Machik's Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) is a unique enrichment program that offers Tibetan students from Chungba and other Tibetan rural areas a dynamic and stimulating learning environment for four weeks every summer. This one-of-a-kind program is a key part of Machik's success in its community-based education initiative in Chungba. Drawing on volunteers both from around the world and from urban areas such as Beijing, Shanghai and even Lhasa, the SEP has brought new languages, new resources and new technologies to rural Tibetan students since 2002.

Your support of the 2011 SEP will allow Machik to continue to offer this unique and valuable experience for Tibetan children from across the plateau. Support for this program will help to instill confidence, share global perspectives, and enrich the education of a new generation of remarkable Tibetan students.

The students of SEP come from across the Tibetan plateau. Roughly a third of the students come from Chungba, the rural township that is home to the highly-successful Machik-founded Chungba primary and middle schools. Another third are all young women from the Mother’s Wish Foundation program, which is based in Qinghai Province. The final third of the students come to the SEP from other reaches of the Tibetan plateau such as Lhasa, Ganzi, Gansu and other Tibetan areas. In 2011 we will expand the program to accept 100 students and continue to bring participants from across the plateau.

Community member details not available yet.

Direct Impact of Your Project

$500 fundraising pledge will help to support the room and board, transportation, field trips and other costs for two students for the entire 4 week program

Provide a network among Tibetan youth who share a common cultural heritage from various geographic areas on the Plateau

Support the importance of education as the key to advancement and engagement

Provide opportunities to experience diverse cultural and business environments while networking with professionals in those areas

Strengthen language facility (Chinese, Tibetan, & English) through daily classes

Foster confidence for Tibetan youth as leaders who will play an important role in their communities and beyond

Extended Impact on Your Partner Community

Students from all of the home communities that were not able to attend SEP will benefit from their interactions with the SEP alumni during the regular school year

Parents, siblings, and other community members will indirectly benefit from the experiences of the SEP students, who will bring home and share a deeper understanding of the world and the community’s place in it

As SEP alumni return home and share their stories with their families and the local community, understandings of new possibilities and connections will emerge for those who were not able to attend

The number of people who will indirectly benefit from the SEP is potentially huge, since students come to the SEP from numerous and varied communities from across the plateau