click here for the Dutch website Dutch Aid to Tibetans Supporting Tibet for more than 40 years!

Dutch Aid to Tibetans was founded in 1963. The main aim of the Foundation is to “Help the Tibetans to remain Tibetan”, in other words, to maintain the unique Tibetan culture. The Foundation contributes to this by: Providing help to refugee Tibetan children, who are looked after in children’s villages in India Providing support to projects that aim at assisting children and adults to build towards their own future Raising awareness of the situation of Tibetans, through films such as “Tashi Delek, Zompa!” and the Tibetan Learning Chest for use in Dutch primary schools. The Foundation works only with volunteers and as a result of this it is able to guarantee that virtually all of the financial donations are directly used to support the Tibetan children. Of course the work of the Foundation does incur costs. However these are usually never more than between 2% and 4% of any donation. Tibetan Children’s Villages When the Tibetans fled to India in 1959 they found themselves in dire straights. They had to survive, but there was no work, they had no roof over their heads and there was a serious lack of hygiene. Many Tibetans lost their lives and their orphaned children needed looking after. The Dalai Lama asked his eldest sister to organise the care of these children. The first Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) dates back to that time. After the death of his sister, the Dalai Lama asked his younger sister Jetsun Pema to take over the management of the villages. TCV's can be found a.o. in Dharamsala, Gopalpur, Bir, Chauntra, and Patli Kuhl. The Dutch Aid to Tibetans supports children in these villages and supports projects (see Projects). - TCV Dharamsala is the largest Children’s Village with more than 2400 children. It is also the TCV’s headquarters. The Dalai Lama has his residence in Dharamsala and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile has its seat here. - TCV Gopalpur, a newly built village located a two hours drive away from Dharamsala, was inaugurated in November 2000 by the Dalai Lama. The large influx of children and the overflow of children from the village in Dharamsala can now be dealt with reasonably well. - TCV Bir can be found several hours to the East of Dharamsala. With more than 1500 children, it houses predominantly older children that fled from Tibet and is heavily overloaded. - TCV Chauntra, opened in 2004 as replacement village for TCV Patli Kuhl, provides an excellent living space for almost 1000 Tibetan children. - (TCV) Patli Kuhl has been replaced by TCV Chauntra and is currently in use as a vocational training center for Tibetan youngsters.

Dutch Aid to Tibetans Stichting Hulp aan Tibetanen (SHAT) Jan Toebacklaan 13, 1412 JZ Naarden The Netherlands Tel + 31-(0)35-6970535 C.o.C. 41149073 Den Haag E-mail: SHAT-Tibet@freeler.nl Postgiro 5327006