Tibetan Children's Education Foundation

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Tibet stretches across central Asia just north of the Himalayas. For centuries the Tibetans developed their unique religion, language, art forms, schools, and governments in their rugged pastoral country, all of it premised on Mahayana Buddhism.

A Buddhist's central goal is promoting the happiness of all sentient beings. Since the thirteenth century a series of Buddhist masters, known as the Dalai Lamas, have served as Tibet's political and spiritual leaders.

TCEF is committed to the preservation of the threatened Tibetan culture, through the creation of educational centers, the preservation of sacred arts, and cultural exchange programs, such as the Tibetan thangka artists residency and tour we sponsored in 2005. Our Tibetan sponsorship programs create unique opportunties for involvement in the education of needy refugee Tibetan children. TCEF also presents educational lectures on Tibetan culture.

TCEF has already established our first education center for Tibetan refugee children in Clement Town, India. His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, laid the foundation stone. This education center, named Kyitsel-ling (a place for growing up in happiness) by His Holiness has been successfully operating for six years.

In 1949, the Chinese communists forcibly overran Tibet. An unsuccessful uprising against the Chinese in 1959 sent the Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans into exile. The exiles lost all their property and now struggle to support themselves in foreign economies speaking foreign tongues.

The primary focus of our work is with the education of Tibetan children in exile and the preservation of the threatened Tibetan culture with an emphasis on sacred arts. TCEF also works to benefit individuals and communities here in Montana, the Northwest and other parts of the US. Our cultural tours help to bring diverse and endangered art and artists into the region.

Tibetans are entering their third generation in exile. Except for dwindling numbers of elderly, few have any memory of Tibet. The very survival of the Tibetan culture is in danger. Tibetans living in exile look towards their schools to transmit their rich religious and cultural heritage to their children. Our cultural tours help to bring diverse and endangered art and artists into the region. Apart from viewing quality Tibetan art, interested audiences here have opportunities to interact directly with visiting artists and learn more about their art and the Tibetan culture.

In celebration of TCEF's tenth anniversary, we have undertaken the building of a second Kyitsel-ling (educational shelter) in Sikkim, India. This project benefits children of exiled nomadic Tibetans. We are working in partnership with STNG (Save Tibet's New Generation), a non-profit based in Sikkim.

To further raise awareness of threatened Tibetan culture, we offer lectures and special presentations on a variety of topics, including the sacred arts, Tibetan Buddhism, education in exile, and the experience of being a Tibetan in exile. If interested in hosting an event or lecture, please contact us for more information.