Engaged Buddhism Update: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim Returns to Türkiye to Inaugurate Post-Earthquake School Project

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Engaged Buddhism Update: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim Returns to Türkiye to Inaugurate Post-Earthquake School Project

By Craig C Lewis
October 16, 2024

Ven. Pomnyun Sunim. Images courtesy of Jungto Society

The revered Korean Dharma master and Buddhist activist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim (법륜스님) returned to the city of Gaziantep in southern Türkiye on 9 October to mark the official completion and inauguration of the Khalid bin al-Walid School project.* The Buddhist humanitarian relief organization JTS Korea initiated the project in the Türkiye-Syria border region, in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that rocked southern Türkiye and parts of Syria in February 2023.

Soon after reports of last year’s earthquakes spread around the world, JTS Korea volunteers responded by placing team members on the ground to reach out to those at the epicenter of the crisis in Türkiye (formerly Turkey). Ven. Pomnyun Sunim joined JTS Korea volunteers and local relief groups to provide humanitarian aid to survivors of the disaster, distributing supplies and offering support for those in need.**

After a full year of construction work by volunteers from the White Helmets civil organization, Khalid bin al-Walid School, which can accommodate up to 4,000 students, has been completed. The new building features a basement and three above-ground floors, 122 rooms, including 52 classrooms, and space for science laboratories, libraries, and conference rooms.

“[Gaziantep] is close to the epicenter of the major earthquake that occurred in February last year,” Ven. Pomnyun Sunim said ahead of the opening ceremony. “We will be holding a completion ceremony for a school built by JTS in the Turkey-Syria border region. This ceremony will be very meaningful for the people who have suffered greatly and fallen into despair due to the earthquake damage. About 5.5 million people live in this region, and this may become the largest building in the area.” (Jungto Society)

Ven. Pomnyun Sunim established the humanitarian relief organization Join Together Society (JTS) as an expression of the compassion of engaged Buddhism, and based on the principle that helping others is the best way to enrich one’s own life. Charged with bringing hope, empowerment, and self-reliance to underprivileged communities in developing countries, JTS is run and manned by unpaid volunteers, who ensure that all donations benefit marginalized communities. JTS carries out relief work in countries suffering from humanitarian disasters, and has engaged in humanitarian projects in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. JTS has also earned Special Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The school inauguration, attended by minsters and local government officials, was marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the unveiling of a memorial stone commemorating victims of the earthquake, for whom a minute of silence was observed.

Ven. Pomnyun Sunim addressed those gathered for the ceremony:

I heard that last year, 124 students and nine teachers died in this school due to the earthquake. Also, many people lost their lives and were injured during the Syrian civil war over the past 10 years. I offer my sincere condolences to those who have passed away. If we, the living, carry on the roles of those who have passed away, their sacrifices will not have been in vain.

Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the White Helmet members, we were able to build such a good school with little money. I sincerely pay my respects and express my gratitude for their efforts.

The reason we built this school is to give hope to people who have suffered from war and earthquake damage. Just as broken buildings are rebuilt, I hope that Syrian children and the Syrian people will rise again with hope.

I would like to thank the Turkish government officials and governors who have cooperated in various ways to make the completion of this school possible. I also thank the Syrian Interim Government officials and education officials.

Education is not achieved merely by having schools. Good teachers and good students are essential. I hope that the Ministry of Education will take over this school successfully and manage it well, that the teachers will educate the children effectively, and that the children will study diligently according to their teachers’ guidance, becoming future leaders who will be the hope of Syria.

While today is a joyous day, it is said that this school will benefit only 4,000 students. Due to the civil war over the past decade, many children have been unable to receive school education. Even now, it is reported that there are 600,000 children between the ages of 7–14 who are of primary school age but are not receiving the benefits of school education.

Therefore, I hope that all of you participating here today and JTS can work together to quickly devise a plan to ensure that these children can receive at least primary school education. Adults may recover even if they face hunger or hardship, but children grow up quickly, and if they don’t receive education at the right time it becomes very difficult for them to get another opportunity. Let’s all join forces to ensure that our children can at least receive basic education in a timely manner.

If you think we cannot educate our children because there is no foreign aid, that is a mistaken idea. No matter how difficult our situation is, we must educate our children ourselves. There is hope for Syria’s future when all children born in Syria can receive basic education.

I am confident that this school will become a symbolic building giving hope for the future of Syrian children. I hope that this kind of hope we see today will continue for the Syrian people, especially Syrian children. Once again, I sincerely thank the White Helmets members who dedicated themselves to the construction of this building. I also thank all the distinguished guests who participated in this event today. (Jungto Society)

During his visit to the region, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim also held meetings with government officials and the White Helmets organization to discuss an ambitious plan to eradicate illiteracy among Syrian refugees on the Türkiye-Syria border.

“His vision involves creating a campaign where all Syrians who have completed high school or higher education would volunteer to teach for two hours a day, once or twice a week,” Jungto Society said in an announcement shared with BDG. “With simple resources such as tents and educational materials, Sunim estimates that within one year of preparation and another year of implementation, the illiteracy problem among Syrian refugees in the border areas could be solved in just two years.”

Sunim has drawn up a proposal for an innovative online system to create a single central school with top-tier teachers, who will live-stream formal classes and content to 5,000 schools using the Starlink satellite network.

“To achieve this, Sunim has proposed a complete shift in mindset—from dependency on foreign NGO aid to empowering Syrians to rebuild their own country. He also envisions the White Helmets playing a key role as catalysts for this transformation,” Jungto Society explained.

Detailing his proposal, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim remarked:

We can solve the children’s education problem in this way. Although this is still very expensive, it costs much less than building new schools and securing new teachers. To do this, we need to raise a national movement that goes beyond individual interests and unite our hearts to ensure that all citizens can receive elementary education. We must provide such opportunities to our children for our future; if we fail to provide this, our future can be seen as very bleak.

Given the current international situation and the situation in Syria, we should assume that it will be difficult for the country to reunite and establish a new government normally for the time being. It’s already been 10 years. Soon it will be 20 years, and 30 years will pass quickly. Therefore, even if it’s just the northern region, we need to establish an education plan under the name of an autonomous government.

In Korea too, it seemed like unification would happen soon after the war ended, but 70 years have already passed. I was born in the year the war ended, and I’m now 71 years old. However, South Korea established its own development plan and successfully achieved economic development. Like this, although it’s difficult, we need to establish a long-term plan even for the region currently under the autonomous government. The area is 9,000 square kilometers and the population exceeds five million. Instead of just waiting for foreign aid, we need to establish our own long-term development plan to solve the current difficulties. If we have our own plan and work on solving it independently while requesting foreign aid, it’s much easier to receive help. (Jungto Society)

Ven. Pomnyun Sunim is a widely revered Korean Dharma teacher, author, and social activist. He has founded numerous organizations, initiatives, and projects across the world, among them: JTS Korea, an international humanitarian relief organization working to eradicate poverty and hunger; Jungto Society, a volunteer-based community founded on the Buddha’s teachings and dedicated to addressing modern social issues that lead to suffering; Ecobuddha, an organization focused on environmental ethics and sustainable living based on the teachings of the Buddha; and Good Friends, which promotes reconciliation and cooperation between the North and South Korea, and provides humanitarian aid to North Koreans. Ven. Pomnyun Sunim also works closely with the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB).

In October 2020, the Niwano Peace Foundation in Japan presented the 37th Niwano Peace Prize to Ven. Pomnyun Sunim in recognition of his international humanitarian work, intensive environmental and social activism, and his tireless efforts to build trust and goodwill between communities of different faiths and cultures, toward the goal of world peace.**