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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.