Our Work | ACHA Himalayan Sisterhood

Small Grants for Tibetans in the Himalayan Region
We disburse small grants to support existing women-led initiatives and projects that empower women, particularly in Tibet under our three themes of Girls’ Education, Women’s Health, and Women’s Leadership. The support always goes to grassroots initiatives by Tibetan women for seniors without family, single mothers, widows, victims of DV/GBV and girl orphans, etc. particularly in very marginalized settlements and conditions.

Programs We Have Supported

Momo-Popo Fund: We began this initiative in collaboration with an ongoing program in India that supports seniors who have no family or financial support for pilgrimages, an important ritual for aging Tibetan Buddhists. A garage sale on Christmas Eve 2011 and individual donations helped raise $2000 toward the costs of 108 senior (ages 70+) Tibetan pilgrims to the 2012 Kalachakra Teachings in
Bodhgaya, India. ACHA is grateful to the many donors who made this special spiritual initiative possible.

Hand on Help Project: Tsering Dolkar, a young Tibetan who is known as the ‘Tibetan Mother Teresa’, runs a small social care program in Chandigarh, North India. ACHA is delighted to be offering some support toward the health care of several of their terminally ill patients. Beneficiaries of Hand on Help Project are under treatment for a range of diseases including hepatitis; various forms of cancer such as lung, bone, prostate and throat, heart and digestion problems, as well as some cases of HIV/AIDS. Hands on Help provides accommodation, transportation to and from the hospital, making appointments, interpreting between doctors and patients, explaining special diets and medication, collecting prescriptions, providing emotional support and arranging funerals as and when necessary. ACHA raised $350 through a birthday party donation and will be raising more funds for Tibet’s “Mother Teresa”!

Local Initiatives

Sisterhood for Wellness Project: In collaboration with Oakland-based nonprofit, Community Health for Asian Americans (CHAA) (www.chaaweb.org), ACHA began this project to increase access to and the quality of mental health and community wellbeing for immigrant and refugee Asian women in the Bay Area. Traditionally, women’s leadership in many Asian communities is undermined in public arena and yet women are often the vanguards of the health and well-being of their families. Under this project, workshops on civic engagement, parent-teacher communication, breast cancer awareness, domestic violence, employment training, resume writing, and scholarships and student loans were organized for community members in the East Bay. We are delighted and grateful to CHAA for their partnership and Berkeley Mental Health Division for supporting the collaboration for the second year.