What is a sponsorship?

A sponsorship means to participate, to finance a student through boarding school, to give an elderly person the chance to spend the rest of his days in dignity, to support a novice in a monastery or nunnery or to make academic studies possible for someone.

The following types of sponsorships are available through Tibetfreunde:

• Tibetan refugee children who attend school in India/Nepal
• Indigent elderly Tibetans in India/Nepal
• Needy Tibetan nuns and monks in India/Nepal
• Tibetan Students in colleges and universities in India

Tibetan Refugee Children in India and Nepal

Your sponsorship fee covers the following costs:

• Education
• Food and lodging in boarding school
• Books and school supplies
• School uniform, clothing, shoes etc.
• Weekly allowance based on child’s age
• Medical costs

As a sponsor you have no legal obligations. We would welcome it if you would continue to support your child until he or she leaves school. This usually means several years, depending on the age of the child at the time of acceptance of the sponsorship. You will receive regular reports on your child’s performance in school.

Indigent elderly Tibetans in India and Nepal

By committing to a sponsorship you are permitting an elderly Tibetan to spend his or her twilight years in dignity and free of financial worries.

Your sponsorship fee covers the following costs:

• Food
• Medical care
• Lodging

Tibetan nuns and monks in India and Nepal

Sponsorship fees cover the cost of food, clothing, school supplies and medical care.

As is common in many nunneries and monasteries the money received is used collectively. This ensures that even students who have no financial support can continue their schooling just the same.

 

 

Tibetan Students in India and Nepal

Your sponsorship fee covers:

• academic fees
• food
• lodging

As a sponsor you have no legal obligations towards the student you choose to support but of course we welcome it if you are able to finance the entire course of study.

 

Mediation of Sponsorships by Tibetfreunde

Tibetfreunde organizes Sponsorships  in India and Nepal. The board members and other parties responsible work as volunteers and receive no salary. Our administrative expenses are therefore negligible (ca. 3% of turnover). Expenses are covered by our membership fees and Sponsorships that are paid for through our organisation are forwarded with no deductions whatsoever. Sponsorship managers work independently and are responsible for contacts with sponsors, schools and monasteries as well as children, elderly Tibetans, nuns and monks. The group is a motivated team that meets for an exchange once or twice a year.

Contact

If you would like you can have direct, personal contact. How intensive this contact becomes is entirely your decision. There are Sponsors who even decide to take a trip to India or Nepal to get to know each other. The reciprocal joy on meeting is deep!

A Sponsor:

„We didn’t want any more children but we did want to witness the development of a child and to have contact with him or her.
One day, my wife asked me, “Why don’t we become sponsors?” We began to inform ourselves and decided on a long-distance adoption of a Tibetan child-refugee.
During the first years our contact was limited: the little girl that we chose to sponsor couldn’t speak any English. Once or twice a year, we therefore received  a letter from the responsible secretary accompanied by a few drawings and in this way were kept up to date on little Sonam’s progress. Later however we exchanged letters filled with affection and warmth. The little girl has truly enriched our family.”

From the organisation in India under whose care the children in boarding schools are:

„There are very many children who have no sponsor and each year it becomes more and more difficult to find willing sponsors for them. The reason for this is most likely the worldwide recession. We would be very grateful if you would support a child. Sponsorships lie at the foundation of our organization and we could not continue without this financial support. In any case we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the help you have given us which is also a contribution towards the preservation of our dying culture.”