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Through Tibet Relief Fund, this sponsor helped a Tibetan refugee fulfill a dream

This is the story of just one of our sponsorships. Read about the enormous difference a sponsor can make and the wonderful connection stretching across continents that followed.

Tenzin Jamtse
Tenzin Jamtse

This is Tenzin Jamtse. Tenzin grew up in Paljorling settlement near Pokhara, Nepal, the son of Tibetan parents who weaved traditional carpets for a living. His parents were struggling to provide for the family and so we matched him to his sponsor, Elisabeth, in 1996, when he was just 7 years old. With her help he was able to go to school and enjoy a full and well-rounded education. He loved going to school each day and showed real, creative talent in his art lessons.

When the time came for Tenzin to leave school, his dream was to go on to study traditional Tibetan thangka painting. But it was an expensive six-year course, far out of reach for most Tibetan children in exile and their families to be able to afford.

Tenzin’s dream came true when Elisabeth kindly decided to fund his thangka painting course for the full six years, sending his sponsorship in installments through Tibet Relief Fund. Through her wonderful generosity, he began to study at Tsering Arts School, Kathmandu in 2009 and successfully graduated in 2014!

Tenzin Jamtse's first Thangka
Tenzin Jamtse’s first thangka

Mrs Elisabeth MorseElisabeth said “I had an amazing gift just before Christmas 2015; his very first complete thangka painting! Beautifully done and mounted on amazing material. I was quite humbled and overcome. May his talent take him a long way in the future.” Tenzin has written “appreciative and lovely letters” to Elisabeth all throughout his sponsorship and continues to do so to this day!

In May 2017, Tibet Relief Fund went on a field trip to Nepal and we managed to go and visit Tenzin! Today he is 28 years old and works at Tsering Arts School, painting beautiful thangkas to sell in the shop there.

Tenzin at work!

Elisabeth is still in touch with Tenzin and has even started sponsoring two of his cousins to go to school, now that he is working and building a life for himself. So two more amazing journeys of support, encouragement and friendship are just beginning…

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