Meet our New Representative in Switzerland

We are thrilled to welcome Jon Schmidt as our new representative in Switzerland.

Jon, a 37-year old psychologist and family therapist from Lausanne, met Matthieu Ricard in 2005 and became enthralled by our work. In 2011 he organized a benefit conference for Karuna-Shechen with Matthieu and Swiss philosopher Alexandre Jollien. Four years later, when Matthieu Ricard asked him to join our Swiss affiliate, he happily accepted the volunteer post.

Jon will work with Ursula and Daniel Vollenweider who first established Karuna-Shechen’s affiliate in Switzerland. They were inspired to help our work after their trip to  Tibet in 1997.  Since then, they have been essential in providing long-term support for our projects and will continue to work with us. We are very grateful for their invaluable and selfless dedication over the years.

Jon recently visited our projects in India to get better acquainted with our activities:

” I had the opportunity to meet many inspiring people during my  visit to India. The villagers seemed eager to learn new skills and to contribute to the well-being of their communities. In Chando, I met a lady who we had trained in solar panel engineering and who had helped bring electricity to  most of the households in her village.  I was also struck by this lovely young girl who, although she had so few material possessions, was very positive. Her glow of  happiness brought smiles to my heart.”