Tibetan Natural Birth and Health Training Center

Dear Global Giving Friends,

Greetings and Tashi Delek from Tibetan Healing Fund. On behalf of Tibetan Healing Fund, we offer sincere thanks and gratitude to the many people who support us in providing hope, financial donations and resources to Tibetans. Through your generous support and the efforts of our staff and volunteer teams in Tibet and the US, we are producing exciting and tangible results in education and health care for Tibetans in Qinghai Province (Amdo).

Tibetan Healing Fund (THF) works to create lasting, positive changes in the lives of Tibetan women and children. The cornerstone of all Tibetan Healing Fund’s projects is ensuring self-sufficiency by providing education and primary health care and community development for rural Tibetan children and their families.

In 1994, Dr. Kunchok Gyaltsen raised money to expand the Serkya Village School from grades one to three to include grades four to six. This project was well received by the villagers, but many students were still not able to attend the school due to lack of money. While studying in the United States, Dr. Gyaltsen was able to raise money for a scholarship program to ensure that all village children in Serkya could attend school. In 2001, this program was formalized and became the Tibetan Healing Fund.

THF is a Seattle based non-profit organization with board members and supporters throughout the US. Tibetan Healing is unique in many ways; it was founded by a Tibetan Buddhist monk, medical doctor and significantly relies on local Tibetans to implement projects.

THF promotes sustainable development using transparent and participatory methods while incorporating local and traditional knowledge. Projects address social and humanitarian needs, specifically basic education, primary health care and community development in an effort to develop holistic programs. The projects encompass vocations training and capacity building that develop skills for our in-country staff, volunteers and the members of the community we serve.

THF’s In-Country team has created partnerships in the region to achieve greater synergy with individuals, communities and organizations. These partnerships include many local organizations, businesses, a Tibetan university, hospitals, education and health bureaus. Our projects are mainly in the Amdo region, but recently we have expanded to the other Tibetan regions of Kham and U-Tsang.

Now, Tibetan Healing Fund supports primary school children in three counties, conducts teacher trainings to improve rural education and holds countywide symposiums on bilingual education.

In addition, Tibetan Healing Fund has developed and implemented appropriate public health initiatives, trains village women to be Community Midwives, creates Tibetan-language public health education and training materials for low-literate rural women and health professionals, provides health education outreach, conducts training of trainer workshops, holds regional conferences on women’s health and is building the first Tibetan Natural Birth and Health Training Center to be run by and for the Tibetan people.

*Goals Primary Health Care: Tibetan Healing Fund improves the basic health of women and children by providing public health education and increased access to quality and essential health services.

Education: Tibetan Healing Fund provides teacher training and improved access to quality education as a way to enhance the livelihood of individuals and the community.