TIBETAN CHILDREN AND TIBETAN CHILDREN VILLAGE
Since its creation, Echanges Himalayans has supported the TCV and, as such, has participated in numerous sponsorships of more than a hundred Tibetan children.
THE TCV
Tibetan Children's Villages (TCV) is an integrated community in exile for the care and education of orphaned and destitute children exiled from Tibet . It is a non-profit organization, founded on May 17, 1960, and based in Dharamsala in northern India .
In 2009, under the leadership of the TCV, the Tibetan Government in Exile and Jetsun Pema, sister of the Dalai Lama, founded the first Tibetan University in Exile in Bangalore, India, which was named the "Dalai Lama Institute of Advanced Studies". The objectives of this university are to teach Tibetan language and Tibetan culture, as well as science, arts, counseling and information technology to Tibetan students in exile. Some of the children sponsored by Himalayan Exchanges have had the opportunity to pursue their higher education at this University.
The TCV, Tibetan Children Village
TCV building
The ambulance purchased by Echanges Himalayans
Sponsored child
Sponsored children
Time to share a meal at the TCV
TCV building
The TCV and Himalayan Exchanges
Since its creation, Echanges Himalayans has participated in the sponsorship of Tibetan children through direct relations with the TCV and the establishment of "Outreach Programs", development programs to help the Tibetan and Nepalese community as a whole.
"In 1959, among the thousands of refugees who followed His Holiness the Dalai Lama into exile in India, there were orphaned children, destitute, ravaged by war, hunger, the psychological shock caused by the loss of their family, their home, their country. Concerned by the suffering of so many children, His Holiness proposed the creation of a reception and care center: the Tibetan Children village.
Today, there are several TCVs in different parts of India that accommodate over 15,000 children who come from refugee villages, from families who cannot support them, or who are orphans, or who enter India illegally, fleeing persecuted Tibet where prospects are almost nil, the Chinese school system that wants to suppress Tibetan cultural and religious identity. Parents feel compelled, and it is a real heartbreak for them to part with their children so that they can receive the best and most modern education possible, while providing them with a deep and intimate knowledge of the rich Tibetan cultural heritage."
“It is a real relief to know that at TCV Tibetan children are protected from all this violence, that they can learn their culture, their language, their religion and grow up in peace. That is why we are happy to help you and we thank you for taking care of all these children.”
Monique Meriaux, Head of the Education Branch of Himalayan Exchanges (2005-2022)
