Tashi Delek!
The staff of Lha Charitable Trust are delighted to share a summary of our annual report 2018. This year has been a great journey for us at Lha. We initiated several new projects along with the ongoing projects, 12 different institutes and almost 400 volunteers helped us in our programs this year. We are extremely grateful to your trust, support and sincere contribution to making changes to the lives of hundreds of people.

 About the Organization
Lha Charitable Trust is an award-winning, grass-roots, 12AA and 80G non-profit organization and one of the largest Tibetan social work institutes based in Dharamshala, India. Founded in 1997 and registered as a charitable trust by the Indian Government, Lha has continuously provided vital resources to those in need for over 21 years. Lha’s financial accounts are audited annually by a government approved chartered accountant and all tax return certificates are issued by the Income Tax Department, Government of India.
Vision: Lha seeks to generate an atmosphere of harmony and co-operation within the community by meeting to the needs of the impoverished and underprivileged.
Purpose: Our aim is to help the Tibetan people survive and prosper in their new home and to preserve their profoundly unique culture. In addition, Lha offers volunteers and students the opportunity to engage in meaningful community service and social work.
Focus Area: The Trust focuses its efforts on six areas: preservation and promotion of the Tibetan language and cultural heritage, social work initiatives, educational resources, creating awareness of the Tibetan issue, volunteering opportunities and cultural exchange program.

New Projects and Programs for 2018

Tibetan Women’s Nursing Scholarship
The Tibetan Women’s Nursing Scholarship is one of Lha’s new projects for 2018. Through this project, we are providing nursing scholarships for three young Tibetan women during the period 2018 to 2020. The selected three girls have high ranking academic achievements and come from low-income Tibetan families with limited resources. The three candidates are Tsering Dolma from CST Poanta School, Tenzin Nordon from TCV Gopalpur School and Tsering Choedon from TCV Bylakuppe School. They were selected through interview and are now enrolled in their chosen nursing schools: Mata Sahib Kaur College of Nursing, Chandigarh, Indraprastha Appolo Hospital, Delhi and BGS Academy for Nursing Sciences, Mysore.
Funds for this scholarship were raised by the Tulane School of Social Work student group (TSSW) who participated in Lha’s Cultural Exchange Program here in Dharamshala in 2017. The scholarship is dedicated to Neysa Fenwick, a Tulane social work alumni who came to Dharamshala with TSSW in 2011 and sadly died last year. Neysa’s parents Kerry and Naomi Fenwick, along with family friend Tom Hoffman, personally donated over half the funds and we are extremely grateful to them and the 2017 TSSW student group for their selfless efforts to make this nursing scholarship a reality.

Secular Ethics Fellowship Program

With funding from the Tibet Fund, Lha launched another new project, The Secular Ethics Fellowship Program. This project gives an opportunity for one Tibetan researcher to study the philosophy of Secular Ethics and become a reliable resource person for our community. This one-year research fellowship program will develop a vision of secular ethics for Tibetan schools and society. The aim of the program is to look at ways to implement the practical application of secular ethics in Tibetan society today.
The inspiration for this project is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose thoughts on Secular Ethics and universal responsibility are widely recognized and revered. People in western countries show significant interest in Secular Ethics, but few Tibetans have attempted to make a study and the program aims to redress that balance.
We started the project with guidance from His Eminence the Professor Samdhong Rinpoche and formed an advisory committee to guide the researcher. Mr. Kunchok Tenzin was selected from 14 candidates for the fellowship as he gained top results in both the written test and interview. Since May 2018 he has been studying the vision of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s Secular Ethics thoroughly and has been engaged in in-depth research on how to implement Secular Ethics in Tibetan schools as per the vision of the Basic Education Policy for Tibetans in Exile of the Department of Education, the Central Tibetan Administration.
For the past nine months, Mr. Kunchok has been educating himself on Secular Ethics by reading, listening, watching and discussion with experts on the subject. In the coming months he will conduct interviews and surveys as well as undertaking further in-depth research. He will submit his final report in April 2019. We hope to continue this significant project to the point where it will bring tangible results.

Workshop for Preschool Tibetan Teachers
Lha organized a three-day workshop Basic Education Policy for Tibetan in Exile and Secular Ethics, for 29 pre-school Tibetan teachers from December 7th to 9th, 2018. The workshop was funded by the Tibet Fund, USA and was held at Lha Ahimsa Hall. Workshop participants were from different Tibetan schools in and around Dharamshala: seven teachers from Tibetan Children’s Village School – of which five were from Osel-Ling School, Nepal; three from Youngling School; 15 from Mewoen Tsuglag Petoen School; one from Central School for Tibetans (CST) Ponta; two teachers from CST Deckyiling and one from CST Purwala.
We were fortunate in obtaining the services of exceptional speakers and trainers to lead the workshop, including His Eminence Professor Samdhong Rinpoche; Speaker of the 16th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, Mr. Pema Jungney la; Geshe Lhakdor la, Director of the Library of Tibetan Work and Archive; Mr. Tenzin Dorjee la from the Department of Education, Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and Ms. Tenzin Choedon la, Principal of Mewoen Tsuglag Petoen School as well as several trainers from CTA and Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution.
Workshop topics included the importance and benefits of the Basic Education Policy for Tibetans in exile; roles and responsibilities of pre-school teachers; importance of reading from an early age; how to encourage the reading habit at an early age; the four main aims of the Basic Education Policy for Tibetans in Exile; the importance of freedom for children; especially in allowing them to play in an unstructured environment; Secular Ethics and how to cultivate compassion from a young age and the outcome of the Basic Education Policy for Tibetans in Exile. Also discussed was how our traditional education system can go hand in hand with the modern education system.

International Language Courses
Even after 21 years, Lha’s language courses continue to be a well-received service in the Dharamshala community and remain central to Lha’s mission. A total of 12,782 students have registered on this program since 2006. The full weekday schedule provides classes in 5 different languages, and includes 5 levels of English, 2 of Chinese, 2 of French and basic level in German, and Tibetan. These language classes are open to students of all ages and backgrounds and are attended by Tibetan refugees, local Indians and people from other Himalayan communities. The majority of Lha’s language students this year were younger and older adults from Tibet, including monks and nuns. During 2018 there were 12 language classes each day, Monday-Friday; 572 new students registered; 97 individual tutoring sessions took place, more than 150 students attended these classes every day and 1,135 students attended classes throughout the year.

Computer Courses
Since January, 2018 a total of 99 students registered for computer classes. 56 students in the computer beginner class; 35 in the computer intermediate class and 8 in the Web designing class. The beginner’s computer class focused on MS Word, Excel, Power Point, typing and basic computer knowledge. The intermediate computer class trained students in Graphic Design using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. The main aim of these courses is to provide skills to improve participants’ education opportunities, to enhance their career potential and to teach people better and easier ways to communicate.

Clothing Distribution
Lha organized a free clothing distribution at Ahimsa House on July 21st, 2018. More than 250 people came to collect clothes, shoes, bags, shawls, etc. There were about 5,000 items of clothing – mostly summer clothes for men, women and children. Also, on October 31st, Dharamshala Rotary Club helped us to distribute over 300 clothing items to Indian families in the slum areas of lower Dharamshala. Lha collects clothing donations from tourists, student exchange groups and visitors to Dharamshala and, working with the Dharamshala Rotary Club, distributes them to people living in slum areas in lower Dharamshala. However, once a year we also do a distribution in McLeod Ganj for needy local Tibetans and Indians.

Clear Vision and Smile Dental Projects
In 2018, Lha’s Clear Vision and Smiles Dental projects benefited 242 monks and nuns; following an initial assessment, 178 people received further dental treatments including fillings, scaling, extractions, crowns, and medicines. 84 people received eye care, including additional eye examinations and the distribution of eyeglasses and necessary medicines. As usual two medical student groups from Tulane University helped us with this project, which took place in Gaden Choeling Nunnery, Shugseb Nunnery, and Nyingma Monastery in Bir. The groups worked with local dentist Ms. Natasha from Perfect 32 in McLeod Ganj, Tanu Optical eye glass center near Zonal Hospital, Dharamshala, Rotary Eye Hospital Pragpur, Bhajnath and Verma Eye Care and Optical Clinic. Lha’s Clear Vision project was started in 2009 and Smile Dental project in 2011.

Contact Magazine
In 2018, Contact magazine covered 157 Tibet-related news articles, written by Contact magazine reporters and 46 volunteer writers from around the world. This year, we printed 11 issues of Contact, with 10,500 copies of the magazine in total. Copies of the magazine are distributed freely around Dharamshala, with over 300 posted to embassies in Delhi, schools, institutions in India, and abroad. This year,Contact has a new Job Opportunities column. Contact is a voice for the voiceless, primarily focusing on news related to Tibetans inside Tibet, who continue to experience China’s ongoing abuse of human rights. Contact also publishes articles about Tibetans living in exile, the activities of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration and environmental news from Tibet. Contact news magazine is a monthly news magazine published by Lha, distributed internationally in print and online, which addresses Tibetan current events and community information.

Clean Water Project: Installation of the 26th and 27th filter water system
Under this project, Lha installed 2 new water filter machines in 2018. A water filter system, together with a water dispenser, was installed at Spiti Children’s hostel in Sidhpur Dharamshala on February 5th, 2018. Children from Himalayan regions of India, including Spiti and Ladakh, who come to Dharamshala to attend high school are accommodated in this hostel. The hostel has around 250 residents who, until now, have not had access to safe drinking water. The Australia Tibet Council Group 2017 generously funded the 26th Water filter system.
Lha installed the 27th Water filter machine on March 12th at the Tibetan Homes Foundation, Mussoorie School, which has around 1,150 students. This school is located in the hill state of Uttarakhand. This water filter machine will provide the school children with clean and safe drinking water. We are extremely grateful to Mr John Jack Ulrichsen for funding the 27th Water filter machine. Through the Clean Water Project, over 17,600 beneficiaries now have access to clean water which we hope will improve their overall health and prevent water-born diseases.
Lha also provides an annual service and maintenance of the water filter machines before the monsoon every year – the monsoon is the season of highest risk of water-born diseases.

Community Soup Kitchen
Lha’s Community Soup Kitchen registered 70 new beneficiaries this year. Of all our projects, the Community Soup Kitchen is the only one that is dedicated solely to Tibetan refugees. Through this kitchen we provide free and nutritious meals to Tibetans in financial need in the Dharamshala community and who come to us seeking help. Since its inception in 2011, our Community Soup Kitchen has benefited a total of 523 people. We provide fruit with the meals and all meals are prepared with filtered water. Through this project we also arrange professional speakers to give health awareness talks for the Soup Kitchen beneficiaries.

Volunteering Opportunities
We always say that volunteers are our back bone and they truly assist in most of our projects. In 2018, Lha registered a total of 398 volunteers, both online registration and from drop-ins to the office. They came from different countries and were placed according to their interests and the needs of the community. They participated, in small or large part, in nearly all Lha’s programs. Most of them taught language classes and helped with our English conversation class. Many of them were also assigned to help in the projects of other Tibetan institutes in Dharamshala. Lha students had the added benefit of the opportunity to understand different cultures and languages through meeting our volunteers. Lha offers our volunteers the opportunity to share their knowledge and skills with Tibetan refugees and local Indian and Himalayan communities, while gaining hands-on experience working with a non-profit, community social work organization. Lha is the largest volunteer host and coordination organization in the Tibetan refugee community in Dharamshala, India.

Environmental Protection and Awareness Programs
We continued our monthly mass cleanup program in the same format as in 2017: every third Saturday, we gather for a collective effort to keep Mcleod Ganj clean and litter-free, with the combined efforts of staff, volunteers and students. We collected trash on hillsides and illegal dump sites and from around the most traveled areas of McLeod Ganj. Sometimes these mass cleanups are held in collaboration with the Clean Upper Dharamshala Program of the Tibetan settlement office, Dharamshala.
Through Lha’s bilingual environment website, Tibet Nature (www.tibetnature.net), we published 45 Tibetan articles and 43 English articles in 2018, focusing on Tibet’s environment, the issues facing it and its current situation. Tibet Nature remains very active and is updated regularly as new information becomes available.
Lha observes World Environment Day every year with a program of activities. This year we held an open essay contest with cash prizes on the theme Beat Plastic Pollution. 30 people participated and the top three essays were published on Tibet Nature website and in Contact Magazine. This activity was aimed to encourage people to study and be aware of the importance of the environment and its protection.

Preservation of the Tibetan language and culture

Under the category of preserving and promoting the Tibetan culture and language, Lha manages a bilingual websitewww.samdhongrinpoche.com, where an extensive collection of valuable teachings, writings, and speeches by the Venerable Professor Samdhong Rinpoche are accessible to the public, in written, video and audio forms. To date, we have uploaded 1,019 audio files and 208 videos of Rinpoche’s teachings and speeches. YouTube uploads have received approximately 450,445 views. Rinphoche’s Sound Cloud audio content currently has over 3,600 regular listeners, with a total of 151,368 listeners. 725 articles (both in Tibetan and English) were published on the website.
We hold a daily Tibetan class, attended by adult Tibetans who want to learn to read or write in Tibetan. Daily attendance for these classes averages ten students throughout the year.
This year we continued our three-month intensive Tibetan language class designed especially for Tibetan people working in Tibetan NGOs and institutes, with classes held after office hours. There were 33 participants, a few from various Tibetan NGOs, others were monks, nuns, lay people and some were students from Bhutan. Lha manages several websites in the Tibetan language.

                                                                                                     World AIDS Day 2018

For 2018’s World AIDS Day Campaign, Lha Charitable Trust collaborated with Delek Hospital and the Tibetan Primary Health Centre, Bir, (TPHC) to organise an awareness program on HIV/AIDS at Bir, Tibetan Settlement. The theme was Know Your Status and focused on the importance of knowing one’s status and getting yourself checked if you don’t know.
Dr. Tsewang la from Delek Hospital and Dr. Tenzin Norsang la from TPHC, Bir, gave presentations on HIV/AIDS, its transmission, preventive methods and the stigmas attached to the disease. Nurse Catherine McDonough from Los Angeles, USA, who was a volunteer at Delek Hospital, shared her experiences of many years of working with AIDS patients. All three speakers then answered questions from the audience. The day finished with the distribution of condoms and AIDS awareness brochures in Tibetan and Hindi. This event was funded by the Tibet Fund, USA.

Cultural Exchange Programs
Lha worked with 14 International Exchange Groups and 2 Indian student groups in 2018. This included 3 student groups from Rustic Pathways; one student group from GoBeyond; 2 student groups from Tulane University, USA; one student group from Loyola University, USA and 4 groups of professional medical practitioners and hospice caregivers from USA; 2 student groups from GapForce, UK; one student group from Singapore and 2 student groups from Mumbai, India. In total 176 foreign students, professionals and 22 Indian students participated in our Cultural Exchange Program this year.

Training for Translators
On March 29th, 2018 we organized a special training for translators at Lha Ahimsa House led by Shri Dhawa Dhondup (Acharya), an expert and highly respected Buddhist translator. There were 15 participants – all people who aspire to be professional translators. Acharya Dhawa Dhondup la spoke about his experiences as a translator for more than 25 years and provided guidance on becoming a professional translator.

Educational Talks
This year we arranged several educational talks for our students, soup kitchen beneficiaries, foreign exchange groups and volunteers. Two of the most notable speakers were His Eminence Professor Samdhong Rinpoche and Geshe Lhakdor (Director of the Tibetan Library).
His Eminence Professor Samdhong Rinpoche gave a series of lectures in English, on The Four Aspects of Mindfulness, from April 16th to 19th at Lha Charitable Trust’s Ahimsa House in McLeod Ganj. Around 100 people attended, mostly Westerners from 25 countries; in addition many people watched via a live stream broadcast. The four days of lectures were transcribed and are available on the Samdhong Rinpoche website.
Geshe Lhakdor la, former translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and current Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, spoke on Mindfulness to Aid in a Joyful life and Death on September 12th, 2018 to Lha volunteers. More than 20 volunteers came to listen to Geshe la and the talk was followed by a question and answer session. Again, on September 19th, 2018 Geshe Lhakdor la gave a public talk, Secular Ethics and the Responsibility of Tibetan Youth.
Lha organized awareness talks on dental hygiene and care on October 16th, 2018. We invited Dentist Tenzin Choedon from Delek Hospital, she is Bachelor of Dental and Surgery from J.S.S. Dental College and Hospital, Mysore. The first talk was attended by 22 soup kitchen beneficiaries and the second by 34 Lha language class students. Dentist Tenchoe la spoke about the importance of dental care for our overall health, how to brush teeth properly, how to floss and other do’s and don’ts in dental hygiene. The beneficiaries asked various questions related to dental hygiene and care. Free toothpaste and tooth brushes were provided for those in need.
Mr. Lobsang Yeshi, Member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile and Ms. Dukthen Kyi, Head of UN & Human Rights Desk, DIIR spoke to different student groups from the United States on the Human Rights situation in Tibet.

Financial Summary
Lha Annual Financial Report for fiscal year April 1st 2017- March 31st 2018, as per the Audit Report under section 12A (b) of the Income Tax Act 1961, Govt. of India shows a total income of INR 59, 25,139 (US $91,155.98) and total expenditures of INR 67, 28,393(US $103,513.73), which includes the administrative cost of INR 28, 33,255 (US $43,588.53) and the project cost of INR 37, 20,852 (US $57,243.87). To bare this year’s extra expenses, we liquidated our fix deposit.

Donations
Lha’s earned income sources include the cultural exchange program, accommodation and hall rent in Ahimsa House and the Lha Fair Trade shop, these enable us to be self-sufficient and sustainable in providing several social services in the community. However, to keep up with the growing needs of the community and to maintain the operation of our other social services and special projects such as the Soup Kitchen,Contact Magazine, Clean Water, Clear Vision and Smiles Dental Care, we continue to rely on generous donations and funders. Lha’s programs and projects are always adjusted to meet the needs of our community here in Dharamshala.

Thank You Note
We truly appreciate the contributions of many individuals and institutes who have supported our work for the past 21 years and helped thousands of people. We are extremely grateful to our founders, donors, advisors, volunteers and supporters for making this journey incredible in so many ways. Thank you to Louisiana Himalaya Association, The Dalai Lama Trust, Tulane University, The Tibet Fund, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, Tibet Freunde Swiss, GoBeyond, Rustic Pathways, Loyola University, Louisiana Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, Australia Tibet Council, Tibetan Delek Hospital and to our many individual volunteers and donors, too numerous to mention by name but everyone is special and appreciated. We honestly wouldn’t have made this far without your trust and support. Thank you so much everyone.

Sincerely,
Dorji Kyi (Director)
Lha Charitable Trust
Office phone: +91-1892-220992
Office Mobile: +91-9882323455
Website:
www.lhasocialwork.org
www.samdhongrinpoche.com
www.tibetnature.net
www.contactmagazine.net
www.tibetfairtrade.com

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Lha’s achievement in 2018

• Provided language courses for 1,135 students
• Enrolled 572 new students in language classes
• 99 students attended Lha’s computer courses
• Distributed over 8,000 free articles of new or used clothing to both the Tibetan and local Indian communities
• Served over 85 people through Lha community soup kitchen project, which provides free and nutritious meals
• Provided free medical checkups, eye examinations, and dental care services to 242 Tibetan refugees and people from Himalayan regions
• Worked with 398 new volunteers who donated their valuable time and energy
• Organized Cultural Exchange Programs for 14 international groups and 2 Indian students groups, including University and High School students and professionals, with around 176 participants.
• Published and distributed 10,500 free copies of Contact Magazine
• The three-month intensive Advanced Tibetan Language class benefited 33 people
• 1,200 free condoms were distributed in Bir on World AIDS Day
• 26th and 27th Water filter machine installed at Spiti Children’s hostel in Sidhpur, Dharamshala and Tibetan Homes Foundation, Mussoorie School.

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Lha’s achievements from 2003 to 2018

• 12,782 students benefited from our language courses.
• 3,105 students benefited from our computer courses and IT workshops.
• Approximately 1,927 students from international education institutes participated in the cultural exchange program
• Over 8,250 volunteers from over 42 different countries contributed to Lha’s work
• 34,340 free books distributed to Tibetan and local Indian schools and libraries
• More than 51,047 articles of clothing collected and distributed through the donation center
• 27 water filtration systems installed under Lha’s Clean Water Project, which continues to provide purified cooking and drinking water to over 14,950 people
• 1026 people received free eye check-ups, and glasses were provided for more than 684 people through the Clear Vision Project
• 1041 people benefited from the Tibetan Smiles dental care project with services such as dental check-ups, cleanings, extractions, dispensing medication, etc.
• 101,030 copies of the free publication Contact have been distributed since 2009
• 169 people graduated from Lha’s massage courses
• 67 people graduated from Lha’s photography courses
• The Lha Community Soup Kitchen served 50-60 people daily, and has benefited 523 people since its opening in July 2011
• 854 students provided with a recommendation letter to comply with the Indian Government’s requirement of a letter from an educational institution as proof for newly arrived refugees who have been registered as relocating to India for educational opportunities
• Since 2015, 835 parents and students have benefited from educational talks organized by Lha
• Since 2015, 130 elderly people have benefited from projects at the Jampaling Elders Home.
Please visit our website for more information and news: www.lhasocialwork.org

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