Tibet Relief Fund

25/09/2026

The scent of juniper smoke

If you have spent time around a Tibetan community or monastery, you may have come across the scent of burning juniper.

It is often part of Sang-sol, a centuries-old Tibetan smoke offering. Juniper is burned as prayers are offered, in a practice associated with purification, dispelling obstacles and creating auspicious conditions.

Sang-sol can be part of important religious and community occasions, but it is also woven into Tibetan life more broadly. It may take place at a monastery, at home, or outdoors, with smoke rising from rooftops and hilltops.

When Tibetans left Tibet, practices such as Sang-sol travelled with them.

Today, Sang-sol continues in Tibetan communities across the world. More than the burning of juniper, it is a religious and cultural practice through which Tibetans continue traditions, beliefs and ways of life carried across generations.

Photo: Preston Rhea / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped from original.

24/09/2026

Sometimes the need is very practical.

The tin roof of Gangchen Ri Tenkhang has deteriorated and water is getting inside. Poor drainage and water entering from the adjoining side are adding to the problem, putting the building at risk of further damage.

The community has carried out smaller repairs over the years, but patching things up is no longer enough.

The roof needs replacing. The drainage needs improving. And more substantial restoration is now needed so that Gangchen Ri Tenkhang can continue to be used safely as a place of worship.

Our Temple Appeal aims to raise £15,554 towards this work.

Help us restore and protect Gangchen Ri Tenkhang. https://www.tibetrelieffund.co.uk/appeal-protect-a-living-heritage

23/09/2026

Until recently, doctors and nurses at Phende Hospital in Hunsur were caring for patients without a defibrillator.

The hospital serves people living in Rabgyeling Tibetan Settlement as well as those from surrounding Indian villages, and has been part of the community since 1974. Without a defibrillator, staff faced a serious gap in the care they could provide when someone experienced a cardiac emergency.

Tibet Relief Fund has funded a new defibrillator for the hospital, which means the medical team now has this vital piece of equipment available when they need it.

It may be a relatively small part of everything that happens at Phende Hospital, but having the right medical equipment can make an enormous difference at the moment it is needed.

Thank you to everyone who supports Tibet Relief Fund and helps us fund practical needs like this.

17/09/2026

What is a Tibetan settlement?

If you follow Tibet Relief Fund, you'll often hear us talk about Tibetan settlements across India. But what exactly is a Tibetan settlement – and why are they there?

To answer that, we have to go back to Tibet.

Chinese forces entered Tibet in 1950. In the years that followed, Chinese control over the country increased and resistance grew. In March 1959, an uprising broke out in Lhasa and was crushed by Chinese forces.

The Dalai Lama escaped across the Himalayas into India. Tens of thousands of Tibetans followed into exile, leaving behind their homes, livelihoods and a country they could no longer safely remain in.

India gave refuge to Tibetans and, as it became clear that exile would not be temporary, settlements were established in different parts of the country.

Some were built around agriculture, with land providing families with a way to earn a living. Others developed around handicrafts, small businesses and other forms of employment.

But rebuilding life meant more than finding somewhere to live.

Tibetans established schools, monasteries and community institutions. Tibetan could continue to be spoken, read and taught. Religious traditions could be practised openly. Families separated from their homeland could build communities again.

More than six decades later, these settlements are still home to Tibetan communities.

They are not simply remnants of the refugee crisis of 1959. They are places where people live, work, study, worship, raise families and grow old – and where generations born in exile continue to build their lives.

Many of the programmes Tibet Relief Fund supports today are rooted in these communities.

So when you hear us talk about places such as Choephelling, Dekyiling and other Tibetan settlements across India, those names carry a much bigger story.

They exist because Tibetans were forced into exile.

What they built afterwards is a story of resilience, community and the determination to carry forward a way of life far from home.

Photo: Tibetan settlement houses, Bylakuppe, India. Frederic Martin Duchamp / Indian Senses. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

16/09/2026

URGENT APPEAL: This temple could be lost

Years of heavy rain and water damage are threatening the structural integrity of Gangchen Ri Tenkhang, an important place of worship for the Tibetan community in Darjeeling.

We need to raise £15,554 by the end of November to help carry out the repairs it urgently needs.

For Tibetans living in exile, places like Gangchen Ri Tenkhang are an important part of community life — places where people can gather, pray and continue religious traditions carried with them from Tibet.

High on Observatory Hill in Darjeeling, Tibetans had long gathered to offer prayers, burn juniper and hoist prayer flags. In the early 1990s, the community came together to build a small Tenkhang dedicated to the protector deities Palden Lhamo and Nechung Choegyal.

They built it through voluntary labour and donations.

More than 30 years later, it remains an active place of worship and community gathering. But years of heavy rain, water ingress and erosion have taken their toll. Without the necessary repairs, there is a very real possibility that the community could lose this important place of worship.

At a time when Tibetan language, religion and cultural expression face increasing restrictions inside Tibet, places where these traditions can continue to be practised freely in exile matter deeply.

Please help us ensure Gangchen Ri Tenkhang remains a place where Tibetans can gather and worship for generations to come.

Tibet Relief Fund working with Tibetan communities in exile who face real barriers to accessing education, healthcare, and basic support. Your support can help provide vital services to those who would otherwise go without. Please take a moment to learn more or donate.

10/09/2026

Fundraising can do more than raise money.

When you fundraise for Tibet Relief Fund, something else happens along the way.

People hear about Tibet.

A friend sponsors your walk and asks why you've chosen Tibet Relief Fund.

Someone comes to your quiz night who knew very little about Tibetan communities living in exile.

A colleague buys a cake and discovers the reason you're selling them.

Someone sees your fundraising page because a friend shared it.

And suddenly, your fundraiser has introduced Tibet Relief Fund — and the communities we work alongside — to people we may never otherwise have reached.

Some will simply make a donation.

But someone else might start following our work. They might sponsor in the future, take on their own fundraiser, tell somebody else about us, or become a supporter for years to come.

For more than 60 years, Tibet Relief Fund has grown through people choosing to care about Tibet and bringing others with them.

That's why fundraising can be about much more than the total at the top of a fundraising page.

You raise funds. You also open a door.

Your fundraiser could be somebody else's introduction.

Find out how you can fundraise for Tibet Relief Fund
https://www.tibetrelieffund.co.uk/fundraise-for-us

09/09/2026

More than education.

For Tibetan children and young people growing up in exile, education can offer more than the knowledge and skills needed to build a future.

It can also be a place to learn and use Tibetan, understand their culture and traditions, and grow up with a strong connection to their Tibetan identity.

For more than 60 years, sponsorship through Tibet Relief Fund has helped support Tibetan children and young people as they learn and grow within the communities Tibetans have built in India and Nepal.

Today, that support continues.

For £35 a month, your sponsorship helps the school or institution caring for and educating the person you sponsor. Your donation contributes towards the education and support they receive, while helping create opportunities for young Tibetans to learn their language, understand their culture and grow up connected to their community.

And there is a personal connection too.

You'll receive an update twice a year and can exchange letters if you choose, giving you the chance to follow the journey of the person you sponsor as they learn, grow and begin to build a future of their own.

For more than six decades, sponsors have chosen to stand alongside Tibetan communities in exile and help another generation look towards the future.

Perhaps you could be part of what comes next.

Find out more about Tibet Relief Fund sponsorship https://www.tibetrelieffund.co.uk/sponsorship-programme

08/09/2026

From the Tibet Relief Fund archive: Dehra Dun, 1987

At first glance, this is an everyday scene: a man, an animal-drawn cart and a dairy outside Dehra Dun in northern India.

But the description recorded with this photograph tells us something more.

“Outside the Dairy, Tibetan Ex-serviceman's Home, Lakenwala, nr. Dehra Dun. April 1987.”

The story of Tibetan ex-servicemen in India is a little-known part of the history of Tibetan exile.

After the 1962 war between India and China, the Indian government established the Special Frontier Force, based at Chakrata near Dehra Dun. Its earliest recruits included Tibetan resistance fighters who had fled Tibet, with younger Tibetans living in exile joining in the years that followed.

Tibetan members of the force would go on to serve India, including during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Yet their position was different from that of regular Indian soldiers. The Special Frontier Force was not formally part of the Indian Army, and Tibetan veterans did not automatically receive the same pensions and benefits. For some, life after service brought considerable hardship.

By the time this photograph was taken in April 1987, Tibetan communities had been rebuilding their lives in India for almost three decades.

We don't know the name of the man in this photograph, or his individual story. What remains is this moment: outside an ex-servicemen's home near Dehra Dun, almost forty years ago.

It is one small glimpse into the many lives and experiences that form the wider story of Tibetan exile.

From the Tibet Relief Fund archive.

Outside the Dairy, Tibetan Ex-serviceman's Home, Lakenwala, near Dehra Dun, April 1987.

06/09/2026

Care that reaches people.

For Tibetans living in exile in India, disability can bring challenges that go far beyond the condition itself.

Most Tibetans in India are not Indian citizens. Their legal status means they do not automatically have access to the full range of rights and entitlements available to citizens. For people with disabilities, this can add another layer to the practical barriers they may already face in accessing specialist care, rehabilitation and support.

Tibet Ability Centre is working to help bridge that gap.

This photograph was taken during a free physiotherapy camp at Jampaling Old Age Home — one way the Centre takes rehabilitation and disability support directly into Tibetan communities.

During 2025–26, its outreach work in Ladakh provided free physiotherapy to 130 people and distributed 65 mobility aids.

But reaching people means recognising that not everyone can come to you.

The team made 15 home visits to bedridden people with additional needs in remote villages. They also visited 11 schools, training 298 parents and foster caregivers in early intervention and inclusive education, and reached the far-flung communities of Sumdho, Nyoma and Hanle for the first time.

Over the coming year, Tibet Ability Centre wants to do more: free physiotherapy and rehabilitation in three Tibetan settlements; mobility aids and support for corrective surgery; stronger early intervention and inclusive education; and livelihood and vocational support for people with disabilities.

Tibet Relief Fund supports Tibet Ability Centre, but we do not fund all of this work. We are raising funds to help them continue reaching Tibetan children, adults and older people with the care and opportunities they need.

Find out more and support this work https://www.tibetrelieffund.co.uk/our-programmes/tibetan-disability-centre