Tibetan Refugee Children

Tibetan Refugee Children need help.Some live in single parent families.
Others are orphans. Parents, if alive, are frequently either mentally or physically disabled, or suffer from illnesses such as TB. They are unable to care and provide for their families, which are traditionally quite large.



Maitreya Charity's Individual Sponsorships have helped hundreds of Tibetan Refugee children in many locations around India:
Gomang Monastery, Bylakuppe, Madras and Mungod in the south; Dharamsala and Birr in the north

***
For as long as space
endures
And for as long as living
beings remain,
Until then may I too abide
to dispel
the misery of the world.
Shantideva
***

Maitreya Charity Sponsorship makes
education possible,
supplements basic diet
and helps meet medical needs

Individuals and families are referred to Panchen Otrul Rinpoche through his representatives in Dharamsala and Mungod In this way sponsorship can effectively meet people's needs.

 


Young Children at a TCV Centre in Dharamsala, India

Many children live togtether in "Tibetan Children's Villages" that have been established by the Tibetan Government
in Exile. They need sponsorship to meet the basic needs of food, clothing, medicine and education.

 

Even when children live with their families in a relatively normal situation,poverty creates many problems.

There are now second and third generation
Tibetan refugee children who have spent
their entire lives in India at Tibetan Refugee Settlements.

Children suffer many illnesses unneccesarily. Medicines are available, but they cannot afford to buy them.

Often they cannot afford the writing materials and clothes necessary to attend local schools. This is especially tragic as education is the great longing of Tibetan Refugees, even though they live very difficult lives.
Tibetans understand that education for their children will
allow them to rise above their present difficulties.

A typical Tibetan family being sponsored

Tenzin Legshe is now 10 years old, is in class 4 at school which has 30 children and he usually comes between 9th and 13th in exams. He has had problems with speech but is improving slowly and can now speak very well.

The parents are very, very grateful for the help of the sponsor without which he could not go to school. They have to pay fees of 14,500 rupees a year and on top of that are his cloths and books etc. They have one other child - a daughter who is 7 years old. The parents sell cloths on the market for income. They have to travel to do this as the settlement in which they live is in the country. The mother's father lives with them and looks after the children while they are away. They are lucky if they can make $1- $5 a day and this is their only means of support for the family.

The kitchen of their house badly needs a new roof but they cannot afford this.
Rinpoche and I recently saw the kitchen - it was in an awful state - needed pulling down and rebuilding, never mind a new roof. It was an extension on the small building they already lived in with a galvanized roof which was leaking badly. The concrete floor had cracked and broken up and rats were digging holes through the floor in an attempt to get at any food. They had covered the walls in newspaper to try to stop the damp which was running down the walls.

Tthey seemed a happy family and the children were well behaved. They were all delighted to see Rinpoche and to have him in their home.
Many more children are being sponsored in order for them to go to college or to have further training so they can start work and become independent.

Sponsorship // +++ // Family Support

Sponsorship of $15 per month enables a child to obtain basic education in one of the Tibetan schools that have been re-established since the 1950s.
Technical training in computer literacy, secretarial skills, foreign languages, create opportunities for older children to find work and give their families financial security.

Please contact us now at Maitreya Charity
if you can help create a brighter future for these children.

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