EAST LONGMEADOW — Next month, Cheri Brady will wrap cash in a silky scarf — a kata — and present it to a village leader in Nepal. The moment will cap a long effort to help Tibetans restore a 900-year-old temple.
Through the Heart Mantra Foundation, a nonprofit she founded in 2016, Brady and her team have raised $30,000 to help people of Ringmo who live high in the Himalayan mountains.
Since 2021, Brady has been wiring money to a bank in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, where the locals would pick up the donations and bring the funds back to the village. The money pays for salaries and supplies to repair the crumbling walls and leaking roof of the temple.
When she attends the three-day consecration next month, it will be the first time Brady has seen the renovations in person.
“I have a feeling it’s going to be much more emotional than I can even think of — to be a part helping to bring back to life a 900-year-old temple, which represents their culture, heritage and lineage,” Brady told The Republican.
Work globally
The East Longmeadow woman is a semi-retired nurse practitioner who has introduced healthcare to far-flung corners of the world — from impoverished areas in the United States to India, where the foundation paid $20,000 so a child could have lifesaving surgery on his spine. Brady’s world travel is part humanitarian, part recreational.
“I first traveled to Nepal in 2004, and that’s when I became aware of the plight of the Tibetan refugees. When I went back in 2017, I saw their temple. I got tears in my eyes to see the ceiling was crumbling and ancient paintings on the wall were being destroyed by the weather,” she said.
Ringmo is a poor farming village of 500 people in the Dolpo region of northern Nepal. Solar panels power some homes, but many live without electricity. Water from a lake is hauled to the village and boiled before it can be consumed.
There are small businesses in Ringmo, including tea houses, but the people are mostly farmers, tending to their crops, or leaving the village for weeks at a time so their sheep and yaks can graze in greener pastures.
Brady said the hardworking people were saddened to see their temple decay, but they cannot afford to pay for repairs. “They have difficulty just feeding themselves and finding shelter,” said Brady.
Tracking progress
Geshe Lodoe Chogleg lives in Nepal and is overseeing the project for Brady. From his remote village, he told The Republican the temple is a hub of life in Ringmo.
“The temple is very important in our culture, as it serves as a center for spiritual practices, rituals and teachings of the Bon religion, and is the communal monastery in the village. It plays a crucial role in preserving and transmitting Bon traditions, beliefs and knowledge,” he said.
“Watching the temple fall into disrepair has been disheartening and saddening, as it represents a decline in preserving our cultural heritage and spiritual practices,” he said.
The Heart Mantra Foundation leaves the heavy lifting — the actual repair work — to the villagers so they are personally invested in the project.
“It was really important that people from the outside didn’t come in and do it — that they would actually do the work,” said Brady.
As head of the 501(c)(3) charity, she is keeps an eye on how donations, which are coming from Europe, Canada and the U.S., are spent.
“I see receipts. I want to see results. I want to know how things are going the whole time. I make sure the money is going exactly where it’s supposed to be going,” she said.
WMass travels to Tibet
Brady, 77, is one of eight people traveling to Nepal to attend the consecration. They are members of the foundation’s board of directors and donors. They are paying for all of their own travel expenses.
Once the group lands in Kathmandu, they will take two trips by small airplanes to the border of Nepal. From there, they will hike for three days on razor-thin trails that hug the mountainside 13,000 feet above sea level. There are no roads, just paths for animals. Sherpas will carry clothes and supplies.
The travelers already have the journey mapped out in their minds, but there may be last minute changes if part of the trail is washed out by heavy rains or blocked by falling boulders.
There are small tea houses with basic accommodations along the way, so Brady and the others will be staying there. With no plumbing, a hole in the ground will be their toilet. The tea house floor will be either wood or dirt. Their hosts heat the houses and cook over fires fueled by wood or yak dung.
When the team gets to the Dolpo region, members will see the restored temple constructed on a cliff overlooking its domain. The land is home to rare and endangered species, like the snow lion, gray wolf and blue sheep. The Tibetans look to the temple to protect the animals and herbs crucial to their survival.
“This is the only place in the world where a lot of these herbs can be found. They don’t have hospitals or traditional doctors. They have menpas [like doctors] who use the herbs for their treatments,” said Brady.
The foundation head and her team will be immersed in Tibetan culture, drinking tea or yak milk and eating Tibetan Chapati, which is like a tortilla made of barley, a primary crop. There could also be an egg now and then or vegetables if the harvest is good.
“I’m not a big fan of it, but they serve tsampa, and that’s ground up barley flour. They add a little bit of butter, hot water, roll it up into little balls and eat it,” said Brady.
Wood that is used to repair the structure comes from the same forest that provided lumber for the original temple. All of the work is being done by hand — there are no power tools.
The Tibetans are using brawn, passion and determination to reconnect with their past.
“The help of Cheri Brady and the Heart Mantra Foundation has been invaluable,” said Chogleg, “providing hope and support in restoring the temple and revitalizing our cultural and spiritual heritage.”
For more information about the Heart Mantra Foundation and its work, visit heartmantra.org.
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