Project #298 – 2010-2014
In the remote villages of the Tuting region of Arunachal Pradesh, Tibetan women are desperate to learn to read and write. There are no electricity, no internet and no phones in their villages. So the only way to keep in touch with their children 3,000 kilometres away in Tibetan schools in Dharamsala and Chauntra, is by writing.
These illiterate women gather to learn after dark, because their days are spent working in their fields and looking after their families. And they are so determined to learn that they study by lantern, flashlight, or candlelight. TRAS can’t help them install electricity in their remote region – but we can support them by keeping the courses running.
Under the guidance of the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala teachers have been hired, blackboards and notebooks purchased and literacy classes have started up again for the Tibetans in these 17 scattered villages accessed only by foot. Enrolment is up to 192, with 50 on the waiting list. They are so keen! Men are joining the classes too. Lack of electricity doesn’t stop them learning!
The children are only able to visit home every couple of years, but now their mothers can read their children’s letters and reply to them.