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On: 11th April 2014

Nepals singing nun Ani Choying Dolma has been appointed UNICEF Nepals first ever National Ambassador amidst a function chaired by President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav in the capital on Friday.

Ani will help UNICEFs clarion call to protect Nepali children and adolescents from violence and create a happy and safe environment as an Ambassador where they can grow up to become functional adult, good parents and responsible citizens later in life.

Through their popularity and celebrity-status, UNICEF ambassador lend their voices to send a loud and clear message that children and their well-being are a priority. said Hanna Singer, UNICEF representative to Nepal.

Ani has demonstrated a genuine commitment to communicating clear message of healing and peace through her music. She is a testament to the power music can have when it is associated with a cause.

On the occasion, Ani promised to use her experience and popularity to bring the issues of children and adolescents to the forefront. Though my songs, I seek to reach all the nooks and crannies of Nepal in an effort to improve the lives of children and adolescents.

Ani was first teamed up with UNICEF in 2013, when she appeared in a video unveiled during the launch of UNICEFs end violence against children initiatives. She is also already a champion for children and womens rights with her efforts in advocating for women and girls education, including a school for nun.

Around 1.6 million children are working as child labours while 5,000 children live on the street, according to UNICEF. Similarly, 11,500 women and children were trafficked or were attempted to be trafficked in the year 2010.

Over 700 people from all walks of life assembled in a large conference room in the United Nations headquarters to celebrate the International Day of Happiness. A U.N. resolution officially proclaimed March 20 as the day to annually recognize the importance of happiness in the lives of people worldwide. Since 2013, events have been organized around the world.

The performance by Ani Choying Drolma closed the International Day of Happiness at the United Nations on a perfect uplifting note after a most exciting, educational and inspirational day, which I thought brought a special spirit to the United Nations. – By http://www.huffingtonpost.com

On: 7th July 2017

7th July 2017 the Atlantic Council awarded “The Freedom Award” to Ani Choying Drolma on 7th July at Warsaw, Poland.

From Atlantic Council: With this Freedom Award, we seek to recognize your extraordinary

Achievements as a humanitarian in defending and advancing the rights of women and children in Nepal. We are inspired by your use of music as a powerful tool for good, bringing to light an important cause that would most likely otherwise be ignored by the global community. The success of your foundations is a testament to your tireless personal efforts to provide opportunities for woman and girls in Nepal to reach t

heir full potential. As the number of lives you have touched through your work continues to increase, your endeavors provide much-needed hope for a future where all women and girls are equipped with the skills necessary to break the cycle of poverty in rural communities. It would be an enormous privilege to hono your life’s work by presenting you with this award.

The Freedom Awards were first awarded in 2009. Each year they are honored with individuals and organizations that contribute to the promotion of freedom in the world. In the past, their winners were: Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former president of Estonia; Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist; Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State; John McCain, American senator; Vaclav Havel, former president of Czechoslovakia.

This year, Ani Choying was also decorated with one of the very important National presidential award titled “SUPRABAL JANSEWASHREE” and MEDAL on the 27th May for her social service in the society.

Her songs and original music has also appeared on various albums, including “Head Massage” by Soul Flip, BMG company and the “Buddha Bar” compilation by George V Company in France. Ani Choying began recording the melodious Chö songs in 1996, and the first album, Choying Drolma and Steve Tibbetts Chö, was released in 1997. In the spring of 2000 Ani Choying’s second CD was released, Sina Vodjani & Choying Drolma Dancing Dakini. Immediately after this release, Ani Choying began to record her third CD, Choying, in a local Kathmandu studio. Although one hundred copied of this CD were sold in April, Choying’s official release is still in the works. Ani Choying has performed Chö in concert in both the United States, in 1998 and 1999, and in Europe, in 1999. In 2000 she has performed at festivals in both the United States and Europe. Ani Choying recorded her first Nepali CD Moments Of Bliss with local musicians in Kathmandu itself and released her album in 2004. Again in 2004, Ani Choying Drolma released another album with Steve Tibbets- Selwa (meaning “clear” or “awake”) for Six Degrees Records.

Ani Choying began recording the melodious Chö songs in 1996, and the first album, Choying Drolma and Steve Tibbetts Chö, was released in 1997. In the spring of 2000 Ani Choying’s second CD was released, Sina Vodjani & Choying Drolma Dancing Dakini. Immediately after this release, Ani Choying began to record her third CD, Choying, in a local Kathmandu studio. Although one hundred copied of this CD were sold in April, Choying’s official release is still in the works. Ani Choying has performed Chö in concert in both the United States, in 1998 and 1999, and in Europe, in 1999. In 2000 she has performed at festivals in both the United States and Europe. Ani Choying recorded her first Nepali CD Moments Of Bliss with local musicians in Kathmandu itself and released her album in 2004. Again in 2004, Ani Choying Drolma released another album with Steve Tibbets- Selwa (meaning “clear” or “awake”) for Six Degrees Records. In June 2005, she released her second Nepali album titled “Smile” and “Inner Peace” is Ani Choying’s sixth CD and it consists of 4 mantras sung in melody. All of the money raised through Ani Choying’s performances and record sales go directly to the Nuns Welfare Foundation.

Ani Choying Drolma was barely 13 when I first knew her. Irrepressibly bright-eyed and intelligent, she spent as much time as she could

working on her English with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s foreign disciples–the “Injis”–at Nagi Gonpa. We called her “ani chewing gum” affectionately. How did this bright and lively young nun who loved to sing and dance become such a force for good in the world, spreading blessings and joy with her voice and her songs, all the while working tirelessly for the education not only of the nuns at her own Arya Tara School, but also for other poor children?

As Ani herself will tell you again and again it is all due to the great power and blessing of our Tsawe’i lama, our root guru, the late master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. I met Rinpoche when I was 28 and he absolutely changed my life; Ani met him when she was 10, and he completely shaped hers. Rinpoche inspired his students to be the best people they could, and to do all in their power to work for the benefit of others.

He did this by accepting us completely, thereby enabling us to accept ourselves, to find our strengths and use them.

My first connection with the Nun’s Welfare Foundation and the Arya Tara School came when both were mere dreams of Ani’s. I say “mere” with some hesitation because Ani’s dreams and goals appear to have a life of their own–but only because of the energy and faith she brings to all of her work. She called me one evening and asked whether she could come over right away because she needed to write a proposal.

It had to be delivered that same night to an American consular officer who was going to present it to

someone the next day. Even now it doesn’t sound possible, but somehow we did it. Ani described to me her dream and I managed to convert it into a plausible project proposal in a couple of hours: her ideas, back then my words.  Did I think this dream of hers would get anywhere? Frankly, I didn’t, but I loved Ani Choying and had watched her grow up into a remarkable young woman, and so it never even occurred to me to say no. As it turns out that proposal didn’t make much of an impression, or at least not a big enough one, on whoever it was written for, but as we can now see it was simply the beginning of something much larger than I had ever thought possible. Visiting the school last week for the first time in a couple of years, I was astonished. Not simply at the size and beauty of the buildings, but because of the details: the 50+ nuns of all ages and sizes in their school uniforms of nun’s robes and knitted caps, the clean and orderly classrooms, the well-equipped computer lab and, as a final delightful surprise, the thanka painting school. Ani tells me she is still dreaming–of ani thanka painters, ani khenpos and Anis who return to their home villages to educate the people there, teaching them about hygiene and good health and telling them to send their girls to school.

Ani no longer needs my help with her words; her eloquence and natural intelligence never cease to amaze me. Many years ago, we attended some talks on women’s empowerment at the regional UNICEF office. There were lots of words she didn’t understand, which she wrote down and asked me about later, but she grasped the concepts intuitively, and grasped as well how to give such talks herself. Not long after that she was invited to a conference at Harvard University, and that time Judith Amtzis it was my husband who helped with her presentation. He made her write it herself, ignoring all protestations that she couldn’t, and then helped get the final product ready.

The remarkable thing about Ani Choying is that she is still learning, still striving to do better, to be more, and to expand the range of her work and her experience. Now that the Arya Tara School has been built, complete with fields for growing organic vegetables, she is working on building a kidney hospital, and has dreams for a retreat centre. And we know about Ani’s dreams: she won’t stop until they all come true.