Of the thousands of Tibetans who continue to escape from Tibet each year, most are ill-equipped to travel during the winter at high altitudes and along hazardous routes, which they follow to avoid detection by border patrols. By the time they arrive at the Kathmandu Reception Center, they are suffering from shock and serious ailments, including frostbite. Many must have their toes or other extremities amputated. 



For 18 years, the U.S. Department of State's Humanitarian Assistance grant, administered by The Tibet Fund, has been the primary source of support for refugee rehabilitation. Through this grant, newly arrived refugees receive immediate medical care and psychological counseling, special prosthetics and long-term rehabilitation.

Many Tibetans grow old without social support or families to care for them. As the number of elders increases in the exile community, the need for special housing and care has become especially urgent. The Tibet Fund anticipated this need several years ago when it secured funding from the Flora Family Foundation to build the Tsering Elders Home for 50 older Tibetans in Kathmandu, Nepal. His Holiness the Dalai Lama provided the seed money to purchase land for the building, and the Home was inaugurated in November 2003. The Tibet Fund also helped with the renovation and re-roofing of the Old People's Home in Mainpat Tibetan Settlement in India and provided clothing to the elders at Jawalakhel Tibetan Refugee Settlement's Old People's Home.

Currently, The Tibet Fund is seeking sponsors for individual elders living at the Tsering Elders Home to help cover the cost of clothing, food and bedding for the 50 residents. Donors are needed to support the salary and housing for six staff. Sponsorship for one Tibetan elder costs $360 per year. Click here to learn more and to sponsor a Tibetan elder.

Since its founding, The Tibet Fund has responded immediately to grave emergencies in the exile community and in Tibet, including devastating snowstorms in Tibet and Ladakh, drought in south India, floods in the north and, more recently, a series of fires that completely destroyed the shops and merchandise of Tibetan families who make their living as itinerant sweater-sellers.