Tong-Len Charitable Trust: Registered Charity, India, McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh | Support, Sponsor, Sponsorship, Sponsoring a child, Child Sponsorship, Donate, Donating, Donation, Volunteer, Volunteering, Help, Himalayas, Scotland, UK, USA, Poor, Poverty, Begging, Displaced, Community, Communities, Education, Health, Sanitation, Tonglen, Tong, Len, Give and Take, Sending and Receiving, Buddhist, Meditation, Philosophy, Dalai Lama, Compassion in Action, Tibet, Tibetan, Refugee, Exile, Charities, NGO, Non Governmental Organisation

Child Education & Sponsorship

The majority of families who have migrated from their home regions to Himachal Pradesh have done so out of necessity. Economic hardship has driven them off their infertile land in other regions of India and they have been forced to move to where work may be available. Most do not find work and scrape a living as best they can. They have neither the means nor the opportunities to provide a stable home and schooling for their children.

Under Tong-Len's Child Sponsorship programme, displaced children, living in temporary camps in Himachal Pradesh, are given the opportunity to attend one of the best local schools full-time (Dayanand Model High School) where they can access a diverse and accredited curriculum. Unlike many child sponsorship programmes, all money raised in sponsorship goes directly to the support of the children concerned.

It is a requirement of the school that the children enrolled are given a safe and supportive environment in which to live and study. This is provided by the 2 Tong-Len Hostels which are home to 40 children. They are staffed by 2 live-in teachers/carers with part-time daytime help from domestic staff. The hostel staff provide balanced nutritious meals, help the children with their homework, and organise recreational activities in which the children's families are also invited to participate. The family atmosphere of the hostels is important to all. For most of the children it is their first experience of a secure family life.

Sponsorship Options

Each child has a sponsor for school, with all of that sponsor's money (£130 per annum) going into an individual fund for that child to cover school fees, uniform, books etc - everything they need for school itself.

The child also has a sponsor for his or her individual needs within the hostel. The £10 per month covers non-school clothes, toiletries, medical costs, and a small amount for recreational activities and outings. Any money left over is used for the collective benefit of all the hostel children e.g. to purchase books for the hostel library, or the occasional special treat in which all can share.

The individual child hostel sponsorship does not cover rent, food, heating, staff salaries and all the other major costs involved in housing and caring for 40 destitute children. Approximately £1 per day per child in sponsorship is required to cover the running costs of the hostels. It is possible to sponsor a child to live in the hostels for a certain number of days per month. Most sponsors who do this opt for 10 days and we try to ensure that there are no more than 3 hostel sponsors per child.

All sponsors are given details, photos and regular progress updates of the children they are supporting and are able to communicate with them if they wish by email or post to the hostel.

Child sponsorship not only provides an education, it also provides some of the joys of childhood to children who have known nothing but the hardships of hunger, disease, begging and scavenging.

If you would like to support Tong-Len's sponsorship programme, and know that every penny of your money is being used to benefit a child in one of the above ways, then please contact anna@tong-len.org.

Below are photos of some of the children who want a sponsored placement to attend school.

Tong-Len India (Charity No. 16284)

Tong-Len UK (Charity No. SC036383)

email: info@tong-len.org