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Tibet Relief Fund's Sponsorship Programme
Our sponsorship programme offers Tibetan refugees hope for the future by supporting their education and care needs
Follow the links below to find out more ...
Overview of the TRF's sponsorship programme
Background & information
Answers to FAQs for current and prospective sponsors
A Tibetan child's journey Dawa Dolma's journey into exile....
A sponsor's experience
Sponsor Marco Cavallari describes his visit to the Tibetan Homes FoundationSIGN UP & SPONSOR a Tibetan refugee in exile
TRF Sponsorship Programme Overview
Many Tibetan children pay a high price for the chance of an education. They make the perilous and sometimes fatal journey across the Himalayas, escaping from a Tibet in which education in their own culture and language is denied them. Some never see their families again. They arrive in India or Nepal exhausted and homeless.
Sponsorship is a vital part of the help Tibet Relief Fund can provide for Tibetans in exile. Through the generosity of our supporters, there are currently over 1,350 children, students and monks receiving sponsorship for their studies.
In 2006 we expanded the sponsorship programme to include care for the elderly and sponsors are now providing grants to cover medical costs, food and residential care.
The appeal of the programme for many of our sponsors is that you have the opportunity to make a real human connection with the student you sponsor. As well as receiving reports on their progress at school, many sponsors regularly exchange letters, photos and drawings with their sponsored children.
Such a commitment makes a real difference in these children’s lives.
You can spread the cost of sponsorship over the course of the year and there is no obligation to renew. Tibet Relief Fund has to take a small deduction from sponsorship payments, to help cover the administrative costs of facilitating the sponsorship programme.
Become a sponsor today and give a Tibetan refugee the gift of a better future.
£50 covers the cost of a educating a child in day school for one year
£200 covers the tuition fees, care and accomodation costs for a child in boarding school for one year
£425 provides a university student scholarship for one year
£200 supports a monk or nun to continue with their Buddhist studies
£200 covers vital medical and care costs for a Tibetan elderly person, for one year
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A Tibetan Child's journey into exile
Dawa Dolma’s experience of fear, tears, hope and happiness: the true account of a young girl’s escape from Tibet into the possibility of a future.
“I was sent into India by my mother, who had been told by her cousin about the good life and education in India provided by His Holiness. Luckily for me a group was heading for India and quickly my mother decided to send me along with the group. She paid the escort and with a strong heart told me to study hard and live happily. I was happy and willing to go and study. Unaware of what lay ahead for me I happily joined the group.
We were put into a bus till Shigatse and then began walking. For days and days we walked, resting at odd hours and eating at times. My mother had packed food for me and I occasionally ate that. I became close to a nun who was from the same place that I was. She was good to me and took good care of me.
Our journey had now taken to the snow mountains and we were finished with our food. The nomads assisted us many a times, giving us food, and my new friend gave me dry meat from her bag. One night, when we usually took to our journey, our escort ordered that we would not take the journey as a snow storm was feared. We rested and slept in the mountains. I was taken by surprise in the morning when I realized I was completely covered with snow and our group members were working hard on removing snow from my body. My whole body was numb. Then our group realized four other children were missing after the snow storm.
Quickly the group searched, shouting their names, but they were nowhere to be found. The escort ordered for continuing the journey and we moved on. My shoes had torn off and my feet hurt but somehow with a walking stick I continued. Then we reached a place where we got some food and it was here that the escort asked me and my friend to go ahead as we walked slow. So, having no choice, we took to our journey. It was very difficult for me as my feet were now piercing with pain and we still seemed to have a lot of walk to do on snow.
Continuing the journey, we now reached a place from where I could not walk. I could not feel my legs. I fell and dreamt about my home and mother. It was then that two white people came to us. They felt us and with no communication understood our situation. They quickly arranged for carrying the two of us to the nearest hospital. A porter helped to carry my friend while I was carried on the back of the English man. We were taken to the nearest hospital and then shifted to another hospital.
Unaware of the condition of my foot, I later realized that my toes from both my feet had been amputated as that was a necessity. I stayed for a long time at the hospital and later through Dharamsala came to Tibetan Homes Foundation in Mussoorie. I am now a young girl living life to the fullest with all the opportunities of education and good living. The couple who saved my life I will never forget, for if they would not have been there, I would not be here. My best wishes and prayers for them always.
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A sponsor's experience
Marco Cavallari describes his visit to the Tibetan Homes Foundation in Mussoorie to meet Lhamtso, whose education he has supported since 2001, through the TRF’s sponsorship programme.
Lhamtso’s home is a beautiful place, with a superb view of the Himalayan foothills. On clear days you can see the white peaks of the Himalayas. She lives with 14 boys and 19 girls, aged six to 18, and a couple of foster parents. With so many people in such a small place, everything is well organised.
Lhamtso’s story is a common one. Oppressed in their own country, many Tibetans send their children to Nepal and India to get a proper Tibetan education, with the Tibetan community in exile. The escape itself, through the Himalayan mountains and often at night to avoid the Chinese border guards, is frequently an ordeal.
Some of the children walk for many weeks and some never arrive, stalled by the border guards, hunger or frostbite. The children usually arrive at the Tibetan office in Kathmandu, which redirects them to a Tibetan settlement in India or Nepal. Not more than 10 per cent of these children will see their parents again.
This hard beginning explains their commitment to education: having paid so high a price for it, they want to get the most out of it. And they work hard! A normal weekday starts at 5.30am with jogging, followed by morning prayer, breakfast and homework. A full day ensues: studying, praying, playing sport, cooking. After dinner, they do homework, chat and read until lights out.
The THF school is based on a 12-year course, following the Indian system. The main subjects are Tibetan, English, Hindi, maths, science and social sciences but computing and traditional music and dancing are also offered to the pupils, who number over 1,500.
Basketball, volleyball, cricket and ping-pong are all popular. And, like everywhere else, these children want to become engineers, nurses, doctors, football stars (one day for a Tibetan national team?), singers, teachers, artists, flight attendants… As expected in a religious culture, a few want to become monks or nuns.
The Mussoorie campus also hosts the Vocational Training Centre, which offers specialised training to 80 youngsters in traditional thangka painting, traditional dress (chupa), traditional apron weaving and oil painting.The VTC also offers employment to disabled people.
It was with great sadness that we said goodbye to Lhamtso, the other children and their foster parents. Before we left, the foster mother offered us a white scarf each, and the following morning, Tenzin, the oldest boy in Lhamtso’s house, came to give us a white scarf on behalf of all the children.
On our way to say good-bye to Kalsang Namgyal, who looks after sponsorship at the Tibetan Homes Foundation, we met Lhamtso. She presented us with another white scarf each. That was not the last one! Before we left, Thupten Dorjee, General Secretary of the THF, thanked us and offered us another.
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