India-Tibetan Social Work

Note from Geshe Dorjee and news of the developments of the educational support for Tibetan Children….

Tashi Delek to everyone,
Last year was a wonderful year for everything we were able to achieve through all of your generous help.  I gave a lecture at the University of Northwest Community Center. I also visited a 4th grade class where I taught about Tibetan sand mandalas. Over 120 students attended. The principle has written me and asked that I return this year to continue their education. I also lectured at five classes at U of A, and I taught Mental Health for 1 hour credit. In addition, I taught two courses: Introduction to Buddhism and Tibetan Culture and Philosophy.  Last summer, we made a successful second trip to India for our study abroad program – TEXT (Tibetans in Exile Today http://www.textproject. wordpress.com). I am very thankful that the public high school in Fayetteville is helping us to organize the footage, which I believe is a good opportunity for these high school students.

It was good to return to Alabama to see all of my friends. I had a wonderful visit with Father Viscardi from Springhill College in Mobile, Alabama.  He would like for me to design online courses about Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy for next fall semester.

I hope this year will be as fulfilling as the last. As you know, I will be busy teaching two classes at University of Arkansas, where I will teach a second semester course on Karma and Causality.  I will teach a class at the University of Iowa (once per month until May).  We will be busy preparing for His Holiness’ visit to northern Iowa. If any of you would like to attend you can visit:www.uni.edu/dalailama/ or by calling (319) 273-4849. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday) and can be bought directly from the website.

Once again I would like to remind you that we will have a fundraising dinner for our organization, Tutors for Tibetan Children, on February 12th. We will serve delicious Tibetan food. The last fundraising dinner was a great success, and I hope this one will be no different. Camp 3 students recently sent us a package expressing their thanks and showing the progress they’ve made with our support. I will let you know more details later, but you can visit our new website at http://web.me.com/minyak/tft/Home.html. (This is the site where you will see the developments from the initial Pennies for Partnerships contributions to the program which was originally called Tibetan Children’s Heritage Fund. Thanks to your contributions the pilot program was started and the program continues to develop with the continued efforts of Dr. Burris and Geshe Dorjee).

I also plan to visit California and Utah in May for teachings and to attend a conference.  I am also excited about the opportunity to give additional lectures atcommunity colleges across northwest Arkansas.

Lastly, I would like to mention that none of these things could happen without the support from the Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas, which I would like to say a special thank you to Sidney, James, and Barbara.

So, Happy New Year to all of you my best wishes for a year full of laughter and joy.

Sincerely,

Geshe Thupten Dorjee

Ven. Geshe Thupten Dorjee, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas

Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences

Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas

http://artibet.com/

TEXT Project

www.textproject.wordpress.com

Tutors for Tibetan (originally Tibetan Children’s Heritage Fund)

http://web.me.com/minyak/tft/Home.html

(479) 575-2509 (office)

Tashi Delek and Happy New Year.

I apologize for the long delay in posting. I was completing my undergraduate work and diligently working on the research of Nonviolence as an Empowerment Mechanism for Social Work. The project was conducted while in India last spring and I am happy to say 621 Tibetans participated by filling out the survey questionnaire.

I truly appreciate all the participation and involvement of the community and I apologize for the delay in following up. At this time I have moved on to a graduate program in which I am looking for the expertise and guidance of my previous professors and my new professors to direct me accordingly as to how to pursue the continued efforts of the research. The data set did show a correlation that those who participated in nonviolent action had increased feelings of empowerment. Since this is my first research project of obtaining data it is important that I continue the exploration of how to best address the findings. I hope to return to India to work with the Tibetan population within the next year but that is yet to be determined. If possible I hope to further the research in hopes of publishing the research for the purpose of the Tibetan voice being heard.

Again I apologize to all the Tibetans and those who have assisted me in India with the project and I have not forgotten about you. In time I hope to deliver the findings to Contact Magazine for release as I know I had indicated to the participants that I would do so. I hope to be working with Lha in New Orleans as a volunteer in the months to come.

This is an exciting time for me and I hope to further this blog with new information generated from continued involvement with a community of folks interested in the Tibetan cause.

Happy New Year to you all and may you have a blessed year.

Leann

Please see the comment from Geshe Dorjee.