Muserology Cafe

The Tibetan Children's Village (March 2009)

by Hugo Kessler, age 11, Virginia

My family had not planned to go to the Tibetan Children's Village during our three-week vacation to India. But a friend recommended to my parents that we make a visit to the orphanage, and they decided it would be worth a trip. We were going to Dharamsala, India, in the Himalayan Mountains, and the village was only a few miles out of town.

Tibetan refugees fled to this town alongside their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, when they were forced out of their homeland by the Chinese around 1960. The Dalai Lama gave money to the orphanage so children living outside of Tibet could learn the ways of Tibetan culture.

Today, mothers and fathers take risks by crossing Tibet's border and going across the Himalayan Mountains into India. Then they leave their child at the village so he or she can have a happy life and be raised as a Tibetan. None of the children get adopted, but they are sponsored by people from around the world. The children live at the orphanage until they finish high school, and then go away for college or get a job. Once the kids go off to college, they usually return to the village for holidays. Later in life, many return to the school to teach. Sadly, though, most of the children never see their parents again.

When my family arrived at the Tibetan Children's Village, we saw some kids playing cricket on blacktop. We wandered around until we finally found a woman who could give us a tour of the orphanage.

She first took us to the preschool area, where there were seven cute children One of them, Tenzin, was really excited about my dad.  He indicated that he wanted my dad to pick him up by raising both of his arms. Tenzin giggled and tried to copy the funny faces my dad made at him. When my dad put him down, Tenzin picked up his toy car and ran into the bathroom. We, of course, followed. He stuck his car under running water from the faucet and then drove it around. When Tenzin took us back to the preschool area, we met an adorable girl named Tsering. She was a bit shy, and she stared at us with her eyes wide. She played with Tenzin, and my dad and I took a bunch of pictures.

Then the woman took us to the preschool cabin. There were bunk beds for every child. The bunk beds were attached to the wall and had different-colored mattresses. Everyone slept in the same room. The cabin had Tibetan aintings anad tables with coloring items.

Next, we visited the area for the older kids. They had classrooms with desks and chalkboards. I saw a younger boy coloring his nails with markers.  I also saw some kids performing in a play on a stage. I was amazed at how well they spoke English.

The woman then took us to the library. The library had so many great books! They had old classics like The Invisible Man. They also had fiction and nonfiction books, all in English. All the books were in very good shape because the children had to wash their hands before handling the books.

I was completely surprised by what we saw. I had always thought that orphanages and orphans were sad and poor. But this place was well organized, and the kids really learned a lot of stuff. Some of the things they were learning were more advanced that what I learned in that grade! 

After we saw the library, the woman took us to the Tibetan Children's Village office. She explained that people could sponsor a child's learning by paying a set price every month. They would send the child's life story and pictures to us, and later, when the child was old enough, they could write letters to us. My parents decided to sponsor Tenzin and Tsering. Once that was settled, we left. On the way back to the hotel, we kept talking about how fun it would be to see pictures of Tenzin and Tsering, and later, read letters from them.

Recently, it was Tenzin's birthday. We sent him gifts and we received photos of him playing with the gifts. We also got some scribbles he had made. Now, my family can feel proud that we have helped someone live a better life.