IP/95/223

Brussels, 9 March 1995

SPOKESMAN'S SERVICE

Emergency food aid for children attending Tibetan schools in Nepal, India and Bhutan should be on its way soon from the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO).

About 85,000 people left Tibet in 1959 to follow the Dalai Lama, their leader, to settle in Dharamsala, India. Schools were founded in the three countries hosting them to help preserve Tibetan traditions among their children.

There are 85 such Tibetan schools, catering for the needs of some 27,500 children. Their budgets are very limited. The children get their meals at school, but food shortages are such that many are suffering from malnutrion. The schools have collectively appealed for supplies of powdered milk, and ECHO is responding to this need. This project, worth 600,000 Ecu, will cover the cost of sending 300 tonnes of powdered milk to schools over the next six months.

ECHO is running this project in conjunction with Save the Children Fund (UK).