The International Tibetan Medical Association (ITMA) works to preserve and advance the ancient and distinctive healing arts of Tibet. ITMA is a non-profit and non-political organization incorporated in the State of New York, USA. ITMA creates linkages between communities in the West to those inside Tibet for the purpose of advancing knowledge and dialogue; mutual exchange, community health, and child welfare.

A project of the International Tibetan Medical Association, Jian Za Home of Hope is a school and orphanage for children who would otherwise be abandoned – a home in the deepest sense of the word, where young people receive loving care, food, shelter, medical attention, modern and traditional Tibetan education and the practical skills and foundation needed to mature into independent adults with a full understanding and appreciation of their cultural roots.

Jian Za Home of Hope was founded by Tashi Dolma and Tashi Rabten, two Tibetan acupuncturists forced to flee their country in 1990 who now live in Valley Cottage, New York with their children. For years, they dreamed of one day building an orphanage in Tibet, much like the Tibetan Children’s Village in India where they both worked for three years.

The curriculum and approach to childcare at Jian Za Home of Hope is based on the methods used at the Tibetan Children's Villages. For 45 years, these villages have provided an educational community for destitute Tibetan children in exile.

Instead of exiles and refugees, Jian Za Home of Hope provides for children in need in their native land, where harsh living conditions mean that every year thousands end up as orphans, their parents killed by disease, land slides, car accidents and avalanches. By providing these children with a strong foundation, we hope to help each of them realize a productive and fulfilling future.

Since 1949, some 100,000 Tibetan refugees have sought political asylum in India, Nepal and Bhutan. For those who remain, harsh winters, avalanches, land slides, car accidents and disease mean that hundreds of children are left destitute and alone. Jian Za Home of Hope provides these otherwise forgotten children with the foundation they need to mature into adults who are not only aware of their heritage but able to participate in society.

Jian Za Home of Hope will provide for 130 children, ages 12 and under. Most are from a 100 mile radius, within Jian Za county.

Our curriculum, based on the Tibetan Children’s Village model incorporates Chinese and traditional Tibetan education. Because Jian Za Home of Hope does not currently employ a full time teacher, children ages seven through twelve attend a school located two miles away and return in the afternoons.

Help the Jian Za Home of Hope

We invite you to join in the effort to ease suffering in a remote and impoverished region of Tibet, where harsh living conditions mean that hundreds of children are left as orphans every year. You can help these children to lead happier, more fulfilling lives by sponsoring an individual child, making a donation to the orphanage's general fund, donating clothing and education tools or volunteering to teach English, art or music. We also need an architect.

Your donations will go toward the support of the following:
A new roof or new dormitory buildings: $5,000
Build and equip a new library: $2,500
Build and equip a new playground: $1,000
Teachers’ salaries: $500
Maintain the operations of the buildings including utilities, water, telephone: $250
Medicines and vitamins for one child for one year: $100
Sponsor a child for one year: $50/month

Donations of any amount are welcome.

Send checks to:
ITMA
P.O. Box 701
Valley Cottage, NY 10989

To make a donation using your credit card, click the link below.

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To send clothes and educational tools directly to a Tibetan child, please click here to download a PDF of the address label to print and attach to your package(s). Time is truly of the essence, so please consider giving whatever you can to better the lives of children in Tibet today and in the future.

For more information, please visit www.tibetmedicine.us

The Tibet Health Project