Tibet Matters Annual Review: Relief for scattered settlements and Delhi’s marginalised Tibetans

The scattered settlements of Pandhra Mile, Kullu and Manali are located outside of the main towns in a remote part of Himachal Pradesh in north India. For the Tibetan community, accessing the hospitals in the region is difficult at the best of times; now it’s virtually impossible. The single Tibetan health clinic in the area is staffed by one nurse unable to provide care to everyone who needs it. Tibetans living in these communities were in desperate need of support during India’s second wave of Covid-19 and your donations provided urgent funds.

Tenzin has visited these settlements so knows how difficult it is to access essential medical supplies. Thanks to you, our project partners in the area have been distributing Covid-19 toolkits containing thermometers, pulse oximeters, KN95 masks, gloves and sanitiser. Your donations are also supporting the cost of safe quarantine centres and emergency medical funds for those who are sick. Thank you.

During last summer’s lockdown in Delhi we worked with Tibetan Cancer Society to set up a community kitchen. This provided two hot and nutritious meals a day to a large community of marginalised Tibetans including the unemployed, those with substance abuse problems and sex workers. Tenzin told us your generous and heartwarming response meant the community kitchen could also employ some of those previously unemployed young people:

“It really helped them … [it was] a wonderful experience!”