Category Archives: News

Lotus Outreach was originally founded by Khyentse Norbu in 1993 in Himachal Pradesh, India to serve refugees from Nepal. As time went on, Norbu reimagined the mission of LO to serve the most at-risk women and children in India and Cambodia. As we enter the 30th year of Lotus Outreach, we are expanding our impact beyond India and Cambodia to empower at-risk girls’ and communities in countries around the world. Learn about our new global impact partners and the ways we are scaling our impact to celebrate our 30th year!

This October, we join people around the world in honoring the 10th anniversary of International Day of the Girl. Women and girls continue to face unprecedented challenges, made worse by the consequences of climate change, COVID-19, and humanitarian conflict and crises. At Lotus Outreach, we invest every day in the agency, leadership, and potential of young women. Stand with Lotus Outreach beneficiaries and change-makers this Day of the Girl by making a donation today.

Lotus Outreach Cambodia (LOCAM) has coordinated training sessions and workshops for CATALYST scholars around themes of Leadership, Debate, Public Speaking and other relevant topics to encourage scholars to engage in meaningful conversations and exchange ideas that go beyond the scope of their academic studies. In July, after a month of preparation and organization by the team, LOCAM hosted the first ever panel discussion for CATALYST scholars around the theme of 'Young Leaders.' LOCAM identified three professionals from different fields to participate in the panel discussion. The aim was to inspire scholars with stories and experiences from these three successful professionals and give them the opportunity to ask questions.

This July, we are delighted to highlight our long-term program, Blossom Bus, through a Blossom Bus Spotlight: Give Today for Womens' Rights and Empowerment. Blossom Bus protects young womens’ access to education and empowerment through providing safe daily transportation to school for young women in rural Haryana, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu. The campaign aims to help deepen our work through this life-changing program through mobilizing Blossom Bus students and communities around equality, rights, and advocacy. Our goal is to raise $45,000 to scale the impact of Blossom Bus! Read more about Blossom Bus, our campaign, and this program spotlight.

Since 2009, Lotus Pedals has distributed more than 3,500 bicycle scholarships to young women and girls living in rural Cambodia. We are proud to partner with on the ground NGOs in Cambodia to award scholarships to girls the most in need. In 2022, we plan to award 311 bicycle scholarships, so far, 278 have been distributed. With these heavy terrain bicycles, girls have a safe and reliable way to get to school, which is often many kilometers away along rough and dangerous roads. Read on to meet Sreythorn and learn about how Lotus Pedals supports her in achieving her goals.

We are excited to introduce Women’s Rural Business, a new program developed in collaboration with the Garden of Peace school in Tamil Nadu, India. In communities where women have long been kept from income-earning jobs and decision making roles, the independence to earn for themselves has an immensely powerful effect on the wellbeing of that woman, her family, and her community. With this in mind, Women’s Rural Business was developed to increase capability, wealth and wellbeing in rural communities in India by creating jobs and developing local economies around women’s opportunities and empowerment.

Girls’ education is #6 on Project Drawdown’s list of 100 solutions to reverse global warming. A combination of educating girls to be climate-conscious leaders, access to contraception and family planning makes educating girls a cost effective, deeply transformative and attainable solution. But in low and middle income countries and communities, girls often lack access to quality education. Gender inequality reinforces harmful narratives that keep girls from attending school and has consequences for communities, societies and ultimately, the planet.

We are delighted to make available Cutting Through Two Spaces, a calligraphy by our founder, Khyentse Norbu. The calligraphy is available as a Giclée print made using archival pigment inks on 100% cotton archival matte paper. The paper is 290gsm with a bright finish and smooth texture. All proceeds from the sale of these prints are dedicated to LO. At this uncertain time in our world, we aspire that our work together is a source of light and inspiration. We have many exciting initiatives upcoming made possible by the generosity of our partners, giving community, and all of our aspiration to bring genuine benefit and transformation to people’s lives.

This year’s Day of the Girl event was celebrated as a part of 1,000 Coffee, a monthly giving initiative at LO, inspired by a quote from Founder, Khyentse Norbu. LO Ambassadors and community members have hosted events around the world to help raise awareness for LO and inspire collective giving through the sacrifice of the amount equivalent to a cappuccino each week or month. Monthly gifts create a foundation of support through our Scholarship Fund, which supports long term access to education for beneficiaries and in turn the wellbeing of their families, communities and societies.

We are so happy to partner with Kapadia Foundation in expanding Blossom Bus to College students. Staff on the ground in India recently had the opportunity to meet with some of the students who are a part of this program. Many of these girls are the first in their families and communities to get an education, graduate high school, let alone go on to pursue tertiary education and careers. They are driven young women who are inspiring change in their friends, sisters and communities. Hemlata is one of the students riding the Blossom Bus into her second year of college.