WHOLE CHILD INTERNATIONAL

Welcomes HIS HOLINESS THE 14th DALAI LAMA - February 20-21, 2010

His Holiness the Dalai Lama comes to L.A. to personally participate in the launch of a new global initiative to create awareness of the plight of institutionalized children. His Holiness will spend the weekend spurring momentum to address the emotional needs of the world’s most vulnerable children.

On Sunday, Feb. 21, His Holiness will deliver the public address Cultivating compassion and the needs of vulnerable children, at Gibson Amphitheatre. Sheryl Crow will be joining Whole Child and His Holiness with a special musical performance. Tickets are on sale now through Live Nation or available at all Ticketmaster locations and at www.ticketmaster.com.

During the weekend of February 20-21, His Holiness will speak to distinguished gatherings of philanthropists, top academics, government officials, and the public to highlight the emotional needs of vulnerable children worldwide. 

His Holiness has had a life-long concern that all children enjoy loving care. He often speaks about how that nurturing children through strong and loving bonds is at the core of a child’s emotional health and wellbeing. The most critical time for this care is during the first years of life. His Holiness has said that it is the love and attention we receive as children that enables us to grow into adults who are able to care for others. Loving care during infancy is the strongest root for a compassionate life.

It is estimated that there are as 145 million children worldwide who are orphaned. One of the most common ways of raising these children is through childcare institutions. Growing up in a physically and emotionally barren environment, a child can be robbed of a normal childhood. The absence of loving care makes many incapable of showing compassion as adults, fostering crime and further child abandonment.

Whole Child works within existing institutions to reorient current programs so that institutions focus on relationship-based care. Whole Child uses a train-the-trainer approach to foster a more nurturing environment for institutionalized children. We develop our curriculum and gauge the effectiveness of work with the help of prestigious academic institutions around the world. We work to change facilities physically and in administratively so they’ provide the relationship-based care needed for children to fulfill their developmental potential.

Learn more about Whole Child’s work.