Students for a Free Tibet, Inc.

URGENT: COVID-19 Toolkits for Tibetan Families in India


The second wave of coronavirus cases in India is causing unimaginable suffering. With roughly 300,000 infections being reported daily, India’s health system is crumbling. India is home to the largest Tibetan refugee community in the world. Tibetan settlements, schools and monastic institutes are highly concentrated yet defenseless communities that are especially vulnerable to the virus.

At this difficult time, we applaud the phenomenal courage of our Tibetan health workers in the settlements, youth volunteers and civil society groups who are serving the ill at great risk to themselves. The Central Tibetan Administration’s COVID 19 Task Force Coordinator  has called for support and actions from individuals and organisations to overcome this mounting challenge. 

Over the past week, I’ve been getting calls and messages from friends and supporters around the world sharing concern and willingness to help. Being on the ground in India and discussing with many health workers, civil society groups, local leaders and SFT members, we realised that one thing that our community most urgently needs right now is a ‘BASIC COVID FAMILY TOOLKIT’ for every family with a positive covid case. 

As cases of infections increase in the refugee settlements, we need to create a self-help care system at home and educate people on how to take care of isolated patients at home. Right now most of Covid patients are quarantined at home. Our healthcare system in the settlements, which is extremely modest to begin with, is about to be overwhelmed. For example, a settlement of a couple of few thousand people has about five nurses and often no doctor. It is almost impossible for health workers to take care of all patients as their numbers skyrocket. Many of these refugee communities are in rural areas with no proper health care systems, and some need to travel a couple of hours by car to get to a hospital. A COVID-19 HOME TOOLKIT will provide much needed support to the family to monitor the patient's health with greater confidence, and to help them know if and when to move to the hospital before the patient’s oxygen levels deteriorate too severely. Through this campaign we are not only providing these equipment to the families but also empowering them by educating our communities on best practices to protect themselves. Most importantly it will provide much needed relief to families in this time of uncertainty.  

COVID-19 HOME TOOLKIT  ($48 Per Toolkit) 

Pulse Oximeter: Device used to quickly and easily monitor a person's oxygen saturation. $20  
Digital Thermometer: for checking fever regularly, since fever is a key Covid symptom $3
Face masks & Face shields $15
Disposable isolation gowns $10

In the first phase of this campaign, our target is to get 1000 Covid Toolkits to the most vulnerable members in the Tibetan refugee community. We need $48,000 to make it happen. These toolkits will be distributed to the most vulnerable members of the community through SFT India volunteers and local groups and civil society organizations on the ground. We all know the situation is critical right now but the worst may be yet to come. In the coming weeks and months we need to prepare our families and communities. Your generous donation will make a critical difference to this life and death situation in India, and it will also amplify the local efforts to save lives.

100% of all the funds raised by SFT will go directly to the COVID-19 relief work in India. 

Rinzin Choedon, National Director, Students for a Free Tibet-India.

Dorjee Tseten, Executive Director, Students for a Free Tibet-International & SFT Community.

This project is supported by International Tibet Network

My name is Dorjee Tseten and I am the Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT).  This holiday season, under unprecedented circumstances, I am asking you to help SFT raise urgent funds to continue its indispensable work for Tibet in 2021. 

Despite crushing challenges we faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our work for Tibet never stopped for a second. From holding Apple accountable, to coordinating the largest cross-movement action against China’s brutalities, we’ve achieved major milestones for Tibet. However, we’re operating in unprecedented times. As you are aware, many NGOs have been hit hard during the pandemic and SFT is no different. This year we were unable to host our core fundraisers such as Longsho Nite, Momo Crawl, and Art for Tibet. 

In times like these we draw inspiration from the people in our communities who use their energies to sustain the movement. It is the power of this community that gives me hope for the future of Tibet. In a pandemic that brought the world to its knees, you helped us make critical progress for Tibet.

Here are some of the milestones we have accomplished together this year. 

During quarantine, SFT launched #SFTLive, #SFT-Live covered a wide range of topics beyond the pandemic, including activism, politics, health, Tibetan culture, music, and resistance history, reaching 1.25 million unique viewers. These numbers are unprecedented in the movement.

For the 1st time, Apple issued a new human rights policy that lays out the company’s commitment to freedom of information and expression as human rights. This victory proves that a small activist group can hold a multi-billion dollar company like Apple accountable for enabling China’s cyber-surveillance and censorship. 



SFT shut down a China-sponsored propaganda exhibit about Tibet at the Queens Public Library (QPL) in New York. Thanks to the pressure put on by the grassroots campaign targeting the exhibit that sought to whitewash China’s occupation of Tibet, the QPL decided on February 22 to shut down the controversial exhibition, not only at the Elmhurst branch but all other seven branches as per the initial plan. This victory shows that grassroots activism is more powerful than CCP state propaganda. 



This past year, there has been tremendous progress in SFT’s goal to end Chinese propaganda on global university campuses through the Confucius Institute. 23 Confucius Institutes closed across the United States in 2020. SFT launched its first ‘Say no to CI’ Campaign in 2014 and we are now seeing the global impact of SFT's campaign, with more CI shutdowns taking place in Sweden, Canada, Australia, Germany, and other countries. 


SFT worked with over 200 human rights groups to stage one of the largest ever cross-movement strategic actions for the “Global Day of Action”  on October 1, PRC founding day. A united force of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Southern Mongolians, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese, and Chinese democracy activists came together in resistance to take actions in 90 cities, 40 countries, and across 6 continents to resist Chinese government tyranny. 


More update and victories here:  https://studentsforafreetibet.org/2020-year-in-review/

As we reflect on our many achievements this past year we also recognize that we have more work ahead of us. The Chinese government’s initial cover up of the pandemic has now brought the entire world to a standstill and China's authoritarian practices of censorship and repression endanger people everywhere. Globally, there is growing consensus to take stronger action against the Chinese government. Therefore, 2021 will be a very critical year for the Tibetan Freedom Movement. 

The Tibet movement needs SFT’s energy and strategic leadership, perhaps now more than ever. As we look ahead, we urgently need your support to meet our 2021 campaigns and programs goals. With your help, we will challenge Xi Jinping’s reign of terror in Tibet, wage a strong global campaign against the Beijing 2022 Olympics, activate more new leaders from the next generation, and further strengthen our cross-movement coordination to fortify our path to freedom. 

We are determined and united in our struggle and we have a clear vision and hope. Nothing can stop us. Please consider making a donation today to make 2021 a momentous year for Tibet. 100% of the all the funds raised will go directly SFT's 2021 campaigns and program. 

With gratitude and hope! 

Dorjee Tseten (and Dechen Kelden, Pema Doma, Tensonam, Jacob, Tselha and the whole team at SFT)

For the last 15 years, Boston-based volunteers for Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) have organized annual fundraisers to raise much-needed funds to support SFT’s critical work for the Tibetan Freedom Movement. 2020 has been an unprecedented year and a difficult one at that. Because of the pandemic, we are unable to continue the annual tradition of hosting our fundraising event, which is usually so well attended and so much loved by our supporters. 

Just like all things virtual these days, we are taking our fundraising appeal online to seek your support for SFT, which is needed now more than ever. 

We are excited to share that our local supporters have launched a 2020 Action Fund for Tibet, and will triple your donation with a 200% match. So if you donate $100, that’s $300 for SFT!

The restrictions COVID-19 has placed on many of the usual fundraising avenues have been extremely challenging for SFT, which primarily is funded through grassroots fundraising initiatives like our annual Boston fundraiser. Despite the circumstances, the amazing staff at Students for a Free Tibet have continued their work for the Tibetan freedom struggle and have achieved great successes this year! 

On October 1st, SFT spearheaded a campaign called the Global Day of Action where Tibetans and supporters from 90 cities and 40 countries around the world participated by protesting and rallying against the Chinese government. Some of our SFT Boston fundraising team led this campaign here at Tufts University, where we protested and demanded the closure of the CCP-sponsored Confucius Institute. 

The work of Students for a Free Tibet is far from complete and we ask for your support in further strengthening SFT’s ability to resist China. SFT’s leadership is crucial now when China has intensified their crackdown in Tibet by forcing thousands of Tibetans into mass labor camps just this year alone. Thanks to the continued support of donors like you, we have been able to successfully raise much-needed funds for SFT over the years. We hope that this year will be no different, regardless of the pandemic. 

Thank you in advance for your generosity and collaboration!