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 Clean Water Project Update

On March 20, 2013, the volunteers and staff of Lha were thrilled to install our fifth institutional size drinking water filtration unit at a Tibetan school located just a few hundred meters from our offices.  Since most of the students there are quite young, this installation will protect this very vulnerable population from serious water-borne disease during the upcoming monsoon.  Like all of the units used for this project, this one has the capability of producing one hundred liters of pure drinking water every hour.  A five hundred liter stainless steel storage tank is included in our installations to provide an emergency reserve in the event of water shortages or power outage.  Not only will this water be used for drinking, but also for the preparation of the children’s meals, adding an additional layer of safety.

Four units were installed in the eighteen months after our project started in 2010 but then we lost momentum due to a funding shortfall.   In February we placed a renewed emphasis on completing the remainder of the project before the monsoon season begins this year.  Subsequently we successfully funded the fifth unit which was installed on March 20th at the Yongling School and Kindergarten.  That system will support over two hundred and fifty young students and staff as well as the numerous babies in daycare at the school.  We are extremely grateful to Mr. Luke Ding and his sister Ms. Mary Ding from the United Kingdom for their generous contribution to cover the entire cost of this particular installation.  They continue to show great compassion for our Tibetan refugee children as this is the second school filtration unit for which they have provided the entire cost of equipment and installation.

Another anonymous donor, in an attempt to “kick-start” fundraising for the project, has pledged to pay for half of two additional filtration units if we can find matching donations to pay for the other half by April 20, 2013.  We have several possible revenue streams for the project pending but are coming up against this deadline and we would hate to lose these pledged funds.  We are desperately seeking those matching funds immediately so we can make safe drinking water for our Tibetan refugee community a reality.  Your immediate support is respectfully requested.

We also thank the Lha’s volunteer Mr. James Petersen who coordinated the fund and has provided a significant assistance to the great success of Lha’s 5th clean water project in Tibetan refugee community.

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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.