Every summer since the launch of the Ruth Walter Chungba Primary School in 2002, the Machik Summer Enrichment Program has offered students, teachers and members of the local community alike unique opportunities for enrichment and skills development. Drawing on volunteers both from around the world and from urban areas such as Beijing, Shanghai and even Lhasa, the summer program has brought new languages, new resources and new technologies to the doorstep of this rural Tibetan community. These enrichment activities - which have included English classes, participatory filmmaking, stonecarving, incense making, bodymapping, cooking, needlework and other activities - have helped develop values such as community service, responsibility and environmental conservation. At the same time, the Summer Learning Program has also offered support for local cultural renewal. One example has been the revitalization of the art of traditional Tibetan storytelling.   

 -Amy Baum, 2009 Summer Enrichment Program Volunteer

Volunteer for Summer Enrichment Program 2010

This year's SEP will be held from July 26 to Aug 22. Machik welcome volunteers of different backgrounds and nationalities to participate in this meaningful program. If you are interested about rural education in Tibet and want to create an enriching summer for young Tibetan students, we encourage you volunteer for this year's SEP 2010. The application package can be downloaded here and applications are due by April 4.The trip is fully self-funded by individual volunteers.

Make This Summer Extraordinary for a Rural Tibetan Student

Machik's Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) is a unique enrichment program that offers Tibetan students from Chungba and other Tibetan rural areas a dynamic and stimulating learning environment for four weeks every summer. This one-of-a-kind program is a key part of Machik's success in its community-based education initiative in Chungba. 

This year, Machik has assembled an exceptional team of international, Tibetan and Chinese volunteer teachers to provide access to language training as well as art, music, sports, science classes, and field trips. 

Give a rural Tibetan youth an enriching summer experience. For a tax deductible donation of $500, you can send one student to the Machik SEP in 2010. 

Your donation will support one child's room, board, class materials, transportation and oversight for the month-long Summer Enrichment Program. 

Click here to support a Chungba Student's education at the 2010 Summer Enrichment Program today.  

In Canada? Click here to support a student through Machik Canada.  

Profile: Tibetan Storytelling The revitalization of the art of storytelling is an example of local cultural renewal that has taken place through the Machik Summer Enrichment Program. Up until as late as the 1940s, a vibrant tradition of professional storytelling existed in Chungba. Through the likes of Yiga Yeshe of Waleh and Blind Nyarong Ugyen-both prized storytellers who had learned their craft from Gara Jamyang, a peripatetic mid-19th century bard well-known throughout central Kham-local historical memory and practices were preserved and transmitted through song and verse. But this tradition of professional storytelling came to an abrupt end in the 1950s. It was not until the establishment of the Chungba Primary School that the traditional forms were revived. Drawing on his experience as a young monk who had apprenticed himself to then-contemporary local storytellers, Pencho Rabgey brought back to Chungba the traditional shadrung (zha sgrung), or storyteller's hat, as well as the practice of drekar ('bras dkar), the oral form through which news was traditionally spread from village to village. Students with a strong aptitude for Tibetan literature and a flair for public performance are trained in these forms every year.