The Forgotten International

Below is a sampling of programs TFI assisted in 2006 during a humanitarian trip to India. Some provide tools such as  educational  resources in impoverished village schools, some offer life-saving health care to families who would not otherwise obtain treatment, and others give safety to those seeking refuge from oppression. All provide valuable services to those in desperate need.

If you see a program that you would like to assist in some way, or if you know of any international organization in need, please contact us:

                info@theforgottenintl.org                 

We would love to hear from you. Together we can work to make a difference.

Butterflies                                                         New Delhi, India                                                   www.butterflieschildrights.org

Butterflies is a volunteer organization reaching out to street and working children in Delhi since 1989.  Their main goal is to provide children with the skills and knowledge to protect their own rights and develop into respected and productive citizens of society.  It is their belief that every child has a fundamental right to protection, respect, and the opportunity to participate in his or her own growth and development.  The organization is in contact with over 1,500 children living and / or working in bus terminals, railway stations, markets, and parks.  They have arranged monthly Children’s Council Meetings guided by an adult Child Rights Facilitator where children come to discuss the issues which affect their lives, share their concerns and find collective solutions. Butterflies also offers assistance with coping and management skills in the face of each child’s current situation and responsibilities.  It links these children with much-needed services such as health, legal aid, counseling, financial, cultural, arts, sports and vocational training in order to empower each one to be self-reliant and independent.    
 

The Greenfield Paramount School
Kusumpur Village, New Delhi, India

Founded by women who live in one of the poorest slums in Delhi, the school offers basic education to children ages 4 to 12 at a cost of 2 Rupees a week (5 US cents).  Even at this price, many parents cannot afford to pay.  Nevertheless, no child is ever turned away.  All children are provided uniforms  and learn basic skills in rudimentary lean-to classrooms.  They have few school supplies, take lessons on long wooden benches, and have bathrooms facilities that are simply holes in the ground. Yet, these children come to school every day and work with teachers who get paid almost nothing in order to build a better future.

Harmony Through Education                           Dharamsala, Northern India www.harmonythrougheducation.org

Harmony Through Education (HTE) focuses on funding projects to create and /or improve existing schools for physically and mentally challenged children.  In Gamru, Dharamsala, HTE involves and instructs parents of mentally and physically challenged children on how to best meet their child’s needs, while assisting the local community with seed funding, professional expertise and training to eventually run, manage and fund their own schools. In addition, the project facilities are used for parent / teacher meetings, adult education, health and environmental education, community improvement and general empowerment meetings. In doing this, HTE contributes to the well-being of the entire community, while enhancing the lives of children who otherwise would have little or no opportunity to progress.

Khalsa Public School
Khaira Majja, Jalandhar, India

Located in the Punjab region of India, this school, with nearly 1,000 students, serves children of the local Dalit community.  Dalits are people who make up the lowest caste in India and are often described as "untouchables."  They are extremely poor, often persecuted, and live in slums, in plastic tents, or just on the street. The children have completed elementary school, hope to continue their education,  and one day escape the poverty they have always known.  Encouraging equal educational opportunities fifty-five percent of the students are young girls.  All students work extremely hard and have dreams for a brighter future.  The school operates largely on charity and the dedication of its committed staff.  Teachers sometimes go without pay for  months and still continue to work with students.   All this in spite of the fact that they have no electricity, no hot water and, of course, no library, no books and no computers.
 

Lha                                                                      Dharamsala, Northern India www.lhaindia.org

Lha, the Tibetan word for fundamental goodness, is a grassroots, social work organization working to facilitate an easy transition for displaced Tibetan exiles in and around Dharamsala, India.  The organization helps create educational, cultural and social bridges for refugees by offering free year-round language and computer skills courses.  Their community development projects also aim to provide clothing, shelter and clean water to anyone in need.  Lha’s ultimate goal is to establish community connections and increase the quality of life for the greater majority of the population, while simultaneously preserving the cultural traditions of Tibet.
 

Pingalwara                                                Punjab, India
www.pingalwaraonline.org

Pingalwara is the vision of much revered humanitarian Bhagut Puran Singh, a man who dedicated his life to helping the disabled and destitute citizens of India.  He created a home for the homeless, underprivileged and mentally challenged where they can come to live, and die, with dignity.  Today, his vision has expanded to five separate facilities stretching across the Punjab state of Northern India.  They provide shelter to over 1,000 people suffering from mental and physical disorders and disease.  Donations help fund treatment clinics, education and rehabilitation centers, and insure proper cremation rites are performed.  Above all, Pingalwara provides home-like comforts to those who would otherwise be abandoned by society.
 

Swati Kanak Durga Center
New Delhi, India

Swati is a community center and school, as well as a technical training and skills academy for some of the poorest children and youth in New Delhi, India.  The center’s school serves about as many girls as boys and works to build up their self-esteem and confidence.  The children are treated with the utmost respect, learn to love school, and are given time to play. They are fed daily and provided with needed health care and  immunizations.  Additionally, they are taught the importance of community and the need to protect the environment.  The younger children are always sent to school clean and ready to learn, while the older students spend hours each day honing their language and computer skills.  The center has four simple classrooms,  three computers, a few typewriters, an all-purpose room, and a dirt area in which to play.

Tibetan Children's Village
India
www.tibchild.org

Tibetan Children's Village is a self-contained integrated community with family homes for children, schooling facilities and vocational and teacher training centers. Originally, it was established as a transit care center for the thousands of Tibetan children orphaned or separated from their families leaving their homeland during the Chinese occupation.  In the 1990's China, forced by international condemnation of its human rights violations, loosened their border policies.  Refugee children flooded the main TCV at Dharamsala, smuggled by parents trying to send their children to freedom. The overcrowding forced the development of more educational facilities and included a multi-trade vocational training center.  In 2004 another TCV School was constructed in Dehradun.  Today, both are complete facilities providing children with education, family life, support and love. Tibetan Children’s Village is the single largest Tibetan refugee organization, providing education and training to over 33,000 Tibetan children and live-in care to over sixteen-thousand children all over India.

Tibetan Delek Hospital                                  Dharamsala, Northern India www.tibet.net/delekhospital

Nestled in the hills along the northern Indian Himalayas, Tibetan Delek Hospital has been providing health care services in Dharamsala since 1971.  The hospital offers inpatient care with 70 patient beds, a pharmacy, laboratory and tuberculoses clinic. It also provides dental, eye care and emergency assistance.    Medical services are made available at minimal or complimentary rates depending on genuine need.  Furthermore, the hospital provides a half-day of outpatient consultations and treatment to postnatal and tuberculoses patients, children under five, and those in need of immunizations.  These part-time doctors see on average 30 to 40 patients per day.  Also, the hospital’s Public Health Office works to promote preventative health care, AIDS education, anti-smoking campaigns, diabetes and blood pressure camps, and their community health project provides mobile health care to all nineteen Tibetan settlements in Himachal Pradesh.
 
Tibetan Nuns  Project                 
Dharamsala, Northern India                           www.tnp.org

In 1991 a group of 66 refugee nuns appeared overnight on the streets of Dharamsala, India.  They had completed a two-year pilgrimage from eastern Tibet that ended in a grueling journey over the Himalayas.  Ill and exhausted, the women had nowhere to go. The Tibetan Women's Association organized emergency assistance to provide for their basic needs, and eventually the Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP) was formed to find long-term solutions and secure housing, medical care, and most importantly, education for the refugee nuns. TNP is now dedicated to improving standards of life, including food, sanitation and medical care in Tibetan nunneries, while encouraging nuns to achieve self-sufficiency through educational training opportunities.  The TNP continues to assist recently arrived refugee nuns from Tibet and establishes facilities fro Buddhist nuns from many traditions.

Tong-Len Charitable Trust
Kangra Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India  www.tong-len.org

Tong-Len is a registered charitable trust aiming to help impoverished communities from the poorest regions of India escape from poverty and ill-health.  Their child sponsorship program makes it possible for  the children of street beggars to go to school and pays for their school fees, uniforms, books, clothes and medical care.   Tong-Len also supports an informal teaching program in impoverished encampments which offers basic education to residents and children with special needs.  Furthermore, they organize community information seminars about public health, hygiene and environmental management. In the next five years, Tong-Len hopes to introduce a comprehensive health care program with the aim of reducing the spread of disease, expand their current educational program to include a greater number of students, encourage more income-generating activities in the camps and provide basic water and sanitary facilities. 

Youth Net
Kohima, Nagaland, India 

Located in one of the poorer areas of India, Youth Net was founded by a young Indian attorney who grew up in Nagaland. It is a children’s rights and advocacy project committed to educating young people about the problems they face and provide them with the necessary skills to affect change. Youth Net gets young people involved in the electoral process and teaches them skills for work in journalism and politics. The organization cares most about alleviating child exploitation, stopping child labor, and promoting universal education, effective citizenry and voting rights. Long term, they seek to create an India where wealth is shared more equitably and life is not so difficult, particularly on the young, the weak, and the impoverished.