ABOUT  THE  UNIQUE
ADULT  ENGLISH  EDUCATION  PROGRAM

Our staff of volunteers holds lessons each evening during the week. It is a very "spontaneous" program — we teach to any students who arrive in our classrooms. Our facility and materials are limited, but we make up for it with the motivation, respect, gratitude and positive attitude that flow from the students. Our young students — most of them are in their 20's — are primarily newly arrived refugees from Tibet. Many of them have fled religious, education and employment discrimination; some have been in prison and tortured.

The young refugees make their way by foot over the Himalayas to Nepal, a journey that takes from a few weeks to more than two months. After a short stay at the Tibetan refugee center in Kathmandu, Nepal, they continue their journey, passing through New Delhi on their way to Dharamsala, India. Besides education, the young, exhausted refugees hope for a blessing from their god-king, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. After fleeing Chinese repression in 1959, the Dalai Lama has been residing in Dharamsala for more than 40 years.