Tibetan Orphanage Volunteer

Entry posted by Firestorm June 10, 2009

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I'm an orphan myself and it didn't take much convincing for a friend of mine to get me to agree to help out with a one hour English class at a local Tibetan Orphanage. It was a pretty easy lesson on basic introductions as the kids and the monk who runs the Orphanage are beginners. It is probably one of the few English classes I've taught over the last five years that has been complete willing students. Initially, I planned to teach the one lesson and leave it at that. However, like many other things in my life, this one lesson has turned into something more.

As a child I was very fortunate to have the support of my relatives after my parents did the right thing by dying. They kept me out of the social system, with the exception of a 3 month stint in foster care, and for that I'm eternally grateful. Because of my relatives I'm a college graduate, self-sufficient human being, and eternally blessed with having the opportunity to go where I please. The same can not be said for the kids I spent teaching yesterday.

The Chinese government is systematically attempting to obliterate Tibet's culture. In the specific case of this Orphanage the Chinese government does not provide funding. The Chinese government gives the orphans the option to reside in a Chinese government Orphanage at the expense of their culture. The Chinese Government Orphanages make no attempt at preserving the culture of the Tibetan orphans. If anything they discourage the speaking and writing of Tibetan and encourage all things Han (primary Chinese ethnic group). This policy affects the Tibetan orphans in the private Orphanage because they are not allowed to attend Chinese schools.

I'm not one hundred percent certain why they are not allowed to attend Chinese schools, but I do know the children in this Orphanage I volunteered at yesterday have not sat a single day in a classroom. They do receive educational courses from volunteers, but these classes are not accredited by the Chinese government. Therefore, they are not allowed to take the college entrance exam. This means not one of these orphans will spend a single day in a government University either. This profoundly disturbing policy really has struck a deep note in me.

Without my own education I would not have accomplished some of the things I'm proud of today. Without my college degree I wouldn't have made the break from working in programs. Without it I would not have had the chance to explore some of the distant corners of Asia. I would have never learned to Scuba dive or I would have never been crowned, "King Pukes A Lot" of the Hash House Harriers in Seoul Korea. Something so simple as a college degree has made a huge difference in my life and such a simple thing is blatantly denied a group of children who didn't choose their fates.

No one asked to be orphaned unless they take it on themselves to commit a double homicide. No one wants to feel totally abandoned and alone in the world. No one really feels the deep inner need to suffer the holiday depression of not having family around. I don't think any of these boys or girls has asked to be the victims of a cultural war that in the end will force them into low income jobs and a paycheck to paycheck existence. I'd wager a bet that a large percentage of the girls in the Orphanage will probably end up in prostitution as well. What child asks for this sort of thing?

Other than Niles, I can't think of any names that immediately [l]spring[/l] leap to mind. The part of the situation that amazes me the most is the Orphanage itself. This is not a nice place to look at, but the kids have painted it and made it their home. I was allowed to look in the girl's dorm and they have the best rooms in the building. The girls have decorated their rooms with pictures of pop stars and such. The boy's dorm looks like the Genghis Khan's army paid a visit for the weekend. It has all the signs of being lived in by a bunch of precocious young boys. Their communal hall has no furniture as I was told furniture gets in the way of their traditional Tibetan dances. I was offered the chance to learn some of their dance techniques but choose to watch instead due to my knees. I did try a few of their moves and decided that my calling was without a doubt not in the field of Tibetan dancing. Remarkably, despite their circumstances the children and adults seem genuinely cheerful.

Before class I spent some time teaching some of the younger boys how to play tic tac toe. They smiled and enjoyed the game and rapidly became good enough where they beat me twice out of ten or so games. The girls smiled frequently and seemed very eager to practice their English.The monk who runs the place, a happy old fellow named Fred, seems to be the center of the school and I don't think I saw him not smile. Even when he mispronounced several words and the rest of the class was laughing he just smiled and kept trying till he got the words right. Even the boy who had kitchen duty that day was smiling when I dropped by the kitchen to chat with him, well more like me saying hello and him replying hi. Their classrooms have no books, some beat up looking desks, and a few tired looking maps on the wall.

They have no text books, no computers, and other than a donated chalkboard and two maps, they have no other educational materials. They learn everything orally and they transcribe the material to notebooks that have been donated as well. Despite this lack of short comings they seem genuinely driven to learn and I feel genuinely privileged to be part of that process. It isn't often you get to meet a group of people like that and I'm seriously considering extending my contract so I can stay in this area to volunteer at the Orphanage more. On a scale of one being the worst and ten being the best I'd put yesterday down as a nine for days well spent.