The Learning Tea

The Learning Tea’s mission is to provide life scholarships to impoverished young women in Darjeeling, India by giving them the opportunity to continue their education through university. History In the summer of 2009, founder Katrell Christie traveled to India on a Rotary Club funded project. The purpose of the trip was to help women in the small village of Hyderabad establish a handicraft that their husbands could sell at market. Along the way, Katrell witnessed the devastating poverty that many young women face—often because of the lack of education opportunities available to them—and vowed to help assist a small orphanage in the Darjeeling region of West Bengal with much needed uniforms, school supplies, and shoes for its young scholars. Aiding the orphanage encouraged Katrell to do more for young women in the region affected by forced labor, sexual exploitation, and child trafficking. The Learning Tea now provides life scholarships for twelve young women in Darjeeling. The organization has continued to grow since its inception. The Learning Tea's first two graduates finished school in May 2014 and plan to continue on to get their Master's in Kolkata, where the Katrell and her staff are in the process of opening a second center. Two new scholars have been accepted into the program in Darjeeling.