Students of Sangag Dechholing Gonpa School in Taplejung, Nepal.

Since 2012 the Social Services Fund has been offering substantial support to different schools in Nepal and India that are offering education to students of Tibetan, Nepali, and Indian heritage. Investing in education through schools is one way to help break the cycle of poverty in impoverished areas and we are pleased to offer support to nearly 1,000 children each year at this time.

2020 has been an unusual year for the schools due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the schools were required to temporarily close in March and April of 2020 and have remained closed due to local restrictions. Some of the schools have been able to offer some form of online schooling or direct limited support to older children who will be sitting in on exams in 2020. Some of the schools that have hostels associated remained open and offered restricted classes to the children still living there.

Here we invite you to learn about some of the schools we currently support and also those we have offered grants to in the past.

Students of Sambhota Tibetan School, Bylakuppe, India.

Sambhota Tibetan School, located in Bylakuppe, South India, was established in 1971 to serve the children of refugees living at Dicky Larose Tibetan Settlement. 24 staff help educate 217 elementary, middle, and secondary students.

Since 2015 we have offered sponsorship for daily vegetarian midday meals, salary for one person to help look after the children after school for a year, and sponsorship of new kitchen. In 2020 we were happy again to offer US$6,706 for midday meals for all the children.

Students of Sagarmatha Secondary School, Chailsa, Nepal enjoying a meal.

Sagarmatha Secondary School in Chailsa, Nepal, is located on what was once a Tibetan refugee camp. It currently serves 170 students, including 79 young lay students who live at the school hostel and 25 young monks who live at Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery, which is a branch of Kopan Monastery and shares the school grounds. Eleven teachers and one additional employee support these students.

Since 2015 we have offered annual grants to the school that covers the salaries of teachers in addition to yearly text books and one set of school uniforms per year for the students. Grants are also offered for prize distribution for exams and sports competitions. The grants are offered at the end of each year, and in 2019 we were happy to offer US$30,495 for this purpose.

Students of Maitreya School, Bodhgaya, India.

Maitreya School, which is a social service project of Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, is a free school benefiting impoverished children from neighboring villages. The school offers children living in one of India’s poorest states a precious opportunity. Not only do they engage in a traditional education but, more importantly, they receive life skills in compassion, honesty, and loving-kindness presented through Buddha’s teachings. The core of the training and vision of the school is: making lives meaningful. The school has a total of 305 students with 12 full-time teachers including the principal. 

Since 2012 we have offered yearly support toward the operating costs as well as two new buses for transporting students. In 2020 we offered US$39,200 toward the annual costs of the school.

Tara Children’s Home, Bodhgaya, India, was also a social service project of Root Institute, Bodhgaya, but has now closed. The Tara Children’s Home was a small orphanage for about 20 HIV affected children. For six years, starting in 2012, we offered over US$172,290 in grants toward the annual operating expenses of the orphanage. 

Some of the Ngari Institute students, Ladakh, India.

Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics is located in the Himalayan Kingdom of Ladakh, India, in a small village called Saboo. The campus is spread over twenty hectares of deserted land. The Institute helps children in need from different remote parts of Ladakh, and sends them to three different local schools, by covering all the costs for the children to attend the schools. The aim of the Institute is to empower and enrich the poor and remote-area students by offering them a combined learning of both modern scientific knowledge and ancient Buddhist wisdom. It was founded by the Ladakh alumni of Sera Je Monastery in South India.

You can watch this video of the children of Ngari Institute enjoying breakfast:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWj03fV9Lk8&feature=youtu.be

Since 2014 we have offered lunch every day of the year to the children and staff of Ngari Institute. There are currently 62 school children, including young monks, and 21 teachers who benefit from this offering. In 2020 we were happy to offer support in the amount of US$30,741 toward all the lunch expenses for the year.

Rolwaling Sangag Choling Monastery School educates 15 children from poor families across the Dolakha District of Nepal at the primary school level and provides free boarding, medical attention, clothing and other needs to its students.

The Social Services Fund raised a substantial grant to assist with a desperately needed hostel for the children in 2015. After raising this money, Nepal suffered the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and the school also endured considerable damage. As a result, the grant offered to the school was not only used to assist with the hostel, but also to help with repairs needed elsewhere on the property.

Students of Sangkpa Dechhholing Gonpa School.

Sangag Dechholing Gonpa School in Taplejung, Nepal, was established in 2007 to serve the Buddhist community in the area. Seven teachers currently educate 80 students, starting at age three. The curriculum is taught in English and Nepali and focuses on modern subjects such as math and science, while being grounded in Buddhist teachings and culture.

In 2018 we offered a US$53,587 grant to support the work of this school.

Young monks of Samtenling Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Samtenling Monastery desperately needed classrooms and a school building to provide the young monks of the monastery a modern, progressive, secular education in Kathmandu, Nepal. Out of 140 monks, 120 of them are aged 6-26. The school provides education from kindergarten through grade eight. Most of the monks are from Nepal and are primarily Sherpas and Tamangs, but Tibetan monks also attend the monastery and school. The school has been operating without any classrooms or a debate courtyard and the Social Services Fund offered a grant of US$166,090 in 2019 for the school to be built. The actual building will begin soon.

Sera Je Monastery, India needed new science classrooms and in April 2013 the Social Service Fund offered US$100,000 toward building the new classrooms .The classrooms are used primarily to teach subjects such as science and other fields of knowledge within the monastic curriculum. This offering came as a direct request from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and was a long-term objective of Sera Je Monastery to align with the vision and recommendations of His Holiness to integrate this kind of study into the monastic education.

Since 2012, amazingly over US$1,042,644 has been offered to these schools and institutions. These grants have had a direct effect and changed many children’s lives for the better. All of this is due to the kindness of the donors of the Social Services Fund who make it possible to make these offerings. We hope that more substantial grants can be offered to these and other beneficial schools offering education to youth in India and Nepal in the future.

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to schools can continue. 

A TVA volunteer feeding stray dogs in Bylakuppe, India. Photo courtesy of TVA Facebook page.

The Animal Liberation Fund recently offered a US$5,450 grant to Tibetan Volunteers for Animals (TVA) and Social Action Movement for a vehicle needed to rescue sick and injured dogs in and around Bylakuppe, India.

Since 2003, TVA has been a pioneer in treating and rescuing innocent animals, particularly dogs. In addition, they have been offering an educational outreach program to Hunsur, Kollegal and Mundgod Tibetan settlements, along with free anti-rabies vaccination and an animal birth control program.

Due to an increase in the population of a stray dog in Bylakuppe the rise of abandoned puppies has also increased. TVA has taken an active role in rescuing these dogs with the help of the community and monasteries in Bylakuppe with medical treatment given by People for Animals (PFA) in Mysore. Dogs are transferred to one of two small shelters in the area—one which provides medical care, one that houses dogs who are mostly well and ready for adoption.

Previously, TVA has had to hire taxis to transfer injured dogs to PFA Mysore for treatment, which is unstainable for the long run due to cost. Therefore, TVA was in need of a vehicle to not only help transfer the dogs as needed.  

TVA and Social Action Movement are also developing a project called Ngenjey Home for Animals which aims to provide a home for animals including cows, sheep, donkeys, horses, goats, pigs, and hens. These animals will be able to live happily without harm and untimely death.

To learn more about this important work for animals visit the Tibetan Volunteers for Animals website. 

The Animal Liberation Fund supports weekly animal liberations and extensive dedications offered by Sangha at the residences of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. When funds allow, additional animal liberations conducted around the world are supported, as well as efforts to save the lives of animals at the Animal Liberation Sanctuary in Nepal, MAITRI Charitable Trust in India and elsewhere. You are welcome to offer any amount toward this ongoing work. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche visiting Maitreya School, Bodhgaya, January 2020.

For the past nine years, due to the kindness of one main benefactor, the FPMT Social Services Fund has been offering substantial grants toward the amazing projects of Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, which directly benefit underprivileged individuals in the area. In 2020, US$$53,900 total was offered to Maitreya School (US$39,200) and Shakyamuni Buddha Health Clinic (US$14,700). 

Maitreya School is a free school benefiting impoverished children from neighboring villages. In 2019, 70 new students entered the school, bringing the total to 306 with the addition of two new teachers. The school continued to offer free education to all the children as well as transport them to and from the school, provide education supplies and uniforms, healthy snacks, and classes on meditation and mindfulness.

Due to COVID-19, all schools in Bihar state were closed starting on March 25 of this year. Since that time the students were mostly learning through online classes, but as Root reports: “It is quite difficult to develop proper and creative learning programs for our children who mostly belong to less affluent rural families, or who live in remote villages where people rarely even use a basic phone.” To help address this, some teachers have made their homes available for up to ten students who live near them to receive coaching and classes. 

Please enjoy this short video of a snapshot day at Maitreya School (before COVID-19):

Shakyamuni Buddha Health Clinic began in 1991 as a home for the destitute and has evolved into a diverse community health program encompassing a wide range of medical and rehabilitative services and health promotion activities.

The clinic continued to do important work in the community in 2019, serving 3,500 patients each month. A new medical vehicle was purchased and they started classes for girls on women’s health.  These workshops are helping to bring an end to early marriage, domestic violence, help with long-term family planning, and teach the value of education. The clinic continues to help the community of Bodhgaya by running programs on homeopathic & allopathic medicines, a dental clinic, as well as physiotherapy and speech therapy. The clinic combined with the mobile outreach units offered free medical treatment to 42,000 patients in 2019.

Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic has been temporarily closed due the COVID-19 pandemic situation in India, but will open again as soon as allowed.

Please enjoy this short video of a glimpse into the work of the clinic as well as life at Root Institute (pre COVID-19). 

We invite you to rejoice in the ongoing beneficial work of the social service programs of Root Institute which are benefiting so many in need of this most precious care. 

During this time when the regular social service activities has been limited or shut down, Root Institute has engaged in inspiring community service by offering food the most needy in the area.

Thank you to all the kind supporters of the Social Services Fund who make it possible to offer donations like this. These grants have a very real and direct effect, changing lives and benefiting extremely poor children and those who are sick and have no other means of support. 

Support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants such as this can continue; or make a donation directly to one of Root Institute’s social service projects.

Rinpoche giving oral transmission of OM MANI PADME HUNG and explaining the benefits of reciting it at Lugsung Samdupling Home for the Aged and Disabled, one of the homes supported by the Social Services Fund.

The Need for Support

Tibetans have been living in exile since 1959 when Communist China invaded Tibet, forcing 100,000 Tibetans to flee to India, Nepal, Bhutan and eventually elsewhere around the world. Many of the Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal are now elderly and many are rendered destitute and in desperate need of care at this critical phase of life. Tibetan families traditionally provide for the elderly and sick among them. However, when a family itself is in deep poverty, or if the elderly individual is alone and without family support, help is needed.

Support Offered

A resident of Dhondenling Elderly Home, Kollegal, India, one of the homes supported by the Social Services Fund. 

Since 2016, the Social Services Fund has offered US$1,224,085 support to over 350 Tibetan elders living in different elderly homes in India. In 2020 we were so happy to offer US$379,309 to five such homes taking care of this most precious and vulnerable population of Tibetans. 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has encouraged us to not only address residents’ physical needs, but also their spiritual ones. With this in mind, we’ve also sponsored holy objects such as stupas and prayer wheels on the premises of some of these homes as well as a community hall for pujas and group prayers at two Tibetan settlements. 

Over the past few months we have reported on how the individual homes have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and we were happy to hear that all of the elders in the homes we support were safe from danger of this virus and we were pleased that each home took the necessary precautions and ongoing safety measures needed to protect those in their care and the surrounding communities. 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama meeting an 82 year old Tibetan lady during teachings in South India, 2015.

Elderly Homes we Supported in 2020

Jampaling Elder’s Home, Dharamsala, provides food, shelter and medical services to 156 residents. US$96,282 was offered in 2020 for shortfall to the annual operating budget.

Lugsam Samduling Home for the Aged and Disabled, Bylakuppe, looks after 46 elderly individuals who are living in extremely modest conditions, many with health issues due to the advanced age. US$14,025.24 was offered in 2020 for shortfall to the annual operating budget.

Some of the elders of Lugsam Elderly Home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doeguling Home for Elderly and Disabled, located in the Doeguling Tibetan Refugee Settlement in Mundgod, cares for 103 elderly residents. US$65,463 was offered in 2020 for the following:
US$32,793 for an ambulance to transfer the elderly extremely sick and close to passing to the hospital; US$19,585 for annual medical expenses fund due to many of the elders now requiring cancer treatment and kidney dialysis etc; US$13,085 investment toward a corpus fund the home has already set up. The interest of the corpus fund is already covering some of the home’s annual expenses.

Rabgayling Tibetan Family Welfare Association, Hunsur, has an elderly home serving 20 residents. US$22,812.77 was offered in 2020 toward the annual budget shortfall. 

Dhondenling Old People Home, Kollegal, is in one of the most remote and underdeveloped Tibetan settlements in southern India. The elderly home has a capacity for 32 elderly Tibetans residents. US$21,983.83 was offered in 2020 to cover 70% of their annual operating budget for 2020. Additionally, US$180,725.64 was also offered to this settlement. This money was raised separately from UBI in Italy and is to be used toward a multi-purpose hall that the elders would be able to use for religious group practices as well as cultural events.

In the future we’re eager to provide similar support in Nepal and we have already started the process of assessing needs and opportunities to offer support in this way. Thank you to all the donors who make this most urgent and critical support possible. Please rejoice in the US$379,309 offered to these homes in 2020. 

If you are inspired by grants such as this which support elderly Tibetans, you are welcome to contribute to the Social Service Fund and help ensure that work like this can continue long into the future. 

Monks of Kopan Monastery reciting a text together.

In 2018 we announced a new fund, the Protecting the Environment and Living Beings Project. This project began as a way to fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for specific pujas and practices to be recited regularly in order to pacify harm from the elements and to protect those (humans, animals, insects) who have been affected.

In alignment with Rinpoche’s advice, every month the following practices are being offered with strong prayers. Rinpoche checked extensively on the exact practices to be done, how many times they should be completed, and by whom:

• Extensive Medicine Buddha Puja is offered five times by Shu Cho Khangtsen of Drepung Gomang Monastery, Kopan Monastery, and Gyuto Tantric College
• Guhyasamaja root text is recited four times by Kopan Lama Gyupas
• Kshitigarbha Sutra is recited one time by the nuns of Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery
• Sutra of Golden Light is recited eight times by Sangha in the USA
• Arya Sanghata Sutra is recited five times by Sangha and students in the USA
• Vajra Cutter Sutra is recited four times by Yangsi Rinpoche

We are pleased to report that this has all been offered without interruption since the project began and will continue. These prayers, recitations, and pujas are also extremely important right now, due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, and all the effects arising from that.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Yangsi Rinpoche making extensive offerings to numberless Buddhas, Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, Washington, US, July 2019. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Some of the Many Benefits of these Recitations

 “Medicine Buddha encompasses all the buddhas. This means that when we practice the seven-limb prayer and make offerings with the seven limbs, we receive the same merit as we would if we had made offerings to all the buddhas.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

“The Guhyasamaja Tantra holds a special place in the tantric tradition. Lama Tsongkhapa says, “In the Root Tantra, in the section on the title, it states that every secret of the body, speech, and mind of every tathagata is contained within this tantra.” Lama Tsongkhapa says just to read, study, or even come into contact with this tantra is of immense benefit, and that as long as the Guhyasamaja Tantra remains, the teachings of the Buddha remain also, because “it is the amulet carrying the Buddhadharma.” — Thubten Jinpa, in the Introduction to “A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages” by Lama Tsongkhapa.

The Kshitigarbha Sutra averts danger and purifies obstacles. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has recommended Kṣitigarbha mantra and practice for times of disaster, particularly earthquakes.

“The Sutra of Golden Light is the king of the sutras. It is extremely powerful and fulfills all one’s wishes, as well as bringing peace and happiness for all sentient beings, up to enlightenment. It is also extremely powerful for world peace, for your own protection, and for the protection of the country and the world. Also, it has great healing power for people in the country. It protects individuals and their country from what are labeled natural disasters of the wind element, fire element, earth element, and water element—such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones, fires, tornadoes, etc.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

One benefit of reciting the Sanghata Sutra is that, wherever this sutra is recited, the buddhas are always present, as explained in the text itself. As such, the recitation can bestow a powerful blessing on the place where it is recited.

“The Vajra Cutter Sutra is unbelievable. It is one of the most profitable practices, because the root of all sufferings, yours and others, is the ignorance holding “I” as truly existent—even though it is empty of that; and the ignorance holding the aggregates as truly existent, even though they are empty of that. The only antidote to cut that, to get rid of that and through which to achieve liberation, the total cessation of the suffering causes—delusions and karma—is the wisdom realizing emptiness. This is the subject of the Vajra Cutter Sutra, emptiness. So, each time it is read, it leaves such a positive imprint. Without taking much time, without much difficulty, it is easy to actualize wisdom.” – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The general dedication for all these monthly pujas and practices is for whole world, and in particular for United States of America (at this time):

To not have disasters of fire, water, air, and earth including great dangers such as earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, fires, and also global problems; to prevent any great danger for the people and animals of the area, and if it does for those who die to not be reborn in the lower realms and to actualize bodhichitta and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.

Tremendous thanks to Yangsi Rinpoche and all the Sangha and students who are offering these continual prayers each month; to all who contribute toward the sponsorship of these prayers; and to all those who join in with prayers. You can can participate yourself by reciting these texts and offering the same dedication above: Medicine Buddha Puja, Sanghata Sutra, Vajra Cutter Sutra, Sutra of Golden Light. 

All are welcome to join this effort to benefit the environment, those affected by disasters of the elements, and all beings.

Some of the elders of Rabgayling Tibetan Family Welfare Association, in Hunsur, India.

FPMT Charitable Projects has been providing information about how the elderly homes supported by the Social Services Fund have been doing during the COVID-19 crisis. Here we provide the final reports of two homes who are, thankfully, marked safe during the pandemic. 

The grounds of Dhondeling Tibetan Settlement being sanitized for safety during the pandemic.

At Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement, located in Kollegal, India, an elderly home of thirty-two elderly, precautions have been taken such as: visitors are not allowed to enter the home; they stocked dry rations and other items; requested the doctor to visit the home in case of any emergency; the premises was thoroughly sanitized regularly; and nearly 3,200 cloth-face masks were distributed to the settlement and the residents.

Resident bathrooms of Rabyaling Tibetan Family Welfare Association being cleaned by staff.

The twenty elders at Rabgayling Tibetan Family Welfare Association, in Hunsur, India, are in good health. Nutritious food and regular check-ups have been offered and the staff regularly cleans their rooms, toilets, and offers sanitation to the premises. 

In 2020 a total of US$379,308 has been offered from the Social Services Fund to homes in India serving elderly Tibetans. Tibetan families traditionally provide for the elderly and sick among them. However, when a family itself is in deep poverty, or if the elderly individual is alone and without family support, help is needed. FPMT is very happy to be able to offer this very real and needed support to these very precious elders, many of whom would be rendered destitute without such support. Thank you to all who make this support possible.

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to elderly homes can continue. 

Students of Ngari Institute prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students of Ngari Institute enjoying lunch prior to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Social Services Fund has been supporting Ngari Institute in Ladakh, India since 2014. Ngari Institute helps needy children from remote regions of Ladakh and arranges to send them to, currently, three different schools. The Institute arranges all the costs related to this, such as the  facility fees, food, uniforms, etc.

The Social Services Fund has been covering all the costs of the food for the children and staff. This offering started at US$15,720.62 and is now US$30,741.85 a year. The Ngari Institute is located in the Himalayan Kingdom of Ladakh in a small village called Saboo. The mission of the Institute is to empower and educate the poor and needy remote-area students by providing the ability for children to receive a combined learning of both modern scientific knowledge and ancient Buddhist wisdom.

All the schools are currently closed due to the restrictions in India, but the hostel located at the Institute remains open for the children who stay there. Most of the staff are staying at the Institute and are able to care for the children staying there. To date there have been no cases of COVID-19 at the school, but around 24 cases in the region. The schools are hopeful that they will be able to reopen as soon as possible and are undertaking all necessary care for when the school opens that it will be safe for the children.

Thank you to all the donors who make it possible to support to the Institute with food for all the children and teachers. It is due to your kindness that we can offer this.

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to schools can continue. 

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how schools supported by FPMT Social Service Fund are navigating these challenging times.  

Some of the elders of Lugsum Samduling Home for the Aged and Disabled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lugsum Samduling Home for the Aged and Disabled, an elderly home in Bylakuppe, India, cares for 37 aging Tibetans. The Social Services Fund has been supporting this home since 2016 with grants toward annual operating budget shortfall; and also to build new rooms for the elders; 115 prayer wheels for the residents’ use; and necessities like cushions, chairs, and curtains for the premises. 

The elders and staff at this home are currently doing fine and are all safe during the COVID-19 restrictions. The elderly home has been regularly disinfected. Face masks have been distributed to all and necessary toiletries and sanitation have been issued. The residents are not permitted to leave the home at this time and the staff have been working arduously to provide food and care. Their nurse is administering screening and health checkups every week. Thankfully, there have been no cases of COVID-19 at the elderly home, or at the settlement. 

Just before the shutdown in India started, Social services Fund was very happy to be able to offer US$14,025 towards the 2020 operating budget for this elderly home. This donation will directly support the elders food and medical expenses. Thank you to all the kind donors who help FPMT support the Tibetan elders in this way.

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue providing updates on how elderly homes supported by FPMT Social Service Fund are navigating these challenging times.  

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to elderly homes can continue. 

Residents of Doeguling Home for the Elderly and Disabled, Mundgod, India.

Doeguling Home for the Elderly and Disabled is located in the Doeguling Tibetan Refugee Settlement in Mundgod, India, and is offering care for 103 elderly residents. The Social Services Fund has supported this elderly age home since 2016. In 2020 we were very happy to offer a grant for the home to purchase a vehicle to be used as an ambulance to transport the elders quickly to the hospital.

The elders of this facility are currently in good health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Appropriate measures have been taken at this home including: providing educational talks on COVID-19 and preventive measures by nursing staff. These talks have covered issues and demonstrations such as the importance of performing hand hygiene (hand washing steps with demonstration), the importance of wearing a face masks, and the importance of maintain social distancing and avoiding going to crowded places.

The following precautions are being followed:

• Providing N95 masks and washable masks to the elderly to wear when walking around the stupa and while going to crowded areas.
• Providing six anti-bacterial soaps for each wash basin every month  so the elders can perform healthy hand hygiene.
• Maintaining social distance in crowded areas like in the kitchen, stupa, etc.
• Providing a healthy diet for the elders, such as fruits to boost the immune system and offering vitamin tablets.
• Advising the elders to drink plenty of warm water and also Tibetan medicines such as Mani Rilbu and Rinchen Rilbu (Tibetan Precious Pills).

In addition, every Saturday nurses are performing Covid-19 screening tests. Since the elders are not allowed to go outside, a doctor from the local hospital is visiting the Doeguling Home for the Elderly and Disabled for checkups, and every Sunday a Tibetan Doctor also visits.

Any relatives of the elderly residents are only allowed inside the home with a mask on and after they are checked for symptoms like fevers, colds, and coughs.

Lastly, with the help of all the staff and youth volunteers from Camp Number 3, widespread sanitization has been provided several times with an anti-septic solution.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the donors who have made it possible to support elderly homes which enables us to help Tibetan elders who are most in need.

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how elderly homes supported by FPMT Social Service Fund are navigating these challenging times.  

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to elderly homes can continue. 

Elders of Jampaling Elder’s Home, Dharamsala, India, joining in puja together.

Since 2016, the FPMT Social Service Fund has been supporting Jampaling Elder’s Home, situated in Dharamsala, India. This home was built to accommodate elders who are sixty and older and particularly vulnerable with no family to look after them as well as ex-army members who are scattered in different Tibetan settlements without appropriate facilities. This facility provides food, shelter, and medical services to 156 residents. 

Since the lockdown and social distancing measures taken in India due to the COVID-19 crisis, all the elders, as well as staff, are doing well at this time.

Residents of Jampaling Elder’s Home receiving masks.

The Home Department of the Central Tibetan Administration has takes various precautionary measures to avoid the spread of the virus  among elderly homes in India and Nepal including: the generation of guidelines to all these elderly homes; health workers have taken and recorded the temperature of elders daily; elders are not allowed to go out of the elderly home property at this time; daily needs for the elders are bought from the markets for residents; masks and advice on daily hygiene were distributed; advice from the medical experts was followed strictly; and outsiders are not allowed onto the property of the elderly homes. 

The Home Department reports that they have had no issues or problems in the elderly homes in India and Nepal, including Jampaling Elderly Home. They share that they, “take special care of our elders since this deadly virus is a danger to this population.”

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how elderly homes supported by FPMT Social Service Fund are navigating these challenging times.  

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to elderly homes can continue. 

The grounds of Sagarmatha Secondary School, Chailsa, Nepal.

Since 2015, the Social Services Fund has been offering support to Sagarmatha Secondary School in Chailsa, Nepal. The school stands on what was once a Tibetan refugee camp. Under normal conditions, 170 students receive education there including 79 young lay students who live at the school hostel, and 25 young monks who live at Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery, which shares the school grounds. Eleven teachers and one additional employee support these students. 

The school has been closed since March 19 as per the Nepal lockdown in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the reopen date, like many places around the world, is uncertain.

Most of the children have gone back to their own homes or the homes of relatives and about 30 individuals, including teachers and staff, remain at the school. Due to the lockdown, some of the teachers from outside of the Solu Khumbu area are unable to go back to their homes. Since the teachers are staying at the school, they are giving regular classes to the monks as well as kids from the neighborhood. Children in grade 8 and grade 10 are having regular classes from the teachers who are staying at school because their final exam is given at the government level and the school has to complete their curriculum text book before the final exam.

Young students continuing their education during the COVID-19 lockdown.

During this lockdown period, the students are kept within the school and monastery compound which is restricted from outside visitors except for people from the neighboring village. Young monks and children are washing their hands regularly and thoroughly. Individuals in the village must be able to move freely within the limited area because of their responsibilities with farming and agriculture. Many locals work in the trekking industry but since there are currently no tourists in Nepal they have become jobless and some have offered to do volunteer work such as repairing the road and cleaning the facilities. During this period, the school is taking advantage of the time to do maintenance work and plant trees around the school area. 

Sagarmatha Secondary School recently joined Kopan Helping Hands program to distribute food items for the poor and jobless villagers in the area. 

All are welcome to support the Social Services Fund and help ensure grants to schools can continue. 

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how schools supported by FPMT Social Service Fund are navigating these challenging times.  

As COVID-19 continues to impact individuals and communities, beneficiaries of charitable services aren’t as able to access the aid they are accustomed to relying on. Here we share an update on how Lamp of the Path NGO, Mongolia, is managing the current reality of this crisis.

A blind beneficiary of clothing from Lamp of the Path NGO.

Lamp of the Path NGO (LOP), part of Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling, has offered social services to some of the poor and homeless living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia since 2003. Its main program is a soup kitchen which offers food as well as free medical support through a health clinic, which reopened in 2017. LOP helps bring awareness to the epidemic of alcoholism in Mongolia and offers tuberculosis checkups for the disadvantaged in the area.

Lamp of the Path soup kitchen in operation, January 2020, prior to the COVID-19 restrictions.

The soup kitchen typically feeds 50-70 people daily from Monday through Friday and during the winter season, service is offered on Saturdays as well. In Mongolia, the quarantine came into effect on January 27 and impacted Lamp of the Path immediately and directly. They were not allowed to operate the soup kitchen and experienced frequent police check-ups, warning letters and kind reminders about not having any public activities.

In February, they arranged a “window soup kitchen” with distribution of food (mainly bread and instant noodle soup) through the window. This was successful before their beneficiaries stopped coming, perhaps due to fear of the virus.

Soup being made for Lamp of the Path’s “soup window.”

In the meantime, they have shared a substantial amount of food with another NGO who is providing shelter for former alcoholics and people with disabilities. Since March, in cooperation with government social workers, they initiated a home visit project. Every week those from the NGO, or caseworkers, visit five poor families and distribute food according to a list provided by social workers. They have increased the number of beneficiaries since April by allowing one representative of a family to receive takeaway of freshly made soup from the premises once a week, ensuring there is a 30 minute period between serving each family. In addition, they have distributed many items of second-hand clothing that were received from Switzerland to members of the Mongolian Blind Association.

Lamp of the Path’s plan for May is to provide food to thirty families with visually impaired members who are most affected by the quarantine. Ten of these families each have four or more small children with visually impaired parents who have lost their source of income. The need is quite great.

In good news, their vegetable garden project is expanding and they have prepared a plot for planting potatoes for the first time.

FPMT Charitable Projects will continue updating you on how social service projects around the world are navigating these challenging times.  

Learn more about Lamp  of the Path NGO: www.fpmtmongolia.org/lamp-of-the-path-ngo