TibetanTees
Fayettechill is proud to be working in collaboration with Tutors for Tibetan Children and Students for a Free Tibet in the development and production of "TibetanTees", a non-profit project that aims to bring social, cultural, and financial benefit to the Tibetan culture and its people.
Project Synopsis
Fayettechill, in collaboration with Tutors for Tibetan Children and Students for a Free Tibet, are excited to announce the “TibetanTees” project. The purpose of this project is to create employment for exiled Tibetans refugees living in India, bring increased awareness of the Chinese occupation of Tibet, and to provide funds for the education of Tibetan youth who are currently living in India. This will be accomplished through the sales and marketing of Tibetan-produced shirts and other items.
This project seeks to fund the machinery, materials, and education necessary to create high-quality t-shirts that will be sent to Fayetteville, AR for screenprint treatment and other embellishments. Once prepared, the shirts will be sold such that each shirt purchased will include a donation to the “Tutors for Tibetan Children” program. Under the guidance of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tibetans have worked hard to preserve their culture and heritage in exile amongst difficult circumstances. The Tibetan Tees program is an extension of this preservation effort.
Project Milestones
- First Round Complete!
- Custom Spun and Dyed Materials Produced
- Professional Custom Pattern Making Material Constructed
- SewTec Pack Step-by-Step Instruction Generated
- Professional Grading and Marking for Patterns Complete
- Purchase of Cover Stitch Sewing Machine
- Localize all Manufacturing Infomation, Fabric, and Machinery in Dekyiling
- Training of Tibetan Seamstresses with SewTec Instructional Materials
- Create Sample Shirt >> Sample Shirt Approved
- First round of TibetanTees produced and sent to US
- TibetanTees screenprinted and embellished throughout Northwest Arkansas
- 65 TibetanTees sold and delivered throughout NWA and the US
Current Focus
- Second round of production of 200 TibetanTees.
Tutors for Tibetan Children
The Tutors for Tibetan Children program, which was established by Geshe Thupten Dorjee and Dr. Sidney Burris of the Tibetan Culture Institute of Arkansas, currently provides funding for refugee Tibetan children to have tutors in India. Since 2008, the program has funded four tutors for over 200 children, annually. Since the program’s start, the children’s education has tremendously improved, as measured through internal benchmarks and evaluation. A most important part of the successful preservation of the Tibetan culture will include educating the youth such that they (1) understand and employ basic learning tools that will allow them to be productive individuals that are connected to modern society and (2) that they aim these learning tools towards their own history and employ them to preserve their traditions, text, and unique cultural perspective.
Students for a Free Tibet
Students for a Free Tibet is a global grassroots network of students and activists working in solidarity with the Tibetan people for human rights & freedom. The Arkansas Chapter of SFT has been involved with TibetanTees since its inception, raising funding, awareness, and through other benefits to the project. SFT represents an active and energetic component of the TibetanTee project, in both the overall operations abroad and local communications at home. To become more involved with the SFT at the University of Arkansas, visit their Facebook Group here.
This project has an added benefit in that it also provides a supplementary income stream for parents that will be making the clothing in addition to the direct donations to Tutors for Tibetan Children. Thus this project not only aims to boost educational opportunity but also helps to alleviates the poverty that compromises the Tibetans’ quality of life in India.
Want to get involved?
Enter your email address to learn how you can help.