Working together

GEBIS and Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute, along with Tourism P.E.I., Meetings and Conventions P.E.I., team up to welcome 500 people from Taiwan

More than 500 people from Taiwan are in P.E.I. to take part in a Buddhist retreat.

The retreat, May 25 to June 8, is being hosted by the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS, monks) and the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute (GWBI, nuns) with cooperation for the first time from Tourism P.E.I. and Meetings and Conventions P.E.I.

UPEI will host lectures in Charlottetown, while companies such as Coach Atlantic have been contracted to take everyone on tours.

Many of those visiting will be parents of monks and nuns who are here as part of their 14-year study program.

“They’re going to be learning about the Buddhist faith and what they can do and also what their faith can do to help in this area, the western hemisphere, which is totally different from where they come from in Asia,’’ said Floyd Sanderson, adviser for GEBIS and GWBI.

Island historian Ed Macdonald will give a lecture on Island culture, but there will also be presentations by Premier Wade MacLauchlan, Health Minister Doug Currie, Jackie Bourgeois with the Southeast Environmental Association, Phil Ferraro with the Legacy Garden and Lt.Gov. Frank Lewis.

Molly Chang, who is organizing the retreat with Nicole Tseng, said Islanders should expect to see some large groups.

She said, for example, there would be just short of 200 people working at Legacy Garden on University Avenue in Charlottetown.

“Right now is a time of their spring cleanup, so we’ll be going down to help them with a lot of their weeding, transplanting, seeding, mulching, cleaning out the different allotments,’’ Chang said. “Then, we’ll be spending (another) afternoon at the Harvey Moore Wildlife Sanctuary where we’ll be cleaning out streams and ponds and forest trails.’’ There will also be visits to the East Point Lighthouse, Roma at Three Rivers, Basin Head, Orwell Corner Historic Village, Montague, Murray River and Cardigan. Chang said this retreat is kind of a pilot project.

“This is the first time the Buddhist community has ever worked with the local community. We’ve had retreats and events the past two years and we’ve always used our own buses, used our own drivers and worked with our own volunteers.

“This year is the first year where we’re reaching out to Tourism P.E.I., reaching out to Meetings and Conventions P.E.I. and all these people. The amount of support and help we’ve received from them is incredible.’’

The next retreat is in June and is expected to bring in 1,000 visitors.