Helping Rural Orphans Attend School in Qinghai Province, China

BGR Staff

Shambala Foundation is an independent, non-governmental, non-religiously affiliated humanitarian organization alleviating poverty in Asia (unrelated to the network of Shambhala meditation centers in the US). The organization is registered in Hong Kong and focuses primarily on China. Shambala’s projects and programs promote education for disadvantaged communities, which makes it an excellent partner with BGR.

Shambala Foundation’s main project is called Orphanage Without Walls, which it took over in 2012 and officially registered in 2013. Shambala supports 650 orphans and their foster families by providing educational opportunities, social support, and basic needs.

In the spring of 2014, BGR entered into a partnership with the Shambala Foundation to provide books, clothes, shoes, and school supplies for rural orphans in Qinghai Province, China. Most of the children are of Tibetan ethnicity. Through this collaboration, Shambala Foundation has been able to provide important materials to students in Qinghai Province to support their education and motivate them to continue schooling.

Shambala worked closely with each child and their guardian or relative to discuss solutions to keep them in school. The project had a strong impact in fulfilling basic needs for winter clothing and shoes, materials to support the children’s studies, and books beyond their school textbooks to promote literacy at home. In total, Shambala provided 100 students with these materials while also giving advice, support, and training in basic literacy skills.

Providing these materials had other impact on parents, relatives, guardians, and neighbors in showing that the child has value, and that education should be taken seriously and supported both materially and emotionally by the family and community.

The following photos show some of the beneficiaries of the project.

Dekar Drolma, best student in her class, receiving clothing and school supplies.

Sangjyi Drolma, local project manager, explaining how important reading at home is for doing well in school.

Sangyi Drolma bringing supplies to OWW kids at Sangwa Boarding School after visiting their guardians for training.

Rinchen Lhamo with her stepmother. Her school is very difficult to reach from where she lives because the roads are unpaved and dangerous.

Rinchen Lhamo’s mother ran away and her father became a monk. She enjoys studying at a boarding school with her classmates.

Tsering Lhamo’s father died in 2012. She is very talkative and active when Shambala staff visit her.

Deqin Yangzam is finishing her last year in middle school.

Kamo Yag and grandmother after receiving clothes and school supplies.

Yangzen Drolma and Tsezen Drolma, pictured with their grandfather. They were really happy to see Sangyi Drolma and receive all of the supplies.

All of us at Shambala Foundation and our students
truly thank everyone at Buddhist Global Relief
for your kind support and important work!