VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR TIBETAN "BETTER HOMES" PROJECT

For Immediate Release

Kham Aid Foundation is seeking do-it-yourselfers people with home repair and improvement experience to join our "Better Homes" field team in September, 2003.

The team will travel to a remote rural township on the eastern Tibetan plateau, where they will work side by side with local Tibetans to improve doctors’ and teachers’ housing.

The trip begins on Sept 27, when they will depart from the Chinese city of Chengdu to climb into the foothills of the Tibetan plateau, and ends on Oct 12 when the team returns to civilization after sixteen days of rough travel.

The site chosen is the tiny town of Tromtha, in the county of Pelyul, three days travel from Chengdu. It is an area of steep mountains and old-growth forest, with several important Buddhist monasteries nearby.

Kham Aid Foundation president Pamela Logan started the program last year. "It’s hard to keep good doctors and teachers in places like these, where wages are low and conditions are terrible," she explained. "We can’t solve the salary problem, but we can do something about the lousy housing the government provides."

To encourage doctors and teachers to stay, the Kham Aid team will renovate their apartments. The team will seal the walls with caulk to shut out the howling winter winds. They will paint smoke-blackened surfaces with fresh paint in traditional Tibetan colors. Working with Tibetans, they will replace broken glass and missing roof tiles, and install new, safe wiring.

Tina Millard, a Better Homes volunteer in 2002, was initially horrified at the size of the job, but then "we had swarms of children helping us. And so we realized that this was achievable, because there were many hands making light work."

Kham Aid needs twelve volunteers, who will be asked to find their own airfare to Chengdu, and contribute US$600 for their lodging, transportation, and food.

More info about the program www.khamaid.org

Contact name Pamela Logan

Telephone number 1 626 449-7505

Email betterhomes@khamaid.org