grandparent I look at it from a distance as it grows and flourishes, touching more lives. I watch it with pride and affection from a distance but hold it dear to my heart.
I would like to congratulate Loden Foundation and all who have been a part of this amazing organisation, and its initiatives with a big heart.
