Dekay in Lhasa, Tibet Doing Well

August 26, 2009  /  By: Allan

Some regular readers of this blog might remember that back in 2006 we at Zephyr Adventures sponsored a young Tibetan girl to get educated in Lhasa. My post from that year read:

"My personal highlight this year was a conversation I had with one of the three village elders and his wife, son, and granddaughter. The young girl had finished her four years of education in the village and, lacking money to attend the nearby school, had no future but threshing barley and tending sheep. While life in the village is primitive but good, not everyone wants to stay and when I asked the granddaughter (with our guide translating) what she wanted to do the reply was “study English in Lhasa”. I knew I could help her and decided to “sponsor” her education."

I wanted to give you an update in Dekay's own words from just last week:

"Last month I have joined in an examination, and if I could pass the examination I can get a job in a foreign language training school  (I can be a teacher there,I have to teach for the kits at the age of from six to eleven). Fortunately I have past the examination and the day before yesterday I went there for an interview, so I have past it too!  I got a notice from that school this afternoon !  I will be teaching English to young students,(from  1st grade to 6 th) . There are many lovely students both Chinese and Tibetan in that school, and I love them very much! and I like this job very much because I love those kits and I can learn many things from other teachers,so I think I can grow up faster. I will work hard and try to help others!"

How cool! The young girl we helped three years ago has moved from her village and now has a job teaching English in Lhasa. Obviously, she still has a bit of English learning to do on her own but I think you will agree the larger point here is we travelers can make a huge difference in one person's life ... and she or he can pass it on to others.

Posted In: Tibet