The children study Tibetan reading and writing, debating, English, math, science, and the traditions and texts of Tibetan Buddhism and the Drepung Gomang Monastery. The summer program emphasizes Tibetan language, culture, and religion and helps exiled Tibetan children hang onto their culture, and frees up time for elders who care for them during the summer. There are hundreds of students in this school, not counting summer pupils. One time general donations, periodic donations, and sponsorships of students and teachers are all much needed. Our continuing contributions have provided desks, medicines, vitamins, food, and basic supplies. We've shipped bags of school books to the School over the years, paid for hundreds of textbooks (most recently math English) purchased in India. We have also bought ceiling fans, desks, computers and related equipment. We provided funding for a complete rebuild of washrooms and toilets. We've paid for pipe repair and in 2019 funded a new 3rd floor and insulated roof that help during both the summer and monsoon seasons. We've paid for ear and tonsil operations, eye exams and glasses, and dentistry. We seek general funds, and support for teachers (this is especially needed). A regular $25/quarter or $50/quarter donation helps all school students and the community. Aid for this school is a high priority! Support can be sent quarterly, bi-annually, or annually. We are now the only organization specifically aiding this school.

The Drepung Gomang Monastery has also served the Tibetan refugee community in the settlement in many ways. In the past they planted a vegetable garden and tree plantation, a project which has been funded by several donors, most especially the Tibetan Blues Bash Project which raised funds via Blues Concerts benefiting this and other efforts for Tibetans. In 2003 there was a dangerous fire in the coconut tree plantation due to an accident. Now the trees are doing much better and it turns out the losses were only superficial. This monastery runs a summer school on Tibetan culture open to children of the entire settlement. They serve the community with a clinic and dispensary that is heavily used and serves the entire refugee community as does the DTR Hospital (see below). In particular we sometimes send funds to help provide regular health checkups and medical assistance for elderly monks, many of whom have not had sufficient access and to good regular care. Contributions can be made to the Monastery itself or towards specific projects such as those mentioned. . We also help monks at some other monasteries in Mundgod. Below we show a photo (at Manipal Hospital in Bangalore) of a young monk who escaped from Tibet and needed 6 surgeries post a yak encounter in Tibet which destroyed his eye. He is one of our sponsored monks from another monastery in Mundgod. Donations can also be sent by those wishing to have prayers said for relatives and friends.

Early on, we focused on those with ulcers due to infection by the Helicobacter Pylori bacteria. We have funded the cure of ulcers of monks in this group as well as those in other monasteries and nuns in the nunnery. Our work uncovered the fact that the hospital had acquired defective and harmful batches of the antibiotic Amoxicillin through an Indian supplier who turned out to be getting medicine from mainland China. Fortunately the same medicine from another supplier was excellent. As a result of our work, the hospital's supply of this critical drug, used for many diseases, including TB, was cleansed of the faulty product. We work closely with the Doeguling Resettlement Hospital on health issues, but also fund necessary treatments at more distant medical facilities when this is required. We helped a leprosy patient who has recovered, many tuberculosis patients, and many with skin diseases. We have helped pay for surgeries. Some recent refugees have no immunity to virulent skin ailments which attack them in the hot south of India where the biggest settlements are. Donations to the Gungru Khangtsen Health and Emergency Fund are crucial and can be either one-time or periodic. These provide help when most needed as well as general assistance with prevention and hygiene.

We now also aid Tibetan monks from other monasteries in Mundgod as well as various groups within Drepung Monastery by funding a General Monks' Emergency Fund. See more about all the monks we have helped in our annual newsletters linked to this near the beginning of the webpage.

HOSPITALS:

The Gajang Medical Society Hospital provides help to the Mundgod (Doeguling) Tibetan Settlement residents, with monks and nuns getting a discount and everyone getting good treatment at a fair low price. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the community sent the Covid-19 patients to the DTR Hospital (see next paragraph), while the patients without Covid-19 were treated at the Gajang Medical Society Hospital. Extremely ill patients with Covid-19 were sent to specialized hospitals with the proper facilities to take care of critical Covid-19 patients. This hospital and the Medical Society are connected with the Gaden Jangtse Monastery in Lama Camp 1 in the Mundgod Tibetan Settlement. FOTSI has sent donations to this hospital and also heard good reports from Tibetans we know who have been treated there.

TIBETAN CHILDREN'S VILLAGE (Bylakuppe, Suja, and Gopalpur):

The Tibetan SOS Children's Villages (TCV) in India, serve thousands of Tibetan children (about half boys and half girls) from primary to 12th grade in a Montessori style education system which emphasize either a "commerce stream" or a "science stream" in the last 2 grades. These choices serve students who are interested in business, the arts, medicine, and other fields. Through the TCV we are currently sponsoring 7 students, 3 of whom are at the Bylakuppe TCV School, and 4 of whom are graduates of that school pursuring post-high school studies. Among those pursuing further studies is a young man who is studying traditional Tibetan medicine, emphasizing herbal treatments and other unique aspects of their tradition at the Tibetan Medical Institute in Dharamsala. These schools are boarding schools and have been created for recent escapees from Tibet, children with special needs (such as former polio patients), and Tibetan orphans or children from very needy or dysfunctional homes. One of our previously sponsored TCV students attended Madras Christian College where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in science with an emphasis on physics! We have specialized in helping children we find through our work in the Mundgod settlement as well as through our on-going contact with TCV School staff. The children accepted into TCV schools are those the community feels really need the special care given by TCV's "homes" in which young children live with Tibetan "home-parents". Older students live in a boarding school environment which is also run like a family. This is a wonderful way to change a child's life and offer a priceless chance for a good education. Sponsorship of a child at any of the TCV branches is $480 per year, sent bi-annually, and $720 for postsecondary education. Donors can send smaller amounts and we pool such donations to sponsor more students. See the TCV School webpage listed under "Links" on this website for more information.

VARIOUS ACTIVITIES:

In 2011 we teamed with the Tibetan monk who leads one of the smaller, poorer living groups at the Drepung Gomang Monastery. We raised funds and they also raised funds themselves (with a booth at festivities during teachings of HH the Dalai Lama in India) to purchase a new large water tank for their living group plus some sanitary facilities. The tank replaced one on their roof that was made of cement and leaking in a very problematic way, threatening their building. The monks consulted a number of local sources and contractors to finally select an intelligent and affordable solution to their problems. See our 2011-2012 newsletter.

See more about our continuing special projects in our latest newsletters.

HELP FROM FRIENDS: Lily Farm Fresh Skin Care is a wonderful, environmentally sensitive company that produces healing oils and essences, in some cases working with endangered ethnic groups to produce these. This company has sponsored Tibetan families for a long time and has helped with many other projects.. See the Lily website listed below under Links.

Fox Magdovitz of Boulder Integrative Massage has helped FOTSI for years in many ways. As a student she helped usher a FOTSI event, and later she helped us address envelopes, write receipts, etc. She has long sponsored a monk in the Tibetan settlement. She was key to our receiving our first "leadership training" funds, which we were granted by the Mediators' Foundation. See her website listed below under Links.

One of our FOTSI donors obtained glucose meters to help needy Tibetans monitor diabetes and a means of transport to India via Medical Expeditions International. Others helped us obtain an otoscope for the DTR Hospital and get it there. Many have helped.

We have especially benefited from the unpaid help we get from many Tibetans in the camps to run our programs. Some are employees of schools or organizations while others are not. All of our special helpers have assisted our projects either without pay or beyond the call of duty. None are paid salaries by us. We are grateful for all of these efforts. Please see details in our recent newsletters and the Links section of this page for more on these and other topics.