Lha depends on the goodwill of volunteers and monetary and material donations for it to provide essential rehabilitation resources to the exiled Tibetan community. Lha is a non-profit organization solely dependent on monetary contributions from philanthropic corporations and generous individuals. In India, even a little goes a long way, and a lot goes very far!

Account Name: Lha Charitable Trust
Account Number: 2517000101008335
Swift Code: PUNBINBBPAR
Bank Name: The Punjab National Bank
Branch: Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala, H.P

Payable to: Lha Charitable Trust
Lha Office Temple Road, Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala, 176219
Distt Kangra, Himachal Pradesh

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Lha’s Annual Report 2012



Season's Greetings from Lha Charitable Trust

We wish you a happy holiday season and a safe and prosperous New Year!

Lha Charitable Trust has just released our 2012 annual report. It has been a successful year thanks to our many generous supporters, such as yourself!

Lha’s primary goal is to provide meaningful, multi-leveled social services in Dharamsala to help ease the transition for the Tibetan refugee community. On a daily basis, Lha serves over 150 people, hosts between 15 to 25 volunteers, and provides approximately 20 various services which include language education, computer courses, vocational training, health and environmental education, a Community Soup Kitchen, clean water, medicine, clothing distribution, and a public Library. Lha’s services are open to Tibetan refugees as well as the local Indian population and people from the Himalayan regions. We also provide cultural exchanges for international groups and free coordination for volunteers from around the globe.

Lha works hard to operate with minimum administrative and program costs to produce the maximum output. Your donations help us to improve and increase our services and projects. One of the many projects that donations in 2012 contributed to was the installation of three brand new water filtration systems in three schools serving around 600 hundred people who are now using pure clean water for both their drinking and cooking needs. In addition, donations helped support Lha’s Soup Kitchen to bring healthy food to those in need serving 40-50 financially disadvantaged people daily and 105 needy people since it's inception. Another program of 2012 was the clear vision project which provided free eye exams and free glasses, the eye testing of 105 people of all ages, free of cost, and quality eye glasses to a total of 80 individuals, also free of cost refunded as well as medicines for 37 people for their eyes. We also organized nine cultural exchange groups from international institutions with over 112 students participating in this program. Lha began this year having a social service booth at His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teaching. At the booth we distribute information on our social service, environmental issues and awareness of Tibetan issues. In addition we store, for a small fee, items that can not be taken into the temple such as cell phones and cameras.

Lha is proud to announce that it took over management of Contact Magazine starting in May, 2012! Recognized by Lonely Planet and other international travel resources, Contact has been a very popular, free publication for Tibetan issues and community information in Dharamsala for over 14 years. It is one of the longest-running Tibetan publications in the area, and provides local residents, as well as international visitors, Please Read more about Contact Magazine.

The donations from volunteers and exchange groups staying in Lha’s accommodations have allowed Lha to become more self-sufficient and sustainable – our Language, Computer Classes and other daily basis social services are now able to continue to be provided regardless of outside funding! However, to keep up with the growing needs of the community and to maintain the operation of our other social services and special projects such as the soup kitchen, eye, dental & health care, clean water and environmental initiatives, we continue to rely on your generous donations. Since Lha's founding in 1997, we have continued to be inspired by the compassion, dedication, and contributions of generous supporters and thousands volunteers from around the globe.

With your generous support, we hope to continue providing these invaluable services to the local community and engage in many new initiatives in the coming year. Please follow the links below for more details, updated reports, and news. Should you like to read the full report with financial statement, you can locate it on Lha's website.

Below are some quick facts about Lha's successes during 2012 and we hope for continued success in 2013! Thank you once again for your continued support, as we could not have achieved these things without you, the volunteers, and of course the dedication of the students and the community.

Sincerely, Ngawang Rabgyal Director - Lha Charitable Trust. www.lhasocialwork.org

Important Initiatives, Report for 2012:
  • Had 2476 students attend language classes on monthly basis
  • Had 699 new students enroll for language classes
  • Had 322 students attend Intermediate and Beginner computer classes
  • Distributed over 2300 free articles of clothing to both the Tibetan and local Indian communities
  • Lha community soup kitchen provided clean, filtered water and nutritious meals to 40-50 financially disadvantaged people daily
  • Provided a free eye exam to 108 people and free glasses 80 Tibetan Refugees
  • Jointly organized a mass clean-up program in Mcleod Ganj with Tibetan Settlement office
  • Provided recommendation letters to 176 of our students. The Indian Government requires letters from an educational institution as proof
  • from newly arrived refugees that have registered as relocating to India for educational opportunities
  • Worked with 546 new volunteers who donated their valuable time and energy
  • Had 120 international visitors enroll in Tibetan Cooking, Tibetan Art and Tibetan Language classes
  • Organized Cultural Exchange Programs for 9 University and High School Groups from the USA and Mexico with 108 participants
  • A free acupuncture treatment event was held at Lha during the summer by an American acupuncturist Amelia De Mahy
  • Distributed and published 5200 free copies of Contact Magazine since May 2012 when Lha took over Contact Magazine owership (700-1000 copies published every month)
    • installation of three brand new water filtration systems in three schools serving around 600 hundred people with pure clean water for their both drinking and cooking needs


QUICK FACTS FROM 2003 TO 2012
  • Over 5,187 volunteers from 40 different countries have contributed to Lha's work.
  • More than 1365 foreign visitors have participated in Tibetan cultural programs
  • Approximately 789 students from international education institutes have participated in the organized cultural exchange program
  • 30,000 free books have been distributed to Tibetan and local Indian schools and libraries
  • More than 29,031 articles of clothing have been collected and distributed through the donation center
  • Multi-language courses have benefited over 8,718 people
  • Computer and IT workshops have helped over 2,322 people
  • 296 free eye check-ups and glasses have been provided for more than 146 people
  • Over 485 people have attended Lha's yoga classes
  • More than 160 people have graduated from Lha's massage course
  • 67 people have graduated from Lha's photography course
  • The Lha Community Soup Kitchen has fed between 35-50 people daily and 105 needy have benefited since its opening in July, 2011
  • Financial Report
  • Annual Reports
  • General Report
  • Review of Achievements
Lha is a non-profit, non-governmental, grassroots social work organization located in Dharamsala, India. Lha was founded in 1997 and in 2005 was registered as a non-profit and charitable trust in Himachal Pradesh. Every year we submit our income statements to the Indian Income-Tax Department and undergo an audit. The following are our financial statements from 2005 to 2011 fiscal years, which have already been reviewed. Following the financial statements are graphical representations of some of the key aspects we would like to highlight.

Lha's commitment is to help the Tibetan people survive and prosper in their new home of Dharamsala and to preserve their profoundly unique culture. The means to which we have been able to accomplish these goals has changed over the years. In 2005, as a young organization, Lha had few assets. Lha has steadily grown since then, and now occupies two buildings, which house our classes, soup kitchen, social services and volunteer and exchange student group accommodations. In 2005 Lha had seven full time employees, which has since expanded to nine. The notable increase in wage expenses between 2009 and 2011 reflects the decision to provide a livable wage to the Tibetan employees.

Lha took on the responsibility to pay rent for the operations building during the 2009 financial year, after the purchasing of the new Ahimsa House building, and becoming more financially stable. Since 2005 we have slowly been accumulating assets for the language classes, computer courses and social services which function out of the building, such as computers for our offices and classes, and books and teaching resources for the community libraries.

In 2007 Lha began the process of acquiring a four story building, the Ahimsa House, to house a community soup kitchen and volunteer accommodation. In May 2011 Lha used the remaining funds from the corpus receipt and capital fund to make the final payment on the Ahimsa House. This will be reflected in the financial statement for the 2012 financial year. We began working on the community soup kitchen project in 2010 and officially opened it in 2011. Since 2007 Lha has also purchased many furnishings and appliances for the volunteer accommodations. The donations from Exchange students and volunteers staying in Lha’s accommodations have also created a new source of income for Lha. In the future, Lha hopes that the donations raised from visitors in these accommodations, in conjunction with cultural exchanges and visitors services, will create a stable and sustainable financial foundation for the organization.

The Annual Report, written by Lha’s Director, Ngawang Rabgyal, sets out the aims of the organization, the year’s developments and the latest financial position. It also illustrates the diversity of the social programs provided, and the numbers of students who have benefited from these services. These achievements could not have been reached without the generosity of the volunteers and the dedication of the students and Lha’s employees.

Lha’s primary goal is to provide meaningful social services, such as free education, computer skills courses, vocational training, health and environmental education and service, volunteer coordination, cultural exchanges, free books, medicine and clothing distribution. The services of Lha are open to Tibetan refugees as well as the local Indian population and people from the Himalayan regions.