TIBET : History of a forgotten population.

Hanging to the slope of Himalaya, Tibet lives under the Chinese oppression since 1959. Besides the regions of U, Tsang and Jangthang, which determines the borders of today's Tibet (known as Automomous region), the historic and ethnic Tibet comprises also of Amdo province in the North-east and Kham in South-east which are integrated now a days to the Chinese provinces of Quinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan where reside a population of 6 million Tibetans for an area estimated to 6 times that of France.

After the uprising of Tibetan people in Lhasa, the 10th March 1959, Dalai-Lama, the spiritual and temporal head of Tibet, was forced to seek refuge in India, followed by 80 000 of his fellow countrymen. The « Chinese steamroller » was responsible for the death of 1.2 millions of Tibetans, destruction of 6 000 temples and monasteries, symbols of Buddhist cultures... in the « Roof of the World », causing one of the most serious genocide of our era.

The dying culture in Tibet is survived fortunately in exile due to the preservation and determination of Dalai-Lama and his governement refuging since 1959 in Dharamsala, in the northern India.

The precarious conditions of living and unhealthy climate caused a large number of victims among the refugees, leaving behind them thousands of orphans. Placing all their hope in these childrens, the Tibetan Community, by the grace of Indian Government's support and of the doantions from diverse humanitarian organisations in Europe, succeeded in constructing schools and formed professors inorder to give education - traditional as well as modern to the future seeds of Tibet.

The Tibetan Children's Village in India :

The creation of Tibetan Children's Village by late Mrs Tsering Dolma and now lead by Mrs Jetsun Pema, both sisters of His Holiness The Dalai-Lama had permitted to accommodate since 1960 in Dharamsala, Bir, Gopalpur, Kullu(H.P.), Choglamsar(Ladakh) and Bylakuppe (South India-Karnataka) etc, thousands of deprived childrens - orphans, semi-orphans, childrens of families without any sources of income etc. Moreover, thousands of other childrens recently brought from Tibet by their parents or neighbours (without the Chinese knowledge), could also be benefitted of a real education in exile and have a more decent future. All these principal projects were made possible through the generous financial support from the western countries.

The following map show the location of the principal children villages in India. To obtain more details, you can click on the blue points which represent the villages.

How to sponsor a tibetan child, a monk or an aged person :

Through the intermediate of our Association, we are taking charge of centralising all your sponsorships and are transferring from our bank - Credit Agricole - in Digne-les-Bains to the account of TCV in Dharamsala directly twice a year (beginning January and beginning July ).

If any of you are interested in sponsoring someone in exile and become a supporting member of today's Tibet, then contact us at the address mentioned under the "CONTACT" part of this site, and we will send you the the bio-data of a children with his/her photo attached to it. You will be given a corresponding address and this will facilitate you to get in direct contact with your sponsored child.

Sponsorship amount :

Since 1986, the creation year of this service, we are proposing, according to your means, the following margin of sponsorship : 25€ per month, without any adhesion fees and for a duration of at least one year (300€ per year). Here are the details of this amount provided to us by TCV for your studies :

S.No

PARTICULARS

PER CHILD / MONTH (Rs)

1.

Food from the common kitchen

298

2.

Clothing

73

3.

Toilet

20

4.

Medical

65

5.

Maintenance

20

6.

Administration

44

7.

Home Mother

80

8.

Electricity/Water

16

9.

Education

252

10.

Other Contingents

7

TOTAL (in roupies)

Rs 875 = 25€ (around)

This generous action can be continued throughout a child's eductaion period i.e. till the University level, depending ofcourse on the financial possibilities of the sponsors. The above amount represents the sponsorship of a child till he finishes his class XII. After that, the childrens are obliged to go to Indian Universities for further studies of 3 to 5 yrs. At that time, the sponsorship amount comes to 450€ (approx.) in a year. You can pay the sponsorship on monthly basis, or semester wise or annually through cheque or bank transfert.

For 25€ sent, how much will go to a child ?

After 10 yrs of complete free service, taking all charges by the Foundation itself, we have lightly modified in 1996 the partition of your sponsorship aid. With your permission, we are proceeding henceforth as mentioned under : we take 5% from your sponsorship amount and these 5% collected are of course sent to India but for the projects needing a priority and which cannot be realised by an individual sponsor. (E.g. : donations to the hermits, construction of classrooms, water projects etc.) The details will be mentioned to our annual circular dispatched to all the sponsors in the beginning of each year accompanied by a tax reduction paper based on your sponsorship amount sent in a year.
There is no misappropriation of funds as we are an administrative organisation and are working since longtime and in full trust with His Holiness The Dalai-Lama who is residing nearby this children's village and with the members of the Government in exile.
Mrs Jetsun Pema, the executive director of TCV in India, manages completely the sponsorship money that we send, so as to see that the amount is distributed equally among all the children for their education and upbringing. This is what the TCV had been doing till now as it is impossbile to accept that only those children who are sponsored are taken care of while those who don’t have sponsors are deprived of even the basic necessities.

Annual tax receipt :

An attestation of your annual sponsorship payment will be addressed to you in the beginning of Febraury. This will allow you to get a tax reduction of 1% during your tax declaration. In order to avoid tedious return of letters, please inform us of your neww addrees as soon as you change your domicile. In case of co-sponsorship, you are requested to indicate right from the beginning of your action - under whose name the attestatiton should be made. Thank you for keeping it mind.