Proof of Making a Difference

When I stumbled upon the Research Meditation Center inside Was Arun, a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2018, I had no idea how much it would impact my life. As a student and instructor of meditation for the past 2 decades I was intrigued by the story of Hartanto Gunawan, the meditation teacher at this center. I’ve written about Hartanto on this blog here. Former CEO, former Buddhist monk, meditation teacher and head of the Community Learning Center at What Arun. I’ve kept in touch with Hartanto since our first meeting in 2018 and visited with him in Bangkok in 2019 and in the US in 2022 and have been a meditation student of his since we met 5 years ago. He teaches a combination of mindfulness and vipassana meditation. So you may be asking yourself why are we looking at a photo of a bunch of nurses and what is this “proof of making a difference” stuff anyway?

Around 20 years ago Hartanto had an idea. He would try to make a difference in the lives of young Thai girls who may be forced into sex trafficking and teach them meditation and send them to school to become nursing assistants. His idea took hold with a couple families from the US who began funding it. Today the school has graduated hundreds of nursing assistants over the past 17 years who have guaranteed jobs once they finish the year-long program. His success rate is 97%. He attributes much of that to the meditation practices the girls are introduced to one day 1. There’s the proof that meditation makes a difference. So how did I get involved?

95% of the funding for this program comes from the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Mr. William Villafranco (pictured above) is the chairperson of the board of trustees. I got to know Bill over the past few years on the group meditation classes that we do over ZOOM with Hartanto. A few months ago Bill invited me to attend the graduation ceremonies here in Bangkok, Thailand. I jumped at the opportunity.

Last Wednesday I arrived and met the incoming class of nursing students ages 17-21. They introduced themselves individually (in English – pretty impressive) and were presented with a welcome kit. They are ready to start their year-long journey of daily meditation practice and nursing school.

On Friday I attended the hospital’s nursing program graduation ceremony. This one was real special as they haven’t been able to hold a graduation since COVID began. 4 years of graduates were in attendance, although some were working and were not able to attend. The appreciation and gratitude they show for Bill and Hartanto is amazing – very heartwarming and emotional to witness. Think about it. These young ladies could have easily ended up in the sex trafficking industry.

On Monday I attended another graduation ceremony, this one held at Wat Arun, the temple that is home to the headquarters of the nursing program. It was preceded by the dedication of new classrooms at the learning center sponsored by the Japanese embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. The ambassador was in attendance along with members of the royal family, head of the International School, and the assistant to the Indonesian ambassador to Thailand. The ceremony took place in the chanting hall with the resident monks providing the soundtrack.

I feel fortunate to be invited and take part in these special ceremonies with these young ladies and the people who make it all happen. Over the past 5 years my wife Laurie and I have made donations to this program and also raised funds through our Yoga community in order to help support the school and the nursing program. I ask that if you been touched by this story to please consider making a tax deductible donation. You can do so through Give2Asia.com The link will take you right to the donation site for this program. We use it to support the school. It’s safe and secure and they handle all the tax paperwork. So long of now from Bangkok, Thailand and thanks for reading!