Sand Mandala for Tibet Week at Emory University - Day 3

This is day 3 for the beautiful sand mandala I've been watching since Monday. The theme of the mandala is compassion.
You can see the monk on the left is using the point of a compass to draw a design which will then be colored in with different colored sand. To draw with the sand, the monks collect sand in a conical tube with a very small opening. They scrape a textured strip on the tube held at a special angle to make the sand fall out at a particular rate.
My son and I got to try making a sand mandala on a sheet of paper with a design - it is NOT easy! In fact, it is quite difficult and I'm sure takes a very long time to master.
The designs are so intricate. It is truly a special occasion to be able to observe this practice. One of the monks told me he has been doing this for 5 years. This group travels around the country to different universities creating mandalas to raise awareness for the Tibetan cause and to educate people about Tibetan Buddhism.
On Saturday, we will attend the closing ceremony where the entire week's work will be destroyed and the sand distributed to the ceremony attendees to pour out into a body of water.