COMMUNITY KITCHEN FOR TIBETAN REFUGEES: SEPTEMBER 9TH, 2010

Introduction

Anoop Jain BS Environmental Engineering,

Northwestern University class of 2009 Came to Mcleod Ganj in summer 2006 3 years later, wanted to give back in a

bigger capacity

In the Beginning…

Desire to build a public radio station

Students could practice English

New medium to spread word about the Tibetan cause

Response to an Expressed Need: Qualitative

Public Radio Station?!

About 20,000 ft of space that could be filled by everything a human could ever need

Food, clean water, access to medicine

Decre

asin

g I

mp

ort

an

ce

Shelter, clothes, warmth, security

Family, love, sense of belonging, religion

Purpose of This Kitchen

1. Better Nutrition and Health for Tibetan Refugees By providing cheap, well-balanced meals By offering nutrition and health education classes

2. Cooking Training Facility/Tourist Restaurant The kitchen will be a training venue for those refugees who

want to become chefs, waiters etc By bringing in chefs from around the world, we hope to train

our chefs in a variety of cuisines. They will be given a certificate

Money from restaurant will be used to help sustain the project 3. Event Venue

For special family events and occasions These exist here, but are very expensive

Kitchen Progress

Construction will begin in October after the last group leaves and after the rains end

Hoping it will be open by Jan/Feb

Working with Sarah Walker (University of Brighton, England) to develop nutrition curriculum Both of us will be back early spring to incorporate that in

to the English language course curriculum

During now and opening, will be focusing on cost analysis and sustainability

Tibetans in India

Chinese occupation started in 1951 Dalai Lama left Tibet in 1959

He has been followed by thousands of Tibetans

Before 2008: Approximately 2,000 refugees came to India per year

Since 2008: Number of refugees has dropped to approximately 900 per year

Health of Exiled Tibetans

109,015 Tibetan refugees living in India, Nepal, and Bhutan

Males 7,829

Females 7,769

Gastric Problems 20.8%

Liver Cirrhosis 3.7%

Diabetes 4.5%

Blood Pressure 14.9%

Cardio Vascular 0.6%

Tuberculosis 6.7%

Pneumonia 3.9%

Cholera 0.4%

Reported Incidence of Illnesses of Tibetans Living in Exile, 2009

Life Style Disease

Pathogenic Disease

Source: Tibetan Department of Home 2009 Census Data. To be released later this year

Our Students

Surveyed 110 students

Survey was double sided: One side English, one side Tibetan

A translator was used in every class to explain the questions in Tibetan

Demographic Data of LHA Students

Laymen 31

Laywomen 33

Monks 31

Nuns 4Average Age 29

Money For Food/Week

372 Rs

Fruits Eaten/Week

2.5

Average Monthly Income

2630 Rs

Not all survey participants recorded data in the following categories

Tibetan Food

Tsampa: Roasted barley flour (or wheat/rice flour) mixed with salty butter tea Nutritional value:

Carbohydrates

77.7g

Energy 352 kcal

Sugar 0.8g

Dietary Fiber

15.6g

Fat 1.2g

Protein 9.9g

Nutritional value of barley flour per 100g

Also contains trace amounts of Ca, Fe, Mg

Thukpa: Type of Tibetan noodle soup Thenthuk is a type of Thukpa. It is usually

served with either meat or some type of mixed vegetable

Momo: Type of dumpling filled with either meat or mixed vegetables. Served with chilies and soy sauce

Butter Tea: Tea leaves, butter, salt, milk Traditionally made with Yak butter, but not

readily available in India

Response to an Expressed Need: Quantitative

Chai: Milk tea or butter tea

Bread: Traditional Tibetan bread

Other: Porridge, eggs, cereal

Other: Meat, tingmo (Tibetan steamed bread), porridge, tsampa

Thukpa: Could be thukpa or thenthuk

Other: Tingmo, tsampa, bread, rice, dal, meat

Testimony

Doma: Came from Tibet in 2006 with her family (husband & 3 children). Took 1 month and 20 days to walk across the Himalayas.

Stayed at the Tibetan Reception Center in Dharamsala for 21 days. When they left, they only had one blanket with nowhere to sleep

They now have a tiny house with no bathroom. 500Rs/month 3 meals a day

Sometimes they are forced to miss meals BF = Tsampa or Bread. Egg maybe once or twice a week.

Also Butter tea Lunch = Rice & Dal with some mixed veg Dinner = Thukpa/thenthuk with mixed veg

Doma told us that she would love to learn how to cook healthy, well balanced meals that are affordable

Conclusions

No one is starving This community needs help with health/lifestyle

education

Only eating 2.5 servings of fruit a week Should be 2-4 servings per day

Diet is entirely too carbohydrate heavy Not enough protein and vegetables

Too much butter, fatty oil, salt is used in food preparation

Lack of knowledge regarding healthy eating/cooking

Problems We Might Face

Money Price of fruits and vegetables is on the rise Our students and members of this community can not

afford to buy foods that are considered healthy

Students not taking full advantage of the services we are hoping to offer We want to influence long-lasting, holistic health/lifestyle

change

Moving Forward

Working with different schools, monasteries and organizations in the MG area to implement a health, nutrition and lifestyle curriculum with them This will help create healthy living awareness throughout the

Tibetan community

Implement monitoring system to find out how beneficial our services are Free health clinics like the free eye exam

Our students can go visit other organizations and present on the importance of health Serve as living examples Opportunity to practice English

Thanks for your time!Questions?