Sharon Baxter was a volunteer to Tibet last year, teaching English as a foreign language at the Rokpa-supported Yushu boarding school. The 150 children, who were aged between 5 and 19, had lost either one or both parents and generally came from very poor families.
"I had been fascinated by Tibet for a long time and wanted to see it. I was also keen to contribute what I could.
You need to be quite adventurous. You also need to be able to put up with things like longdrop toilets, and general lack of comfort. I didn't find that aspect difficult, but some people would. You also need to be self-reliant. If you are the only English speaker around for lengthy periods, life could get lonely.
There was rarely a dull moment during my six months, apart from the winter evenings. The children often practiced their dancing in the school yard and on special occasions would sing and dance for hours, which was fun. I was taken out to dinner by the local police who took it in turns to stand up and make speeches thanking me for coming to do voluntary work, and also serenaded me in turn- I then had to sing a song for them. I met various reincarnated holy men, visited a nomad family in their tent and ate homemade sausage which was dripping with blood, and felt very brave. I visited a sky burial site, and saw some tufts of hair and bits of bone there. I saw a frozen lake and a turquoise dawn sky and the biggest plains in the world. I taught the sweetest children who bring themselves and each other up, wash their own clothes in freezing water and walk from the classroom to your flat so that they can hold your hand. My advice to people reading this is Go for it".
Very recently we heard that six of the children were chosen for a special school on the strength of their grades. At the end of nine months they may be selected to study as tour-guides.
Please give us your support so our work can continue.
ROKPA UK Overseas Projects
Kagyu Samye Ling, Eskdalemuir, Langholm, Dumfriesshire DG13 0QL
Telephone: 013873 73232 Ext: 230
Fax: 013873 73223
email: charity@RokpaUK.org
ROKPA Trust Reg. Charity No: 1059293
