Tibet Relief Fund

04/09/2026

An animal woven into Tibetan life.

For centuries, yaks have been an essential part of life on the Tibetan Plateau.

Remarkably adapted to high altitude, bitter cold and a demanding landscape, they have long been at the heart of Tibetan pastoral life — carrying goods across difficult terrain and providing milk, butter, meat, wool and fibre.

Even yak dung has traditionally had an important use as fuel in areas where trees and firewood are scarce.

But the yak is more than a practical part of life. It is closely woven into the culture and traditions of Tibetan pastoral communities, shaped by generations of people living alongside their animals in one of the world's most challenging environments.

Our Enlightened Gifts yak may be rather smaller — and considerably less useful for carrying your luggage — but he represents an animal with a very big place in Tibetan life. 🐂

You'll find him in our Enlightened Gifts shop, alongside gifts inspired by Tibet and Tibetan culture.

Every purchase supports the work of Tibet Relief Fund with Tibetan communities living in exile in India and Nepal.

Discover something a little different.

www.enlightenedgifts.org

03/09/2026

Since 1959, Tibet Relief Fund has stood alongside Tibetans.

Our story began as Tibetans fled their homeland following the 1959 uprising and its violent suppression, arriving in India and Nepal with the enormous task of rebuilding their lives in exile.

Over the decades that followed, Tibet Relief Fund has responded as circumstances and needs have changed — standing alongside Tibetans through exile and displacement, and supporting communities as they built schools, monasteries and nunneries, cared for older people, created livelihoods and ensured new generations could grow up learning their language and living their culture.

Our work has changed over those 67 years.

Today, it is focused on Tibetan communities living in exile in India and Nepal — supporting education, healthcare, disability support, older people, livelihoods and young people, while helping create the conditions in which Tibetan language, culture and religious traditions can continue to be lived and carried forward.

But one thing has not changed.

Our commitment to Tibetans.

Since 1959.

Then. Now. And into the future.

Find out more about our work https://www.tibetrelieffund.co.uk

02/09/2026

Update on the Tibet–Nepal floods

We know many of you are concerned about Tibetan communities affected by the devastating floods along the Tibet–Nepal border. We are too.

Since the flooding, we have been in contact with our partners as we work to understand what has happened to Tibetan communities in the affected areas and what support may be needed.

Some information is beginning to emerge. In Nepal, homes belonging to Tibetan families have been swept away, and the Gegyeling Tibetan settlement in Rasuwa has suffered serious damage. The full picture, particularly from affected communities inside Tibet, remains difficult to establish.

Amid such terrible loss, we have also been deeply touched by the way people have come together to support one another. In Kathmandu, Gosok Phuntsok Choeling monastery has opened its doors to nearly 200 people evacuated from Rasuwa, providing shelter, food and other essentials. Much of the support is being organised by volunteers from the affected communities themselves, some while facing loss and uncertainty within their own families.

We are continuing to speak with our partners, gather reliable information and assess where Tibet Relief Fund may be able to help.

As we understand more, we will keep you informed — including about any support Tibetan communities tell us they need.

If you would like to help now, organisations already responding to the emergency in Nepal include:

Karuna-Shechen – Nepal Emergency Fund is providing emergency assistance in Rasuwa, including food and drinking water for displaced families, while teams continue to assess needs on the ground.

British Red Cross – Nepal Floods Emergency is supporting the Nepal Red Cross response, including emergency shelter and supplies, search and rescue, and helping people separated from loved ones. Donations are made to its wider Disaster Fund, which is currently supporting the Nepal response as well as other emergencies.

We will continue to listen to our partners and share what we learn.

02/09/2026

Today is Tibetan Democracy Day. But what does it mean?

On 2 September 1960, the first elected representatives of the Tibetan community in exile took their oath of office in India.

The previous year, following the 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule and its violent suppression, His Holiness the Dalai Lama had fled Tibet for India. Tens of thousands of Tibetans would follow into exile.

They had lost their homeland and were beginning the immense task of rebuilding their lives.

That meant establishing settlements and homes. Schools for Tibetan children. Monasteries and nunneries where religious traditions could continue. Organisations providing healthcare, education and support.

And it also meant building democracy.

In February 1960, His Holiness the Dalai Lama called for Tibetans in exile to establish an elected representative body. Seven months later, 13 elected representatives from Tibet's three traditional provinces and the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism took their oath.

That moment became the foundation of a democratic system Tibetans in exile have continued to develop over the decades since.

In 2011, His Holiness the Dalai Lama relinquished his remaining political and administrative authority, transferring responsibility to the democratically elected Tibetan leadership.

All of this was built in exile.

At a time when Tibetans inside Tibet continue to face severe restrictions on their ability to use and teach their language and participate fully in their cultural life, Tibetan Democracy Day is more than an anniversary. It marks something Tibetan communities created after displacement and have sustained across generations.

Tibet Relief Fund's own story began in 1959, as Tibetans were arriving in India and Nepal and beginning to rebuild their lives. More than six decades later, we continue to stand alongside Tibetan communities in exile.

Today, we join Tibetan communities around the world in marking Tibetan Democracy Day.

Photo: The First Commission of Tibetan People's Deputies, 1960.

01/09/2026

You don't have to be extraordinary to do something extraordinary.

You don't have to run a marathon.

You don't have to climb a mountain.

You don't need hundreds of supporters, months of planning or an ambitious target.

Fundraising can be a walk you were going to take anyway. A birthday where you really don't need another present. A slightly over-competitive quiz night. A cake sale where half the cakes are eaten before anyone remembers they're supposed to be selling them.

It can be ten people. It can be fifty pounds.

Because fundraising isn't really about doing something extraordinary.

It's about deciding that something matters enough to do something.

For more than 60 years, people have made that decision for Tibet Relief Fund. Together, they have helped Tibetan communities living in exile build schools, care for older people, support young people, access healthcare, practise their faith and keep Tibetan language and culture alive across generations.

You could be part of what happens next.

What could you do?

Find ideas and ways to fundraise for Tibet Relief Fund https://www.tibetrelieffund.co.uk/fundraise-for-us

28/08/2026

27/08/2026

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the devastating Bhote Koshi flood in the Nepal–Tibet border region.

It is heartbreaking to see the loss of life and widespread destruction, with so many people facing unimaginable uncertainty.

We extend our deepest sympathies to those who have lost loved ones, those who have been displaced, and everyone still waiting for news of family and friends. We are also thinking of all those working tirelessly to support the affected communities.

23/08/2026

Freedom. A simple word with a great deal behind it.

For Tibetans, freedom is a word that carries particular meaning.

More than six decades after Tibetans were forced to flee their homeland, Tibetan communities continue to live in exile across India, Nepal and elsewhere around the world.

They have rebuilt lives and communities, established schools and monasteries, created organisations and businesses, and continued to speak their language, practise their faith and carry forward traditions brought with them from Tibet.

This T-shirt from Enlightened Gifts carries the Tibetan word for freedom.

It's one of a wide range of items you'll find in our online shop, from gifts and books to Tibetan and Himalayan crafts and homeware.

Every purchase from Enlightened Gifts helps support Tibet Relief Fund's work with Tibetan communities living in exile in India and Nepal.

Discover something a little different.

🛍️ https://www.enlightenedgifts.org/on-demand-items

21/08/2026

“Language lives when children use it.”

These are the words of the library educator at Shatsa, a Tibetan children's library in Ladakh that Tibet Relief Fund supports.

For them, encouraging children to read in Tibetan is about much more than learning to read:

“Children should not experience their language only as a subject they have to study. They should experience it as a language in which they can laugh, imagine, question, learn, and dream.”

At Shatsa, that means Tibetan children's books, storytelling, puppets and activities that make reading enjoyable. It also means taking reading programmes out to children in remote areas of Changthang, where access to books beyond the school curriculum can be limited.

But there is a wider reason why work like this matters.

Inside Tibet, children's access to education in their own language has been increasingly restricted. UN experts reported in 2023 that around one million Tibetan children were affected by a residential school system in which children are separated from their families and the compulsory curriculum is taught predominantly in Mandarin Chinese.

Research has also documented the replacement of Tibetan with Chinese as the language of instruction in many schools, leaving Tibetan increasingly taught as a language subject rather than being the language through which children learn.

For Tibetan communities living in exile, keeping a language alive is therefore not simply about preserving something from the past.

It is about children using it now — to read, talk, laugh, imagine and discover the world around them.

Tibet Relief Fund supports Shatsa's work, helping Tibetan children in Ladakh access books, reading activities and opportunities to learn and enjoy their language.

Find out more about Shatsa and the work we support https://www.tibetrelieffund.co.uk/our-programmes/shatsa-nomadic-library

20/08/2026

For young Tibetans living in exile in India, finding that first opportunity can make all the difference.

A training place. An internship. A chance to gain experience, meet people in your chosen field and begin building a career.

But those opportunities can be harder to access when you are building your future in exile, with fewer professional networks and pathways into employment.

Together with Empowering the Vision Project, we want to create 12 opportunities for young Tibetans through vocational and professional training, internships with employers and paid placements.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the appeal so far, £715 has been raised towards our £5,950 target.

There is still a long way to go. Whether you can give a little or a little more, every donation will help us get closer to creating all 12 opportunities.

You can donate from the UK or overseas.

Help create an opportunity for a young Tibetan living in exile.

https://www.tibetrelieffund.co.uk/help-12-young-tibetans