As Christmas approaches, we begin making plans with family and friends; but many Tibetan children in India and Nepal are facing a bleak, lonely and cold winter.
Every December, the Tibetan Homes Foundation (THF) school, based in Mussoorie in the foothills of the Himalaya in north west India, closes for a two and a half month winter break.
Some of the 2,200 pupils spend their vacation with relatives in India or Nepal. However, the majority of these children have escaped from Tibet and their families are either still inside Tibet, or have passed away. For these children there is nowhere to go for the long winter break, so they stay at the Homes Foundation’s campus.
This can be a difficult and lonely time, made worse by the harsh winter in Mussoorie, with sub-zero temperatures and driving snow.
The Home’s sponsorship secretary Kalsang Namgyal says the prime objective for children remaining in Mussoorie during the winter is, “to make their holidays warm and nice – a time to learn new things and for them to enjoy.”
You could make a world of difference – and show them they have a friend who cares on the other side of the world:
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Just £20 can provide a full, durable set of warm winter clothes, urgently needed for recent arrivals from Tibet and orphans who have no-one to provide for them.
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£100 can provide winter activity classes for 100 children so they can learn new skills, build friendships and, most importantly, have fun! The Homes Foundation want to organise Tibetan music, cooking and bookbinding classes which will be led by staff members, so the only costs are for materials – less than £1 per child per winter for all activities.
Anything you can spare today will be used where it is most needed for these and other urgent projects for Tibetans. Please give whatever you can.
Thank you.
