One of the greatest concerns that we share as Tibetans, is the risk of our culture, heritage and language being lost. This seems more pertinent as there are a growing number of children, born and raised in the West; many arriving in the U.K. as young children. Our population in the U.K. is small by comparison and widely dispersed, even within London. The children have to grow with the conflict of having to adapt to being "British" whilst being Tibetan; this, in addition to the problems which new immigrants are faced with. YTEC has been formed to assist and encourage our young Tibetan children to develop self-confidence; offer them a sense of community; make friendships; nourish their cultural identity and nurture the role of young people as, both, responsible Tibetans and citizens of a global community.

So far the response has been positive and offer of support and help have come from both within and outside the Community.

The aim is to start with Project – Tibetan Summer Camp U.K.

This project is the main work of the Young Tibetans Educational Club (YTEC), a non profit making organisation. We are a new organisation formed in Spring 2006 for the growing numbers of young Tibetan children in the U.K. Apart from the Summer Camp, we intend to be able to hold some workshops and events for our Tibetan children through the year.

Our main project aim is to run an annual Tibetan Childrens Summer Camp. Our first Summer Camp is aimed at being held in Summer 2007. The Camp will include various activities and workshops. The age range of the children accepted for the Summer Camp are age 6 - 16 years. For most workshops, the children will be divided into two age groups ; ages 6-11 years and ages 12-16 years. We hope to incorporate older teenagers to help and facilitate the summer camp.

Our programme will include the usual camping activities of our venue. The camp venues usually run outdoor activities including canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, raft building, quad biking etc. In addition, some initial ideas for our own youth group may include the following

Introductory classes of Tibetan language & calligraphy

Tibetan geography and history - via looking at their own ancestry

Performing arts – learning songs/dances/playing instrument

Learning about the religions of Tibet and festivals

Tibetan arts - thanka painting, mask making, butter sculpture, coloured sand paintings, making mani stones

Workshops

Youth responsibility and role in culture preservation and as global citizens

Leadership skills

Guest speakers (elders from the community) narrate the personal stories of their lives before the Chinese invasion of Tibet.

All the above are ideas and subject to change, depending on resources and your support. If there are any additional ideas or skills that you can bring to the group, this would be most welcome.

Our first Camp is intended for July/August, 2007. We hope to run it for a 5 day period, resources allowing.

Should you be interested in having your child attend, please contact me with the following details.

1. Child/ Young person's name

2. Date of birth

3. Name of parent for contact

4. Address of contact

5. Telephone number - daytime/mobile

6. Email address

Obviously the more people we can reach, the more likely we can get this off the ground. If you know other parents or children/young people who may be interested, please pass on this information, so we can help make this happen for our future generation.

Many thanks

Tenzin Takla
Contact email address - projectsummercamp@gmail.com