Soenam Jamyangling , born in Tibet and resident in Sweden, founded the Swedish Tibetan Society for School & Culture following a visit to his native village of Katsel after 28 years of exile. He was appalled at the conditions under which his relatives and other villagers lived.
His return came about in a highly unusual way. In October 1987 Soenam participated in a demonstration by the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm against the reported arrest and torture of Tibetans inside of Tibet. A Chinese press-secretary suggested that Soenam visited Tibet to see with his own eyes that conditions were better than reported by Western journalists. Thus, in the fall of 1988, Soenam led a delegation consisting of 18 members of 5 nationalities on a fact-finding mission to central Tibet.
The delegation found that the standard of living in the rural areas was extremely low. Furthermore, there were no opportunities for village children to obtain basic skills such as reading and writing Tibetan or basic math. Determined to pass some of the benefits he had received in the west on to the children, Soenam returned to Sweden and founded the Swedish Society with the primary goal of building a boarding school in his home village of Katsel. Since then, much has been achieved. Below follows an abbreviated account of the Societies' activities in Tibet in chronological order.

1988 - The Swedish Tibetan Society for School & Culture is founded. Soenam Jamyangling enlists the assistance of a small group of Tibetan exiles and U.S. citizens to support his effort. The U.S. Tibetan Society for School & Culture is founded to raise funds to support the goals of the Swedish Society.

1989 - The Swedish Society signs its first formal agreement with the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) to begin its first project, the boarding school in Katsel. This was the first agreement of its kind in the history of Tibet.

1990-91 - Difficulties with project negotiations causes delays.

1992 - The Society hires 3 Tibetan teachers to teach Tibetan to the children in Katsel. Classes are held during project negotiations and continue to be held in an outdoor courtyard until completion of the main school building in late 1993.

1993 - A three man delegation from the TAR government visits Sweden and signs the final project agreement granting construction permission. In the autumn an 8 room, 2 storey building is completed and children fill its classrooms for the first time. The child-sponsorship programme was established during this year in order to provide medical care and extra food & clothing for the children.

1994 - Dormitories for boarding students and living quarters for teachers are completed and the Katsel school is formally inaugurated. Among the eminent guests attending was the Swedish ambassador to China, Mr. Sven G. Linder.

1995-96 - The Katsel school is expanded with the completion of a large dining room & kitchen, additional dormitories and teachers' quarters, a greenhouse, shower rooms and a dispensary. The Society starts looking at new project areas. In 1996 Project 108 Schools in Tibet is formally announced and 2 small primary schools targeted and totally renovated the same year. The Society buys & distributes 6000 animals for nomad families that have been struck by extremely harsh winter storms. The tree-planting project is started and a total of 8,000 trees planted.

1997-99 - The Katsel school is expanded once more, this time with a library building and football & basketball grounds. Project 108 Schools in Tibet is now well under way, the Society building and renovating approximately twenty schools in other rural areas during this period. In `1999 the first class of 6th graders at the Katsel school do their final exams. The majority passes and continue their studies at a nearby secondary school. Five children are sponsored so that they can travel to China to study. The Jamyangling Academy of Arts & Crafts, a newly started handicraft school for fifteen students is started in Katsel village during the same year. In Sweden three affiliations are opened in three major cities.

2000 - Another class completes their 6th grade at Katsel school. Four new students are sponsored to travel to China to study. Construction work at the Katsel school having been completed, the Society's main objective becomes Project 108 Schools in Tibet. Several other schools are built or renovated in the Tibetan countryside, and by the autumn the Society's total number of school projects since 1996 amounts to thirty-three.

2001 - Another class successfully finishes their sixth grade at the Katsel school and one new student is sponsored to study in China. The child-sponsorship programme that started in 1993 now has a total of eight hundred sponsors supporting children in Tibet! A new project - The Katsel Vocational Training School - is started and construction work begins during the summer. By the end of the year Project 108 Schools in Tibet had built/renovated a total of fifty-two schools. These included two traditional medical schools, one art school, two arts & crafts schools and one vocational training school. During this year the Society also makes the commitment to build a small library at each of the one hundred and eight schools.

2002 - The Katsel Vocational Training School is inaugurated during the visit of Sweden's Ambassador to China, Mr. Kjell Anneling, and the first students start their training. Three more students from the Katsel School travel to China to study. By the end of the year the total number of sponsors is approximately ninety . Project 108 Schools in Tibet has now built/renovated sixty-four schools. The library project starts with the completion of six libraries.

2003 -The Katsel Vocational School is now fully operational with students from various areas of Tibet participating (e.g. Amdo). 3 more students from Katsel School travel to China for higher studies. The child sponsorship programme, (which now sponsors 25 higher study, and approx. 1,000 other students) celebrate its 10 th Year Anniversary with a gala performance in Stockholm .
Project 108 Schools in Tibet has now built/renovated 84 schools which offers free education to approx. 10,000 children. 33 of the schools now have their own library.

2004 – The child sponsorship programme now sponsors 30 students from the Katsel School studying in China , and approx.1,100 other children.
Project 108 Schools in Tibet has now built/renovated 98 schools which offer free education to approx.12,000 children. The Society now has schools not only in TAR, but also several in the Kham, Amdo and Yunnan regions. 67 of these schools now have their own library.

The Societies goal is to finish all the remaining schools & libraries during 2005, making a total of 108 of each.