Three Months In Tibet

Back to Tibet!

2011-03-02T10:12:00.003-05:00

I am SO excited to announce that I am beginning the fundraising process for my second trip to the Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls this summer. I will be blogging the journey from Wordpress at this address: freedtibet.wordpress.com

Thanks SO much for your wonderful support!

question of caterpillar fungus

2009-05-03T19:09:00.005-04:00

I survived the 22 proof perils of terrible Chinese wine (it tasted the way I imagine fermented envelope glue would) and the Tibetan drinking games associated with it (never thought I would play drinking games with wine), and I am able to unstick my tongue from the residual grape-slime to say hello and welcome to my readers, new and familiar.

Big thanks to Jennifer Moore and her popular blog, Pink Heels (http://pink-heels.blogspot.com) for featuring my blog and project! I encourage you to visit her online and find a wealth of pertinent, current information for women, from arts and entertainment to spotlights on up-and-coming entrepreneurs who have something to say. You can also follow Jennifer on Twitter @pinkheels.

We recently had the pleasure of hosting two visitors, Lynne and Julie, both of whom live in China but are natives of the US and Australia, respectively. Lynne and Julie were visiting as potential financial donors to the home and came bearing material gifts in the form of a well-stocked backpack for each girl, containing new shoes, hygiene products, hair products, and academic supplies. Obviously it was like Losar (Tibetan New Year.. akin to Christmas) a million times over as the girls anxiously lined up awaiting their pack.

I was assigned the job of writing down each girls name and age, as well as corresponding a number for their mugshot with the new treasures proudly displayed. It was a test of my teaching to ask each girl "what is your name" and "how old are you" and hear them respond in clear tones, "my name is Rintsin Dorma" and "I am 9 years old." I was a proud momma.

It was a delight to meet Lynne and Julie, and they left me with a share of their Easter chocolate in the form of delectable Cadbury Eggs, a roll of toilet paper (prized above the chocolate), and plans for me to visit them when I return to Tibet in a year.

I am pleased to say that Lynne (via Julie's NGO) will be donating a substantial amount of money that should cover a year of expenses for 40 girls, and she is also committing herself to fundraising for the home and maintaining a sustainable relationship in the years to come.

Julie Colquhoun is the co-founder and director of the NGO, Captivating International, which is based in her homeland of Australia. It's a wonderful organization that caters to the health and well-being of children everywhere. Read more online: www.captivating.org

Lynne and Julia's presence, while resulting in financial support, highlights the remaining need for materials and volunteers. The library is key; it will stimulate not only the intellectual development of the girls here at the home, but also the greater community since it will be open to other students. Books, computers, educational material, finishing products-- if you or anyone you know would be interested in committing themselves to the completion of a part or whole, please let me know: gmwilgus@gmail.com

We also need a nurse! This is a tremendous opportunity for a volunteer to stay for a summer month in Tibet to educate the girls about basic sanitation, healthy eating, appropriate medical treatment for minor issues, puberty, sex and their impact on each other's health through the decisions they make every day. This is not a hardship post and will have immediate results that will ultimately lead to a healthier community and world. Please contact me for more details or with a recommendation of a nurse who might be a good candidate: gmwilgus@gmail.com

I fight dirt like I'm on my own episode of Cops. If I had flashing red lights, a megaphone and handcuffs, I'd use them.

I'm like a recovering addict with anxiety attacks while my body responds to its deteriorating state of cleanliness; I frantically twist a q-tip around my auditory canal as the only controllable element to my hygiene regimen. That's how bad it is. I'm reduced to buffing my ear drums like the alcoholic who steals sips of the forgotten Absolut in the freezer while the rest of my body is lapses into.. well, I'll spare you the details.

At least I can say that I will arrive home without a speck of earwax. I'm satisfied; it's one of my pet peeves to casually glance at my neighbor and be visually assaulted by the sweaty candle growing in their ear. Sick.

It's that caterpillar fungus time of year again! Every spring, the 6 week window of mid-April to mid-June is filled with nomads kicking off the summer travel season by picking the valuable Cordyceps-infested caterpillar. Cordyceps is a fungus that grows in the Sichuan and Qinghai Provinces, as well as throughout the Himalayan region, and when the spores infest the caterpillar that lives at that altitude, the result is a dead caterpillar attached to the fungus which is seemingly growing out of its head. The caterpillar fungus, or Yartsa Gunbu, is highly medicinal and is even used to protect lab mice from radiation.

Yartsa

Wikipedia says it better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable_caterpillar

We lost our cook and her husband to the picking-season, and now have our stunt double from one of the 600 cousins people seem to procure from thin air. No one knows her name, and the girls just call her "annee," meaning "aunt."

I have received encouragement from various people to post bios of the girls, and I am happy to oblige. Expect several more from week to week; I can't get them all, but will write about some of the stand out performers here.

Mumid Tsomo is 13 years old, and comes from the Sichuan Province where she was number four in a herdsman family with 5 children. Mumid Tsomo was not allowed to attend school due to adherence to local custom and belief that education is not beneficial for women, and because all available funds were going to the care of her mother who had breast cancer and the father who had an unusual stomach illness.

Mumid Tsomo is the back, left

Mumid herself also suffers from chronic bone pain in her legs that has remained undiagnosed. Because of Mumid's condition she could not work and was an economic burden to her family. In 2005, her family willingly gave her away to SGH.

Mumid Tsomo is one of my favorite girls here; she is as sharp as a tack, she is clearly the best English student, and is one of the monitors in charge of the other girls' grades and scholastic performance. She has a low, raspy voice and pretty smile, and a laid-back personality that has a calming influence on some of the more excitable girls here.

I will miss Mumid Tsomo's zest for learning, and obvious intelligence. I cannot wait to see how far she goes with her education, and I know that she will have many opportunities presented to her through SGH.

As Saint-Exupery's Little Prince so aptly said, "It is a question of discipline."

everything looks perfect from far away

2009-04-18T08:22:00.010-04:00

---

I had a dream two nights ago that involved me waking up in the middle of the night, wandering outside, hijacking Dokgun's car, and navigating the bumpy streets of Darlag, desperate to find a Walmart so I could buy popcorn. It was so vivid that I swear I could almost smell the musty plastic of American's favorite corporation (at least it's better than AIG) and I woke up wondering if any of it was true. I'm pretty sure that popcorn will be my first American purchase once I've stepped foot in JFK in a month. After I use a real sit-down toilet.

We are well-past the halfway mark of my stay in Tibet, and time has flown. If time is tangible, then I'm blaming the wind for how quickly these weeks and days have gone. Since it is not tangible, then I blame the wonderful and unique personalities of the people here who have given time wings.

A big thanks to Lynn Hasselberger and I Count For my Earth, an organization dedicated to inspiring dialogue between kids and families about their environmental impact. Lynn has generously agreed to donate 10% of purchases from her website (http://www.myearth360.com) to the home here in Tibet if the buyer enters code "Geneva" at check out.

Lynn's website has fantastic, earth-friendly home products and you can serve two great causes at the same time by shopping there! You can also follow Lynn on Twitter @icount4myearth.

I was sitting outside on the steps last week, enjoying the sun and the company of the girls at lunchtime, when I heard the most pathetic yelping and whining coming from the direction of the front gate. It was the sound of a puppy, and I looked around to see if anyone else was worried by how miserable this invisible little dog sounded. No one moved. I started in the direction of the gate, worried that I might find a puppy in pain, or maybe an angry older dog, but instead I rounded the side of the house to see several adult Tibetans standing and staring at a dirty bundle of fur who was tied on a 2 foot string to a heavy piece of debris. The puppy was tugging and pulling on his rope, trying desperately to escape the choke-hold of the ratty string while under the apathetic stares of his onlookers.

I went over and offered him my hand before loosening the string embedded in the puppy flesh around his neck, and he calmed down, finally sitting down next to me while I chatted the little guy up. Meanwhile, the Tibetans watching gave me the most incredulous looks, akin to the response I would expect in America if I walked up to a raccoon and asked if he wanted to be friends. Whatever, the puppy and I get along so it's a match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned.

On Sunday, April 26, we hiked a nearby mountain to erect new prayer flags. This was quite an event for me and the girls to participate in, because the Tibetan culture never allows women to approach, much less erect, the prayer flags on the mountains. Because Dockpo's family owns this particular mountain (a gift to his father from a nomad family), Dockpo is able to bring the girls up the mountain as well. It was a beautiful, meaningful, and exhausting day. There are two full albums of pictures on Facebook and I encourage you to check them out!

The climb itself was fine; I am fully recovered from my illness, so I felt almost no effects of the altitude and was able to enjoy the ever-increasing view of Darlag, the mountains, and the Yellow River in the next valley as we drew closer and closer to the sky. Once at the summit, we enjoyed periods of intense, perfect sunlight, followed by harsh storm clouds and heavy hail. Rinse and repeat.

When the wind became so intense several hours later that the smaller girls were finding it hard to remain standing, I took them back down the mountain, supporting Niemkah Dorma, one of the girls who was feeling the altitude and had fallen, hitting her head on a rock. We'll finish the prayer flags next week, and I cannot wait to go back up.

we are more alike

2009-04-16T21:48:00.014-04:00

It's time to answer the question: How do Americans and Tibetans differ? I've been wanting to create a list of similarities and differences for a while, but knew I needed to quietly contemplate and observe before jumping into this assignment. I think it became habit for people to walk into Shangbo's kitchen and see me randomly staring at the wall or a face, vaguely smiling while sketching characters into my Laurel Birch "Mediterranean Cats" notebook.

Dr. Maya Angelou wrote a poem, "Human Family", that is a perfect prologue to this post.

I note the obvious differences
in the human family.
Some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.

The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.

I've sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I've seen the wonders of the world
not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I've not seen any two
who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,
we weep on England's moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.
---

1.) Americans and Tibetans share the same ease and social skills that allow both people groups to laugh at themselves and at each other easily. There is rarely an awkward moment (ok, except when I mutilate words) and I have become something of a stand-up comedian because I enjoy imitating different characters who pass through the red gates of SGH... or maybe I'm the oblivious butt of the joke. Who knows. Who cares.

2.) Americans have this insatiable appetite for 24 hour noise, whether it's compulsory station-hopping in the car, verbal pauses during conversation, leaving the TV on while doing laundry, and most importantly, never allowing the "awkward pause" in casual conversation. We can't even let a speaker or musician pause for dramatic effect; if the music or words stop, we hasten to fill the void with applause, while the performer does a false-start and waits for the clap-happy crowd to shut up. Tibetans, conversely, are perfectly comfortable sitting in silence, listening to each other chew and swallow dinner (my pet peeve) while I squirm with the addictive need to volunteer some sort of relief to the silence. As the months have passed I've grown more at ease with the silence, and am appreciative of it; f you think about it, talking is an effort, while silence is natural.

3.) It is rare to see an American or Tibetan without a cellphone plugged into an ear, arm, or dangling from some other part of their body, and if it is not visible, then we are familiar with the cellphone grope in which the participant is patting down his jacket and pockets in attempt to find that elusive piece of technology (and despite this common problem, we continue to buy the latest models that become smaller and smaller with each production.) In a land where technology is slim to none, the Tibetans are cell-savvy, and since cellphone companies just started producing cellphones that have Tibetan script (rather than the former Mandarin), texting is in. Even the monks have a phone stashed away somewhere in the folds of earthy-red material swathing their bodies and they'll pull it out to feverishly respond to a text, thumbs moving over the keys at a pace to rival middle-school American girls.

4.) Some people have blamed the recession in America on credit card debt, and I think all would agree that Americans have (at best) a slight issue with credit. A huge cultural difference: Tibetans don't use credit cards, they pay in RMB at the time of purchase. I asked Shangbo, "Well then how do you buy stuff online?" And she responded that people don't trust virtual purchases, and so it's not a problem. There are definitely economic benefits to using credit wisely, but in this culture, the absence of credit abuse can only be an asset.

5.) Both Tibetans and Americans are individualistic and expressive in appearance and manner. Whether that is displayed through bright jewelry, ornate hair designs, colorful and unique clothing, or the expressive use of hands and motion to supplement conversation, these people groups have a zest for life that is evident in how they live it.

6.) Tibetan men are much more physically affectionate with one another than straight American men could ever be. They hold hands at meals, sit very close to each other, will leave a hand resting on another man's knee, etc. It didn't throw me off; I could tell that this type of physical affection was the norm, but I did ask Dockpo how prevalent homosexuality is in the Tibetan culture, to which he responded, "We don't even have that word in our language." I don't know if the comfort with male physical affection exists because homosexuality does not, or if it's strictly a cultural characteristic.

I hope you've forgiven my wanna-be anthropological meanderings; I'll do my best to redeem myself in another post.

Akela and the Little Dog

2009-04-16T06:53:00.018-04:00

The wind arrives once a week. Without warning, it comes crashing down the mountainside, seemingly gathering momentum, howling through the courtyard, whipping up clouds of dust and snow to toss in your face. It moans around corners and under eaves, finding the gaps between window and frame, slipping down the back of your shirt to empty pockets of warmth.

It's like the Provence Mistral, except multi-directional and much shorter in duration. The internet is the first to go; I can almost hear the wind streaming through my connection, halting busy electrons in their path. The lights tease on and off while I involuntarily count how many times they flicker, a knee-jerk reaction from growing up in Maine.

Sometimes I have a weird paranoia that the leaded glass window pane in my room is going to explode inwards with the force of the wind, knock me on the head, and I'll awake from my sepia-toned dream into a techni-colored world of munchkins and Glinda-the-good-witches.

As per the diligent work we put in on learning the "Crank That" dance by Soulja Boy, I have the following video clip to display the fruits of our labor. Anyone want to send it off to the hip-hop prince himself? I think it'd be a hit!

Not only do these girls have a natural talent for dancing, but they can all sing and draw! I feel like I've stepped into the Asian version of a Jane Austen (ok that's a little strange) and am surrounded by dynamic, aesthetically pleasing individuals. It would be a shame to allow the girls talents go to waste, so I have proposed the following plan to Dockpo, based on the model currently in place at the Pacific Ridge School. The girls will hand-decorate blank greeting cards, which I will bring back to the States and sell, with profit returning to the home. What we need: blank cards and envelopes! If you, or someone you know, would be interested in donating as many cards/envelopes as possible, we will be happy recipients. Just send me an email, gmwilgus@gmail.com

You will recall my bout with an unpleasant Tibetan cold/flu a few weeks back; I was pleased to report a quick return to strength at the end of that ordeal, fingers-crossed that my illness would render me immune to any accidents, natural disasters or Acts of God for the remainder of my time in Tibet... which it has thus far. What my illness doesn't protect against are the remnants of a ski accident four years passed, in the form of an overly-sensitive broken tooth lying in wait for me at the bottom of my mouth. Seriously, I'm about ready to do a Tom Hanks and knock the thing out of my mouth with a rock and a rusty ice-skate. I'll let you know if my desperation takes me that far.

Desperation, if harnessed appropriately, can be a catalyst for long-needed actions, like, doing my laundry for the first time in a month. I was thinking about leaving this story muted under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, but I got a laugh out of it, and figured you would too. Laundry is a task. Not the kind of task I'm used to; I can't just drag my loaded hamper down the stairs and hope that someone tosses the whites in separately with a scoop of Tide. No, here, it requires pulling out an antique of a washing machine, hand-loading it with water from the broken well, and pulling suds-sodden clothes out after an hour and a half of being the recipients of the Jackie Chan of washing machines. In the 33 degrees Fahrenheit water, I hand-wrung my clothes, pondered whether or not to rinse the excess soap out, decided that's WAY too much work (and, who knows, maybe a little extra soap means they stay cleaner, longer) and trudged my pile of hopefully-cleaner garments back upstairs to commence the drying process in front of my space heater.

That's not the funny part. While waiting for Jackie Chan to finish teaching my clothes a lesson, I was upstairs in my room, in front of the window that allows a view of the courtyard, complete with the sight and sound of the washing machine. I happened to glance out the window to see Thabeh, a 24 year old guy who lives here, opening up the washing machine lid to peer inside. You can guess that all of my multi-colored undergarments were swirling prominently around, and must have sparked a response in Thabeh because he called out to the several young men who have been working daily here on construction. They arrived on the scene within moments, while I watched helplessly a la Rapunzel from my tower window while the more delicate items of my wardrobe were examined and exclaimed over. Wow. I pretended ignorance when I made the walk of shame within 30 minutes to claim the aforementioned articles of clothing, and gave friendly smiles in response to the leering grins of the guys on construction. Punks.

Thabeh lives here, with his wife, Mimi (23) and their two daughters, one of whom is The Monster, if you've followed recent Facebook photo albums. Mimi is a relative of Dockpo's family, and it's not uncommon for extended family to all remain nearby, or living together. Mimi and Thabeh are a lot of fun, and I enjoy the interaction with people closer to my age. My room is right over their central living area, the kitchen, and usually that isn't a problem, until Saturday night rolls around. I don't know why I should be surprised that a Saturday night has some universal meaning, but I quickly overcame that surprise as I listened to high-pitched Chinese opera and the sounds of rowdy excitement while trying to fall asleep during my first Saturday night here. Add to that the wails of over-tired 4 year-olds whose parents just want to party-hearty, and it's not the recommended wall of white noise supposedly optimal for REM. After two years in a college dorm (albeit a Cedarville college dorm) I think I can sleep through anything, and am more amused by the fact that a Saturday night is still a Saturday night, no matter where in the world.

On a typical night, and especially recently, I am joined by a Tibetan wolf, who I have christened Akela, from the Disney movie, "The Jungle Book." How do I know it's a wolf? I met him, face-to-face, on my way to the well the other night. Nothing scary, he just looked at me, started to follow me back inside until I shooed him away. Wikipedia confirmed it for me, as did the howling (as opposed to the common Tibetan dog's bark). It's become a nightly routine; Akela shows up under my window around 10:30pm and I listen to him howl and pace. Superstitious or not, it's like Akela is here for me in lieu of Ollie's recent departure, and I welcome his presence under my window.

I am constantly reminded of why I am here-- in this place of natural beauty, surrounded by the contrived beauty of a few good hearts who have dedicated their lives to the higher goals of being. Here's a quote from the short story "The Lady With The Little Dog," by Anton Chekhov, which, I think, expresses my sentiments much more capably than I ever could.

"Gurov reflected that, essentially, if you thought about it, everything was beautiful in this world, everything except for what we ourselves think and do when we forget the higher goals of being and our human dignity."

I wonder, does the altitude make my thoughts as clear as it does the mountain view?

quoth the raven

2009-04-11T07:21:00.018-04:00

"So, how do you think Tibet has changed you?"

The chat box in Gmail waited for my response. I was connecting with a friend a world away, and she put that question to me after listening to (watching?) me rave about my adventure here.

I began typing, "well.. I think floss more."

Yes, that's right. My poor, persistent dental hygienist back home never knew that it would take sending my occasionally-flossing self to Tibet to get me to ascribe to the recommended routine. But, there you have it.

Not to say that this experience hasn't changed me in ways more transcendental than dental cleanliness; as I told another friend, the perspective of viewing America from the outside looking in, and of being here, in Tibet, the media's new go-to for a solid oppression piece-- well, that perspective can't be bottled and sold. I am learning patience, ("learning it daily, learning it through pains to which I am grateful," RM Rilke). I have learned that connections to other humans, however improbable, are made through smiles, laughter, and a willingness to listen, regardless of language barriers. I am learning the universals of humanity.

On the topic of forming connections, I recently met Vicki Flaugher, of Smart Women Guides, via the social networking tool Twitter, and she has expressed interest in this project. As a result of our interactions, she invited me to interview on her radio show;

The interview with Vicki Flaugher on SmartWoman Radio aired Wednesday, April 15, 2pm Central Time. It was a great interview and I enjoyed meeting Vicki; the podcast is online and is a free download at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/SmartWomanRadio/2009/04/15/SmartWoman-Radio

Thanks for listening!

Today we had 8 Chinese workers here to lay tile in the new dorm building, and I was assigned the task of making sure they didn't mess up the radiant heating cables. Why I was given this job when my Chinese consists of "how much is that" and "no, you're crazy," I'm still not sure. I did my best to look fierce (Tyra would be proud) and walked around holding a notebook and pen, like what, I was going to sketch them a Picasso if they messed up? They just ignored me. While looking fierce, I enjoyed observing their short, compact selves mix cement, cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, ash falling into the soupy mixture. Seriously, every breath they took was filtered through their cheap, Chinese-Marlboro knock-offs and the smoke stirred with clouds of cement powder in the sharp air. So glad I was on-duty to receive a double dose of carcinogens. I was snotting cement from my nose afterwards.

Whenever a problem arose, as one seemed to every five minutes, there would be an interlude in the cigarette-cement process while voices rose and arms were flung about in gesticulation. Then someone would say something wise, and the arms are returned to the default resting place behind their back while they chew over the new information and an old stub.

Their technique works for them; the new tile looks decent. We just have to wait four days for the cement to set, thus forcing us to climb in and out of Shangbo's kitchen through a window.

There are 51 girls here and I know that I've referred to them as a conglomerate body in this blog, but that is not because I am not interacting with them or learning their individual personalities; it's because I can't, for the life of me, get their names straight. They all have dark hair, dark eyes and similar body builds. I told them apart, at first, by their clothes. Due to climate and lack of washing machines, you'll often wear the same articles of clothing several days in a row-- a blessing for me because I could be like "Oh, it's the crazy one wearing the purple scarf" or "the one with the Honda jacket is really sweet." Right. So that continues for a while and I'm feeling like I have a handle on their names, and then, in typical female fashion, they play a game of Musical Clothes on crack, and my feeble beginnings at associating names with apparel dies a swift, sudden death.

I guess it keeps me on my toes. I dish it right back, though, in the daily war I wage on the mis-pronunciation of my name. I'm typically referred to as Dechan Wangmo, my Tibetan name, but when the odd, bold individual makes an attempt at my American name it always comes out "Genewa." There is no hard "v" sound in the Amdo language so the "v" is replaced with the closest sounding consonant, a "w." I carefully sound out my name, placing emphasis on the v, my upper teeth on my bottom lip when saying "geneVa." As a result, my name has evolved into a harsh ghost of the former, "joon-nee-VAH." At least it's progress.

To accompany that constant soundtrack, there is the guttural, old sound of giant ravens who frequent the town and sit on our buildings, casting ominous shadows over the ground. Their wingspan looks to be between 4 and 5 feet; they are enormous and every time I see them, I am reminded of the motif from Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain." If you are familiar with "Cold Mountain" you'll know that the raven is a symbol of freedom from worldly constraints and an emblem of independence to the ever-traveling protagonist, Inman. Unlike Poe's poem, in which the raven is a harbinger of death, I embrace the sight and sound of the huge birds and remember that I am here to abet the independence of these girls, and that through education, they can be free from the constraints of society's marginalization.

So quoth the raven.

one month down

2009-04-08T03:45:00.016-04:00

The days are becoming noticeably longer as we hurtle closer to the sun, and I am enjoying the look (if not feel) of spring.

I'd like to give a shout-out to my fellow Omprakash volunteer, Vance Walstra, who is currently in Peru and is concluding his 90 day stay soon. Vance has done some amazing things there, including overseeing the construction of a new school! He is the Greg Mortenson of South America and I am proud to call him a friend.

A big thank you to everyone who has continued to financially support this project; I am still receiving donations through the mail back home, and those are going directly to SGH. I wish I could thank you all in person, but please accept my continued gratitude on behalf the girls.

And a special hello to the four schools currently involved in the project; Sue Townsend's class at Wiscasset Elementary has been following the blog and sending weekly questions for me to answer about the culture. They are also preparing to start their alphabet book project, creating several books that will be a unique learning tool for the girls.

Susie Knowles's class at Longfellow Elementary did a lot of work before I left to write a book about an average America school day and they also gathered academic supplies to send over. Hello and thank you to Longfellow; the girls are using the pens and pencils and getting ready to start writing a reply book!

Brunswick High School students are currently involved in creating and shipping educational posters, as well as books and other educational materials. Louis Connelly is on the hunt for a computer donor, and Rick Wilson and Mary Herman have also been instrumental in generating support as well as recently sending out Vitamin C for the girls.

Steve Le and the Pacific Ridge School completed a drive to send educational materials like posters, maps and globes to SGH, and I am looking forward to introducing the girls to those helpful and stimulating additions to class.

Thank you to those driven individuals and classes who have been so helpful to the project and I look forward to thanking all of you in person this summer and fall.

I have been busy like a bee these past couple days with renewed networking and fund-raising and have much to report on that front, so buckle in and get ready. First and foremost, we need funds to finish the new dorm building and library. This is imperative if Dockpo is to move forward with plans to double the current number of girls he is caring for (51, with 150 more on the list).

We are also on the verge of diving (or plummeting) into the building plans for the hotel Dockpo wishes to build here in Darlag to generate additional income for the home. Not only will it be an asset in terms of revenue, but also as training grounds for the girls here to gain financial independence and move out of the typical masculine reliance. To that end I am researching loans, grants, micro-financing and I was able to contact Karen Mills, the new president of the Small Business Association, for advice. If you have any suggestions, contacts or links for me to pursue, please shoot me an email: gmwilgus@gmail.com I also downloaded Google SketchUp, and will pretend to know what I'm doing as we start the construction plans for the approximately 16 square meters plot. Wish me luck; although I think Google is enough of a tech god to save us from architectural disaster.

I'm also actively looking for a volunteer nurse who would be willing to come to the home for a month, minimum, to do some training on basic nutrition and sanitation as well as teach the basics on cough/cold/fever care, puberty, small wound treatment, etc. One of my best friends, Alyson McDonough, is a nursing student at St. Anselm College in NH and has agreed to help me network through her program. Big thank you to Al! Best case scenario would be for Al to come back to Tibet with me... but I'll work on that.

Katie Glockner, a student at PRS, will also be doing some work on potentially finding and sending much-needed medical supplies.

The standard request remains for children's books, (early reader and picture) to supplement the growing library here, and we also need computers. If you are willing to donate any of those items, money towards their purchase, or if you know of a friend/colleague who is interested, I am ready to talk with them. If you are a student, this is a great way to bolster your resume by starting a book drive and finding donors to pay shipping/handling costs! Remember that education is the answer to a truly free Tibet.

To donate, please visit my link organization's website: www.omprakash.org/donate to make a secure, online donation. Importantly, send me an email (gmwilgus@gmail.com) telling me that you donated, and in what amount, so that I can earmark it for SGH.

For an update on class; these girls are such rockstars. I am beyond pleased with their progress and we are having so much fun learning body parts and numbers. A couple nights ago, I pulled the girls out their seats and let them trace each other onto the wall with different colored chalk, which was obviously a hit and an energetic way to start class. It really does make a difference to grab their attention in the first few minutes; they stay interested. I fully labeled one of the traced bodies with the basic names of body parts, concentrating on pronunciation and spelling. I even heard some of the girls beginning to sound out the words before I pronounced them! That might sound insignificant, but when they have an entirely new alphabet it is no small feat. I then handed out chalk and let the whole class tackle the different body sketches and put up the correct labels, which I checked to make sure they aren't getting sloppy on spelling. It worked; they walked around touching various body parts, calling out the name, and looking to me for approval even after class ended.

We will be moving on to the head and shoulders song, as well as playing Flyswatter with the labeled body drawings on the wall. Can't wait.

The girls are now fluent in numbers 1-20, which was surprisingly difficult. It took a lot of sessions of jump-rope counting to get to that point, and I made up a game for them to play the other night which finally helped. I created a set of cards, numbered 1-20, with a matching set of cards labeled with the English spelling, ie "one" through "twenty." I mixed them up and handed them out, one to each girl, and then instructed them to stand up, move around, and find their number match using only English and then stand with their match, organized in line from least to greatest. It was so fun and the girls were excited to move quickly to find their number match before others.

We'll play that game again, and I've already created cards to play that game with colors, ie, I drew with red marker on one card and put the word "red" on its matching card. It will be great fun. Here's a point of interest in cultural dichotomy that I have found; the girls are loud, happy, talkative and, well, normal pre-teen and teenage girls in class. They have no problem grabbing my hand and dragging me over to their drawing or calling my name to come check their spelling and, of course, the louder the better. It's much easier to interact and focus on real issues if we have no social barrier.

Take these brazen beauties and put them in the kitchen with a couple local men hanging out on the carpet-covered bench and their personality vanishes a la Houdini. With a bowed head and muted, one-word responses, they quietly move around, re-filling the aforementioned men's bowls and generally catering to the men who won't move a few feet to do it themselves.

I noticed this as a trend after observing several different girls acting identically and asked Dockpo if this was typical behavior. As assumed, Dockpo affirmed that this was indeed the norm and suggested that I can help teach confidence. I immediately told Mimtso (Dockpo translating) to show off her pretty face and keep her head up! We all laughed, and Mimtso blushed, but I noticed that she looked around a little more during the rest of the night.

Dockpo and the other men who live at the home certainly do not cater to an idea that women are lesser, if anything, Dockpo is constantly talking to the girls and involving himself with them so as to highlight, and familiarize them with, their inherent gender equality.

Another cultural dichotomy that is, perhaps, less socially relevant but interesting nonetheless is the "gilded cage" dilemma. The Tibetan society is decorative, colorful and sequined to the point of resembling St. George's scaly dragon. Well, maybe not that bad. But it is decorative and colorful, evidenced by their beautiful, detailed architecture, their lovely jewelry and beading and huge amounts of decor and applique on every article of clothing. The overall effect is multi-faceted, rich, and exudes a flavor for life that is unique to this people group. Not to discredit the Tibetan's artistic expression, but beyond the hand-painted trim-line or the exquisitely detailed picture window there are shoddy construction materials, crumbling and improperly mixed concrete, perilously slanted flights of stairs, and a general lack of attention to detail for, what Americans would consider, the important stuff. The same deal with clothing; the pretty papilio glaucus stitched onto a jean leg distracts from thin fabric and loose basting. Socks fall apart at a record pace, hats become unraveled at the seam, and jackets lose their poly-down stuffing. I am not criticizing nor am I disapproving; there is a happiness derived from beauty that is indispensable, and there are plenty of less-than-happy people in America with quality GoreTex products on their backs.

As a combination of the Tibetan's awareness of beauty and their no-shame scrutiny of your person, I have been accosted on several occasions for having the typical facial blemish of a person removed from their normal health, fitness and cleanliness regime: a pimple. I'll walk into a room, not aware that the volcano on my forehead is screaming "look at me" and will be immediately accosted by concerned glances and pointing fingers with accompanying looks of questioning as if to ask, "do you know that your house is on fire and your children are missing and I'm pretty sure your husband swallowed arsenic?" Since it's clearly a grave matter, I spend a few respectful moments in silence, give a couple sincere head nods, before responding with a shoulder shrug and stoic smile. Like, I'm sorry I don't have flawless skin... leave me alone with my zit!

On another, humorous note, I got up this morning to walk down to the outhouse and was greeted by Shangbo and a locked door; she informed me that "lots of other people" have been using the outhouse and thus, the locked door. Okay, so, granted, there is a wall around the hole in the ground but it's just a hole in the ground -- let's not get overly protective here. As a result, I had to pop a squat right out in the open, fingers crossed that no commode-stealing derelict would wander over in search of evacuative relief. No one did, and the outhouse should be unlocked soon, because, well the alternative is just plain dirty. More to come on that front... or back, pun intended.

Happy Easter to you and your family; please continue to send me the odd newsy email or facebook message as I do love to read and respond. Take care, and chew on this quote from Aristotle, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

created for the common good

2009-04-06T02:48:00.010-04:00

After the hiatus of illness and the sadness of Ollie's departure, I am looking forward to my remaining time in Tibet with the readiness of stoicism and with anticipation for the stories untold.

Class with the girls has been going well; some days are better than others, but hopefully I'm providing something salvageable in each lesson. The issue of language barrier is almost non-existent and I've adapted into different forms of communication which sets the stage for different kinds of learning. We do a lot of game-playing; using the "Simon Says" philosophy I divide the girls into two teams, giving a command to the two girls who represent each team, like, "open the door," "write 'teacher,'" "walk to the stove," "look at the clock," and so on, awarding the team a point whose representative has the first accurate response. The girls love it! We also play a game I played in my Spanish class in high school called "Flyswatter." I write all of their vocabulary words on the wall in different colored chalk, pull up two girls, hand them each a badminton racket and call out a word, which they then must touch with their racket. The hope here is that not only must they learn the correct pronunciation, they're also learning the way the word looks.

We started learning numbers during my first lessons back after being sick, and I've been using jump-ropes to help them learn numbers (ie counting skips), and will teach them a couple rhymes like "one, two, buckle my shoe" to make it fun. Next step? I think we're going to tackle questions with "who, what, when, where and why." Wish me luck. Beyond that, I think we're going to move into stories so that they have imaginative context for their new vocab words. A craft is in order as well, probably to learn colors.

Fingers crossed that I'm not shooting in the dark with my techniques; I guess Steve Sclar (the next US volunteer) will be the judge of that!

The background to class has been noisy construction. We've had a slew of Tibetan workers here every day pouring concrete and prepping the yard for grass-planting. The new building has a deep red coat of paint and should have floors put in soon.

The snow is a daily occurrence, it usually falls in the late afternoon or early evening, continuing into the night. It's a clean and fresh awakening, and inspires deep breaths and appreciation for nature... until it melts by 2pm, revealing the Ramen wrappers and odd pieces of debris stuck in the mildewy mud. And the fresh awakening gives way to a rude awakening. We have got to work on the littering thing.

Sunday, April 5 we celebrated International Women's Day. It is traditionally celebrated on March 8, but Dockpo was still en route, US to China.

Me, wearing a traditional chuba, and Shangbo

The girls emptied their large bedroom and turned it into seating and tables for all of us and our guests (pics on facebook). I wore a traditional chuba and enjoyed how warm and comfortable it is! Our guests were the honored second-highest llama in Tibet and his accompanying high-ranked monks, as well as some other businessmen who are important friends of the home. The event was steeped in tradition, with the girls lined up along the walkway, arms extended, holding welcome scarves and chanting as the guests arrived. We sat at the long, low tables that were covered in bottled beverages and sweet things as Tsoreh (second highest llama) led the group in chanting. He was about 60 years old, wrinkled and sage-like, with a kind face. Dawa Hamal, a female reincarnated Buddha and resident here at SGH, sat to his immediate left at the head table, with the other monks and myself seated further down at the head table facing the rest of the room.

Tsoreh made a short speech, addressing women's equality and saying that there is no place in Buddhism for gender discrimination and highlighted me as an excellent example of women as equal and powerful. Three girls then gave short song performances, each beautiful and distinct, and then we presented Tsoreh with gifts. I was handed a $100 bill (GO USA!!) and a pure white welcome scarf to lay across his old hands. The meal ended, and the guests left, Tsoreh placing his hands on my head and blessing me as he was escorted to the car. As soon as the car doors shut, the girls made a mad dash for the barely touched food (it was a pretty stilted event) and we spent the remaining afternoon playing and eating and singing.

Tsoreh

As is their custom on Sunday nights, the girls set up a dance floor in the classroom and spend hours shimmying and shaking (Tibetan style) to their latest pop music. Since the moment I arrived I have been beseeched to teach some American dance and last night I finally made a CD with a few swift iTunes purchases and taught the girls the American club staple, "Soulja Boy" dance. If you're familiar with the dance, you know that it is in the hip-hop/R&B style, with loose movement and casual appendage placement (I can't believe I just analyzed Soulja Boy), and the girls are used to British Raj-type movement with careful and controlled movements. So, the improv "lean wit it" style will take some time. But they liked the dance and I can't wait to teach them others like "Cotton-Eyed Joe," "Cha Cha Slide" and "Nut Bush City Limits." I included some other American hits and girl-power songs (Miss Independent by Kelly Clarkson) and it was fun to hear familiar music.

On a different note (pun intended), I had a conversation a while back with Dockpo about the philosophy behind the home, and wanted to put it in my own words here. Education is fundamental; it is the point at which; it is the catalyst; it is the beginning. By providing education (and an education-friendly environment) these girls are provided the opportunity to create themselves out of material new and strange when discovered in the annals of information access. With their uniqueness and their knowledge, the hope is that they use their platforms to generate compassion and care for others. It becomes an obligation to put Self last and to prevent harm to your Fellow Human. Why is education necessary to achieve such an internal goal? The reasons are superficial; with education comes affluence, problem-solving, networking and communication abilities to enlighten others.

I was pleased to hear Dockpo's thoughts and enjoyed the opportunity to put mine into a more cohesive format. I stumbled upon this quote a while ago, and it seems fitting. At the opening of Bowdoin College in 1802, President Joseph McKeen declared that "literary institutions are funded and endowed for the common good, and not for the private advantage of those who resort to them for education. It is not that they may be enabled to pass through life in an easy or reputable manner, but that their mental powers may be cultivated and improved for the benefit of society. If it be true, that no man should live to himself, we may safely assert, that every man who has been aided by a public institution to acquire an education, and to qualify himself for usefulness, is under peculiar obligations to exert his talents for the public good."

Oliver Jiam Tso

2009-04-05T22:59:00.006-04:00

My new friend and constant companion, Ollie, died on Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 3:00pm. He was a 7 week old, red-and-white Siberian Husky. I bought him in Xining during my first week in China when I saw his baby-blues peering out at me from a cage on the street in the Remin Gong Yuan. Ollie weighed about 6lbs when I brought him home, bathed him, and curled up with him on my bed to keep him warm during his first night with me.

In the weeks that followed, I watched Ollie turn from a wobbling, weak puppy into a playful and aggressive little dog who proved a fortuitous friend when he allowed me to meet the Mathis family in Xining, or when he opened up lines of contact for some of the more shy girls here at the Sengcham Drukmo Home.

Ollie was well-loved, well-cared for, and was an inseparable part of my daily (and nightly) routine. I usually woke up around 2am to take him outside (puppy bladders are very little) and he would antagonize me into feeding him at 7am. Whether he was chewing on my fingers, or hanging out inside one of the girls coats, Ollie was an adorable addition to my experience here, and I was looking forward to bringing him home with me as the best souvenir a girl's ever had.

On Saturday, he woke up around 3am whining as though in pain, and I held him for a a few minutes and put him back in his kennel. When I woke up in daylight, he was very sick, and his condition worsened hourly while I frantically googled his symptoms and tried to figure out how to help him. There was no vet in town, and Ollie was gone by 3pm. It was not an easy death, and I not only feel acutely his absence but the pain of his departure.

I am thankful that I was able to be with this puppy for a month, and will remember him as a special part of my journey and as a furry and friendly chapter in my life.

motifs

2009-04-02T22:34:00.014-04:00

To inspire laughter and appreciation for my new mundanes and universals; a few re-occurring themes with slim chances of re-occurrence in the States.

1.) Got evaporation? Even leaving my Sigg water bottle open for an hour will deplete my clean water supply by an inch. I have to re-fill Ollie's water dish on an hourly basis, not because he's guzzling down his H2O, but because the air is as dry as sandpaper, and I wake in the morning to an edge in the back of my throat like a new continental shelf... minus the underwater feel.

2.) The nightly chorale of dogs. This would never fly at home; the calls and complaints to your local authorities for "disturbance of the peace" would have the phone lines tied up from here to.. well, wherever. It's so weird; all day long you don't hear so much as whimper from these huge canines, and then night falls and on cue they start doggie-telegraphing. It ends around 3:30-4:00am, and the silence sleeps over the town for a couple still hours.

3.) COVER YOUR MOUTH (and the never-ending story of the loud and proud coughing society at SGH).

4.) Monks, monks everywhere and not a seat to spare. It is normal to walk into Shangbo's kitchen at any time and find a couple monks in robes of varying ochre and red hues lounging on the long, carpet-covered bench, drinking milk tea and thumbing their prayer beads. There is no distinction between the "holy men" and the lay-person; we interact as peers and their garb seems no more unusual than the average blue or white collar.

5.) The hunt.. for red october. I mean, toilet paper. This might be distasteful, but I have to laugh about it to you because there is really no avenue for appreciation here. The toilet, as I have mentioned before, is a hole in the ground above a large cesspool of waste. It is enclosed by four low walls, no roof and is thus completely exposed to the weather and to the average passer-by when you stand up from the obligatory squat. (You just nod and say hi). But all of that is off-topic; because the bathroom is outdoors, there is no Cottonelle hanging from a brushed nickel toilet-paper holder and I actually haven't seen evidence of toilet paper being used for anything other than facial napkins, fire-starter, or tissues. So, I grab a roll whenever I can and hoard it like it's my last high ace in a game of Holdem.

6.) To bathe or not to bathe. It's a choice between the lesser of two stages of unhealth; try and sponge-bathe while not moving into no-man's land outside the 1 square foot of heat thrown by my space heater, or say screw it and curl into a fetal position under my covers and let that extra layer of grime do its best to preserve precious body heat. I'll let you choose.

7.) Tsampa thing. There's no need for a 12 step program here; tsampa is pure nutrition and there is the satisfying, five-year-old fingers playing with food allowance that makes it taste that much better. Admit it, we all like to squish stuff.

8.) Om Mani Padme Hum; Chanting. The sounds of fifty girls intonations fill the hallway and drift out into the cold-air courtyard to mingle and shiver with the snow. Every morning they wrap still-sleepy voices around the syllables of Tibetan grammar, ending with a chorus from their favorite Tibetan opera. At night, kneeling on their sleeping pads, palms pressed together, they resonate and harmonize, weaving vocal temperatures into a soothing stimulation.

9.) Now Hiring: Chiropracter, Position To Be Filled Immediately. The problem is that everyone (females especially) bend at the waist and put all of their weight on the lumbar region, placing huge strain on those lower back muscles, thus creating a perpetual 45 degree angle tilt in older women. I'm noticing the same tendency in myself, whether it's stooping to wash my face at night, or leaning to the table to sip an over-full cup of milk tea. I consciously remind myself to bend at the knees, using my legs to support my weight, but somehow the culture caters to the sore back I find myself with at night.

10.) lots of locks of love. I probably could have furnished enough hair from my head to supply a wig that would make even Beyonce jealous. It's probably a combination of diet/sleep/basic culture changes, but it's getting a little unnerving. Hopefully I'll still have something left on my head in a couple months.

11.) Hellogoodbye. No, not "Here In Your Arms," this is the motif of walking past the individual girls or groups of their chattering selves, and being aurally assaulted with "Hello Teacher!" and then closely followed by "Goodbye Teacher!"

12.) stop staring, it's impolite. You know that's a social rule followed to a fault in America; we are all masters at the discreet backward glance, the faux elbow cough, the dark sunglasses.. two words to describe my new cultural interactions: NO SHAME.

---

Like appetizers, these anecdotal morsels make the reason I'm here even more satisfying.

breath-taking

2009-04-01T21:03:00.013-04:00

Yes, I have been sick. Thank you so much to everyone who sent encouraging emails; there were some uplifting comments as well as some golden pieces of advice. Before I describe the past few days, let me say that I am on the mend and today I have been up and about for the first time since Sunday.

Prior to Sunday (March 29, 2009) I had been on the verge of catching the universal cough/cold that everyone seems happily in possession of here in Darlag... although I was doing my best to keep healthy through my vitamins and basic sanitation. Sunday afternoon I started feeling major altitude effects (difficulty breathing, light-headedness, general malaise) even though I had been fine with the altitude up to that point. The next couple days passed with me in bed or tottering over to Shangbo's kitchen to play with (and not eat) my food. Tuesday evening, a local Chinese doctor came to see me and asked me to come into the clinic that night so he could administer IV and meds, while keeping a closer eye on me. At that point, Dockpo had already given me several oxygen pillows to help with the feeling of an elephant on my chest, but I was developing other flu-like symptoms which warranted some help on the nutrition end of things.

Picture the calm rush of a typical American clinic or medical facility; things are balanced, efficient, maybe the receptionist is talking a little too loudly about last night, but other than that things seem under control. The carpet is a neutral, don't-freak-out color and there is that calming nautical print on the wall to remind you of smooth aquatic movement.

I was escorted into a dingy, low-ceilinged room, around a yak-dung stove belching smoke onto the discolored walls and seated on a bench just next to a ring of drunk poker-players crowded around a table, underneath a cloud of the aforementioned smoke. After being seated, my right wrist was grabbed, flipped over, and a needle was inserted into my wrist vein (sorry, no medical terms from me). I had no idea what the needle was for, if it had been cleaned (the doctor, in a dingy white medical coat, had carried the needle in his hand over to my seat, no sterilized tray/bag) and the place where I had been jabbed immediately began forming a hard, white lump under my skin. Fortunately, Dockpo came over and told me that it was a test for allergies before administering the IV meds, but I was still disconcerted.

From my prime viewing location of the raucous poker game, I was moved to a bed in the room with the leaky stove, surrounded by crying babies and some sketchy looking characters, all hooked up to IV's which were hanging from a network of ceiling hooks that reminded me of scenes from the slaughter-house. No happy Grey's Anatomy atmosphere here. As the lump on my wrist subsided, I was hooked up to the IV through a line in my left hand. When I asked why I wasn't being connected via the typical crook-of-the-elbow location, I was given a weird look and informed in Chinese (Dockpo translating) that even babies could handle the needle. I didn't feel the need to explain my extensive background in receiving injections/IV's, so did my best to handle the needle prick like a tough little Asian infant.

When the medicine started flowing, I had more difficulty breathing and was attached to a powerful oxygen pump that allowed me to calm down and let my body relax for an hour or so. At the end of my first IV, I was accosted by the very drunk clinic owner who thought that if he spoke Chinese to me veerrryyy sllloowwwllyyy that somehow I would understand. Everyone present got a kick out of him, and he brought the first laugh out of me that I'd had in days. We were sent home with two more bottles of IV medicine that I had to self-administer that night while keeping myself awake so as not to bleed back into the IV tube.

The next few days were more of the same, with the dingy white medical coat coming to my bed to attach more lines of the same three-course IV, while I groggily watched Season 7 of Seinfeld (a GODSEND that Dockpo happened to bring back from the States.) On Wednesday, however, the needle in my right hand bent and the glucose began running under the skin of my hand, swelling my hand to three times its normal size before anyone noticed and pulled out the offending needle. Because my normal doctor was busy, an ex-nurse was called in to put in a new needle and allow me to continue receiving meds/fluids through my un-glucose-swollen left hand.

He arrived, and my red flags went up. Barely able to walk steadily, breathing noisily, and peering myopically through thick lenses (that still had the price tag on them) he sat down on my bed and proceeded to stick my left hand four times, with no success in picking up a vein. In between sticking, he set the needle down on the nearest surface and tried to pick it back up to re-stick. I was petrified, and had to keep pushing his dirty hands away and telling him to clean the needle before trying to get the line in. And every time, I felt his sweaty breath on my hand as his old sausage fingers wavered around my veins, unsuccessful, painful, and ultimately he was sent away, leaving his last attempt stuck half-way into my hand.

My swollen hands sat on top of my covers, waiting for the real doctor, and I resigned myself to the next two days of painful IV, examining the row of 8 holes in my left hand, and the big baseball mitt my right hand had become. Yesterday, (Thursday) I finished my last IV, ate dinner like I hadn't eaten in a week, and woke up to a more normal level of energy this Friday morning. My hands are returning to their petite size, and I can type without wincing. I will most likely resume English class tonight, and look forward to enjoying my next two months here with minimal incompetency from scary "ex-nurses."

Dockpo, Shangbo, Zoba, Willho (Drokri) and all the girls, passing monks and visitors were wonderful nurses and made me feel as comfortable as possible. On Sunday night, when the asthma feelings started, Shangbo said "Don't be sad; we're your family now," and made sure that I felt well-cared for. Although unavoidable, it was not a terrible experience, and I am coming out healthy on the other side with some good blogging material for your reading enjoyment.

Again, thank you for your well-wishes, prayers, emails and encouragement! I am looking forward to seeing many of you soon. Happy April!

is your nose running?

2009-03-24T23:44:00.002-04:00

Then you better go catch it! Yes, bad joke, but it describes perfectly our lives here at the Sengcham Drukmo Home. A shout out to my mom for convincing me to bring Kleenex packets; they've been put to excellent use on many noses, including my own.

*I posted three blog chapters at once, so please go to the right side of the page and find the links entitled “Last Night In Xining,” and “Goodbye China; Hello TAR!” They are written in that order, with “Is your nose running” posted last. I had to wait for our internet access to kick in here at the home before I was able to post, thank you for your patience and, as always, thank you for reading!

---

Sam will attest to the fact that I absolutely hate smelling like food, but if that is the only problem I have to overcome while here, then I consider myself lucky. I spend a lot of time in Shangbo's kitchen, as does the rest of Dockpo's family. It is information central, with heat, light, and food, and as a result, I come away smelling like dinner.

Dockpo's family is great; Zoba is the oldest. He is a monk and we have struck up a great relationship centered around our languages, but also in an amiable exchange of non-verbals. He teaches Buddhism and Tibetan Grammar in the monastery. Dockpo is next, and is clearly the driving force behind the mission of the home. Shangbo is the younger sister, and speaks some English, and I've been working with her on pronunciation and vocab. She has a German husband, who is currently in America, and she was actually a mail-order bride for her German husband, who, after meeting/marrying him in Xining, she “learned to love.” She lives at the home, and cooks for the family members and cares for the youngest sister's daughter. Shangbo is funny and sweet, and definitely wants to improve her English, which makes my job easy! The youngest sister, Semnyit, is a teacher of Tibetan Grammar at a school about 70 kilometers away. She speaks a little English, and has an infectious laugh. Semnyit stayed for a couple days to visit her daughter and I had the pleasure of meeting her. Dockpo agreed to care for Semnyit's 3 year old daughter when Semnyit and her husband divorced. And, last but not least, is Drokri, a 19 year old guy who was adopted by Dockpo's mother when he was little. Drokri is the resident big brother for the girls and delivers the wake-up call in the morning. He is on call to rescue shuttlecocks from the roof, mop floors, serve milk tea and be a generally friendly person. Drokri is attending school now, and is in the 9^th grade (most students start at a later age than Americans-- usually they are lucky to be in school by age 7.)

Theron and Reuel would be quite proud of my newly-acquired skill of holding half a sheep leg in my hands and using a knife to carve away chunks of meat to eat. There is no clean way to do this, but, I'll admit, it is satisfying. I know I'm offending every vegetarian friend I have, and, believe me, I almost offend myself, but it's necessary. Actually, a lot of Tibetans are vegetarian; because of globalization they have much better access to fruits and vegetables that are impossible to grow at altitude. Buddhism does not dictate vegetarianism, but it does suggest the idea that animals and humans are equal. Eating meat used to be inescapable in this climate, but it was confined to eating large animals only. The idea is that one yak will feed many people, where as one fish feeds one person.

Eating is done with chopsticks, and we gather around a central table with different stir-fried food items that we place on rice or noodles. Everything is hot-- hot water, hot tea and you quickly understand why the Tibetan eating culture is defined by the slurping noise of quickly ingesting hot liquid/food before it cools in the freezing air.

During the day, it has been a pleasant temperature. Well, pleasant if you're wearing long-underwear and a good coat. At night everything freezes again and I wear the same amount of clothes to bed as I wear during the day. I have barely noticed the altitude; I might have been slightly short of breath while cleaning the yard on Sunday, but I am quickly acclimating. And I would gladly sacrifice my full lung capacity in order to appreciate the view, uninhibited by smog or haze. The weather here changes in an instant. Because of the valley situation, it will be cloudless and clear for five minutes, and then change to a solid block of cloud cover and driving snow in two minutes.

There is no heat in my room except for a stove pipe from the yak dung/coal stove downstairs, which does little against the large, curtainless windows in my room. Thankfully, I was raised in Maine, and I have experienced no greater discomfort than I have at home during a power outage. Although, the air is extremely dry, and I wake up fighting a terrible sore throat.

The bathroom is a porcelain hole in the ground right outside the main gate, inside a little wall, no ceiling and it is a daunting walk to face at night. I have been supplied with a wash basin and water heater in my room so that I can wash my face at night. The water heater is perfect also for boiling my drinking water, and I get my main supply of water from the well in the yard which only has one setting: torrential. It almost knocks me over every time I use it, but I'm learning quickly.

Yaks wander around the town in clusters of 5 or 6, digging through the trash for juicy, rotting supplements to their diet of the short grass growing on the nearby mountains, where they usually graze. Just yesterday, they ambled through the gate into our yard, and we had to shoo them out, like big, hairy dogs.

Speaking of dogs, every house in the village has a large, Tibetan dog attached to a chain and the dogs crouch in each front yard outside the main entrance. The dogs are big, like a large German Shepherd, but are brindled and black with brown ruffs and are hairy to the point of ambiguity. At night, they bark to each other like that scene in “101 Dalmatians” with the dog telegraph or whatever. All night long, no matter what time you're awake, they're barking. It's just part of the background noise.

Ollie (my Siberian Husky puppy) has been well-received by all the girls, and now has 50 girlfriends who wait on him hand and paw. The girls, at first an ambiguous body of strangers, are now separating into personalities and recognizable characteristics. They range from quiet and contemplative to crazy and slap-happy, ages 4 to 15. But they all love to sing and they sing together every morning and night, and love to sing in the classroom. I am going to teach them some easy songs that will help with English recall.

I have lost track of time; I'm not intensely aware of the date or day of the week as I would be at home. I've kissed culture shock goodbye, and am fully happy to embrace these moments. “and you learn slowly to recognize the very few things in which something eternal endures that you can love, and something solitary in which you can gently share.” RM Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet

goodbye China; hello TAR!

2009-03-24T23:32:00.005-04:00

Tuesday, March 17, 5:30pm Dogun, Dockpo, Ollie and I left for Darlag. We left Xining on a well-kept main highway, and I watched the craggy mountains of Xining give way to huge, rolling mountains setting the backdrop for vast, tundra-like plains that stretched on for miles. The straight and smooth highway changed to a more narrow road filled with hairpin turns through the mountainous landscape of southwestern China as we came into Tibet. The landscape in Tibet changed in sudden curves and peripheral glances. One minute, we would be driving into the sunset on an endless road reminiscent of the American mid-west (without the cornfields, of course) and then I would find myself looking straight over the edge of a ravine at the base of a mountain, feeling the car bend itself around a curve that would be impassable in even the slightest precipitation. As we drove further into Golok, we were accompanied on the road by herds of yaks, or a couple stray sheep wandering in the median. I also began to see prayer flags everywhere; they resemble a Native American teepee when the prayer flags are attached in strings to the top of a pole, and then brought down to the earth. Colorful and beautiful, they whisper prayers into the incessant wind on top of the mountains and hills, or spanning the highway.

And in the background of this vast, treeless territory, jagged mountains stand with snow on their peaks. My first response to the landscape was awe-filled. Because there are no trees, there is no ease in the transition of earth to sky, no organic blending of shades. It is harsh and it is beautiful. It's like seeing a black-and-white photo for the first time, after being used to a full spectrum of tones that distracts from the essence of the picture.

Then it was night, and I slept for the short periods of time that we had smooth road, intercepted often by stretches of brain-rattling dirt and stone road. We stopped for a brief moment in the night, and I saw the altitude-enhanced sky, with millions of stars I had never seen before, and a shooting star streaked across the lower-right hemisphere. The air was clean and sharp, and I felt refreshed from the sweaty dust of Xining. I felt fine at altitude; no different than skiing in Colorado.

As per the recent, important dates of early March, we did see one burned-out car along the side of the road.

We arrived around 4am in Darlag, and drove through the sleepy village through the red gates of the the Sengcham Drukmo Home. I fell into bed in an upstairs room of an ambiguous building, with a feeling of anticipation in my stomach for the beginning of the next chapter in the story. I was awoken a few hours later by the sound of 50 girls chanting Tibetan grammar in the early light of the morning. It was such a unique feeling, one I don't think will ever be replicated in my life, of hearing the voices of the girls I had only seen in pictures. I slept again, and woke up to Tibet around me. Darlag is in a valley, surrounded by the huge hills I had seen on the drive in, and I spent that day hazily meeting the other adult residents of the home (Dockpo's family), the 6 new girls who arrived during Dockpo's stay in the States, and then seeing the other girls at 4:30 when they returned from school. I talked with Dockpo about the plan for how I am to be used while here, and decided to start the first English lesson the following afternoon.

That night, I slept in a room adjacent to the large room that sleeps all 50 girls, and fell asleep listening to them chant their prayers before bed. It's a really awesome sound.

Before I describe teaching, I want to preface it with this quote from a new favorite book of mine: “Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go search for work in the cities,” Mortenson explains. “But the girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they've learned. If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate the girls.” -Greg Mortenson, Three Cups Of Tea.

My first class was great! I didn't prepare any material for teaching before I came; I just had an intuitive feeling of how to tackle the language barrier when I stepped into the classroom. The girls are the best students I have ever seen (sorry Longfellow) and enthusiastic almost to a fault. The classroom is also the room in which they eat their meals, and the girls arranged the tables and benches in a class style, with the coal/yak dung stove in the center. I began with basic greetings, and the alphabet, concentrating on perfect pronunciation. They immediately struggle with the long sound of “A” and the hard sound of “V.” But with much smiling and concentration, we are tackling these issues and they are getting it! Anyone who has ever taught knows the difficulty (and joy) of teaching, but add to it a total language barrier, and it becomes like a maze, with many stops and turns and “reverse directions.” But I couldn't be happier and the time flies while I'm in the classroom. I teach twice a day, after lunch and dinner, and the girls are calling me “the cute teacher” and want to keep going even when the time for class is over.

We have successfully managed the alphabet, with a slight variation on the tune, and we are working on vocab and total body response ie: “shut the door” “turn off the light” “please sit.” One of the games I've played with them is to say “please sit,” with different pronunciations of the word “sit,” ie “set” “sat” until they hear the correct one, and then sit. Obviously, there are only a few left standing for the proper pronunciation, but they like it and it's a fun way to learn! With total body response, I go around the room, touching different girls on the head and giving direct commands like “open the window,” “turn on the light,” so that they understand the vocab word, and have a practical application for it. I've also used a ball, having them toss it to each other while shouting a letter of the alphabet.

We begin every class with the vowel sounds of each consonant, “ba, be, bi, bo, bu” concentrating on the individual sounds of the vowels, which tend to become mushed into one generic short “e” sound, especially a, e, and i.

I have a lot more ideas for how to further our mutual learning experience, and I hope that I will be able to make some headway in this short amount of time. I hope that the success thus far is based on more than the novelty of my presence and that there is something sustainable in the lessons. I want to get us out of the classroom soon, going for walks and playing games that they can keep playing after I leave.

A huge thank you to every language teacher I have ever had; Mom, Senora Nolan, Ms. Tanahashi, and, of course, Magistra Lienau. And a big thank you (and hug) to Mrs. Susie Knowles and Mr. Rick Wilson, who have both had an enormous impact on my education philosophy.

To refer you back to the Mortenson quote, the truth of that precept is right here in the Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls. There are 50 smart, happy girls here who have so much to teach me already, and who will become competent and educated women simply based on the fact that they are receiving this opportunity. And Dockpo has 150 more girls on his list, girls who deserve education because we all deserve education.

Beyond the education aspect, we spent the day on Sunday, March 22, cleaning up the yard and making it ready to grow grass. That night, the girls danced and sang, and drew beautiful art. (Pictures on Facebook!) There is much talent there, and I look forward to tapping it. I also read to them the story of Thumbelina, with Dockpo translating, and they loved it! Thank you to Janice Cooper for donating that and other childrens books. Stories are such a universal way to connect to people, as I hope I am demonstrating through this blog.

I hope this post finds you healthy and happy, thank you for reading!

last night in Xining

2009-03-24T22:49:00.006-04:00

Ollie and Xining

The view of Xining from the revolving restaurant

Dinner with Dogun, Urgan, Dockpo, Maria, Sofia and Jappa

Saying good bye to Chung from South Korea; Quajia on the right.

Dockpo arrived in Xining on Sunday, March 15, right as Quajia (my amazing Tibetan roommate) was finishing my lesson on making tsampa. I hadn't quite mastered the technique, so my hands were crusty and covered in barley flour, but it was still a very happy meeting. I'm thinking about bringing tsampa ingredients back to the States since yak butter and cheese are scarce in Phippsburg, Maine. Tsampa is made with yak cheese curds in the bottom of a bowl, a piece of yak butter, a pile of barley flour, and milk tea (oja) poured on top. After sipping away the oja, being careful to blow the melted butter away from your mouth, you mix the remaining ingredients with a forefinger, kneading it into a fist-sized, oblong ball with a thick, doughy consistency. Holding the finished tsampa in your right hand, you take a bite size piece, roll it and eat! Meanwhile, your empty bowl is filled with the ever-present oja, and it is a complete and filling meal. (Yes, we wash our hands before eating tsampa.)

After a lovely tour of the Kumbum (or Ta'er) Monastery, courtesy of Dockpo and Dogun, I was named “Dechan Wangmo,” meaning “Powerful Happiness.” The monastery was beautiful, and gave me a deeper understanding of the Tibetan/Buddhist culture. The pictures are on Facebook, and as they are each worth a thousand words, I won't try to describe Kumbum's rich culture here.

Monday, March 16, and we are planning on leaving for Tibet tomorrow. I spend Monday mastering the Chinese bus system (by myself) to buy a kennel, food, and something for Ollie to chew on other than my fingers. My destination was the animal market, or the “Remin Gong Yuan” where I found Oliver and where I can also find the items on my list. I've picked up the necessary Chinese phrases to make those purchases fairly easily, and where my Chinese is lacking, I make a fool of myself with miming and acting. I don't know the Chinese numbers very well, but the Chinese have different hand gestures to symbolize the number, which I learned while shopping with Maria. And, yes, I did haggle with the pet-store attendant and got him to drop his price from 110 quai to 70 quai (approx 12 USD). While returning to Maria's on the bus, I was tapped on the shoulder and turned to see a college-aged Chinese guy who immediately said “Hellonicetomeetyouuu” and smiled while bobbing his head repeatedly. I laughed and said hi, and he responded “you are very beautiful!!!” I thanked him, knowing that this was the go-to statement for Chinese guys to foreign women. We spent my remaining minutes on the bus chatting about his education (Business Administration at Qinghai University) and he tried to teach me a Chinese poem... Right.

The weather has been beautiful-- much warmer, and I am able to walk around without 10 layers constricting my blood/oxygen flow. I am sure that when I return to Xining in June to depart for the US, it will prepare me well for a humid night in Boston upon my arrival.

Monday night, Maria had set a date for all of us to have dinner in the revolving “Western” restaurant on top of a sky-scraper in downtown Xining, and she left a note before leaving for a class that included the instructions “do not wear sports clothes.” When her daughter, Sofia, returned from school around 4:30, we headed straight to the main drag in Xining to find something for me to wear that did not resemble a t-shirt and Carhartts. You'd think that would be the easiest task in the world, especially in China where all of my clothes come from anyway. But, no. China makes absolutely AWFUL cheap terrible items for their own citizens that make Walmart look like Neiman Marcus. They make better quality items for Americans because we're willing to pay for it... well, except for lead paint on our childrens toys. Regardless, Sofia and I had 40 minutes to find something in little stores with no dressing rooms and lurid, fake, logos on all their clothes. I finally found something, sans logo, in the 20 quai store (like an American dollar store) and we headed back home to change and leave for the restaurant with Dockpo and Dogun. You can see the pictures from dinner on Facebook. We were accompanied by two monks at dinner, one of whom owns a girls home and school, similar to Dockpo's mission. It was enjoyable, with a good assortment of foods and hilarious Chinese-English translations in the menu. Some of my favorites include “the fragrance fries the Buddhist ritual procedures fat foie gras” and “the British lucky row cod its its juice.” I ate something labeled “The cow falls into the quarry.” It was good.

Tuesday, March 17, Dockpo tells me that we're going to leave for Darlag that afternoon and I am so excited to be on the move again. We spend the morning doing some bulk shopping for the girls at the home, and enjoyed lunch at the Tibetan Market. Yak meat...mmmm. I also had my first taste of butter tea, and, as the name implies, it is very rich and a little too much for me.

One more order of business, and that is to pay a quick visit to a local American vet in Xining to give Ollie his puppy shots. After the fiasco with a Chinese vet (one word for him: incompetent) I was looking forward to someone who would actually know something about dogs, and like them, for that matter. Maria dropped me off at Monty's (US vet) apartment, and I said a quick goodbye to her since I wouldn't see her again before I left for Golok. Ben, the Cambridge student from Wales who is studying Chinese here in Xining, helped me find the room, and I also said a goodbye to him; hopefully I will see him, and all my other new acquaintances, again in June before I leave. Monty is a middle-aged missionary from Washington state, who practices vet medicine with his wife in remote areas of the world. They were most recently in Nepal, and Monty is a wonderful, gentle man with an obvious heart for God and for me. His wife, Shelley, was in the US, and while he was checking Ollie, his son, Morgan, came in. Morgan is a USAFA student who, like me, took a year off between his sophomore and junior years to come to China. He is studying Chinese in Xining, and we enjoyed discovering some mutual friends at the AF Academy; Josh Seefried and Matt Fleharty.

Monty and Morgan (and their border collie, Nora) were a joy to meet, but I had to hurry away to pack for Golok. Just like climbing down a tree is harder than climbing up, it is much harder to re-pack than it is to start from scratch; somehow all of my stuff grew. But we squashed it all into Dogun's hot yellow mini cooper-ish car, leaving a Geneva-sized spot in the back seat. I am so looking forward to meeting the girls and unpacking and becoming installed and ready for whatever these next couple months have in store for me.

Dockpo asked me if I miss home, and I truthfully responded that I don't. Which is to say, I don't miss my amenities or my comforts, and I don't miss the familiar. I think of the faces of my family and friends with love, and with the knowledge that I will be happy to see them again in June.

Vergil said it best: si qua fors adiuvet ausum, FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD.

Xining!

2009-03-14T22:28:00.007-04:00

Sorry for the delay in updating my blog! It has been difficult to get my hands on an English computer rather than a Chinese version. I am safe and sound in Xining, waiting until the uprising is over before we travel on to Darlag, Golok Region.

SO much to tell, so I'll start at the beginning.

My parents drove me to Boston early on Monday morning (March 9) in the middle of a "wintry mix" that delayed my flight out of Boston by three hours. When they were about to allow us to board, we were notified that the flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. Fortunately, my flight out of JFK was at a time that allowed me to catch a different flight out of Logan, and I made it to Beijing more than a day later, luggage intact. No problem at customs, and I met a couple other Americans my age. One girl, Amanda, was from Portland, Maine! She was on her way to Chengdu for a documentary, and the other two guys were from New York, coming to visit friends in Beijing.

After changing over some money, I haggled my way through a hotel booking agency to get a cheap room in Beijing for the night. (19 hour layover before my flight to Xining.) I was planning on sleeping at the airport, but since I had to claim my luggage and re-check it the next morning, I didn't want to risk theft. After a harrowing drive through the city of Beijing (drivers are insane) a tight squeeze through an alleyway, another squeeze through a gate, I was escorted into a pretty shady establishment with a couple teenaged guys at the front desk who, of course, spoke no English. We managed, with lots of hand signals and laughter, to get me into a room, with the promise of a wake-up call at 6:30am. And I even got to shower. I also received a bizarre call on my cell phone from a teacher in Maine asking me to sub for her class... After explaining why that would be impossible, I was able to receive phone calls from my parents, sister and boyfriend! I didn't think my phone would still work abroad, but I was pleasantly surprised. My cellphone is off now, so email is the best way to contact me.

The next morning, I answered the hotel room phone to a sleepy "Haooo," to which I responded, "thanks!" haha, still not sure what he said, if anything in that wake-up call. The guys at the front desk loaded my luggage back into their airport shuttle, opened the door for me to get in, shut it, and walked away. I assumed there were other guests who needed to go to the airport, and that they were waiting for them, but after 10 minutes, I was ready to go back in the hotel drag the attendants out. They wandered back out, smoking profusely, and I tapped my watch and mimed an airplane, explaining that I needed to get to the airport. They got it, and we left, listening to loud chinese pop, that interjects the occasional "Babyyy boyyyy" just for good American measure.

My flight to Xining was non-stop turbulence, and when I arrived and headed to the restroom, it was literally a porcelain hole in the floor. No time like the present, and squatting is good for the leg muscles. I was greeted at baggage by Maria Bhutia, owner and director of T-Fusion Restaraunt, Hotel and School, as well as Dockpo's friend. She put the traditional white scarf around my neck, and we headed to her place via the 100 kph highway. Maria is German born, English trained, British accented, 40 year resident of India, married to a Tibetan (met in India) and now lives and teaches Tibetan girls here in Xining, China.

Her hostel is home to 5 Golok girls who are too old for Dockpo's home, and thus Maria has agreed to care for them and teach them English and trade skills in return for their assistance in running the hostel. Also living there is a 23 year old Tibetan girl named Quajia, who is a student at Qinghai University and speaks great English, as well as Chinese and obviously Amdo, one of the three Tibetan languages. (The other two are Lhasa and Kham. I'll be speaking Amdo.) Quajia is wonderful, and I am rooming with her. We have become fast friends and as she wants to be a teacher as well, we have shared different cultural and personal philosophies about education. I look forward to building a relationship with her.

The next couple of days I spent in the city and in the hostel with the girls. With the girls, I filled in for Maria when she had to be absent (I'm a sub even in China) and reviewed English colors, numbers, and taught them proper phone etiquette and greetings. We get along great! It's a mish-mash of cultural exchange and language, but it's fun. The girls have lots of different teachers from the small group of ex-pats in the city. They have a Chinese tutor who also teaches tailoring, a women from Malaysia who helps with their English, Henri, from Holland, who is also an English teacher, and lots of other individuals who are passing through.

The city has been a blur of impossible regulations, colorful store fronts, even more colorful characters, bartering, new foods and little spots like the Amdo Cafe, a coffee shop that sells Tibetan handicrafts from Golok, with full profit returning to the women who made them.

Today, Dockpo arrived, and took me out for my first taste of yak; loved it. Quajia also showed me how to make tsampa (yak butter, barley flour, yak milk, tea, yak cheese) and it's a bland but good addition to my daily routine. Tomorrow we do some more sightseeing, and then Tuesday, hopefully, things will have died down enough to travel up to Golok.

The weather has been very cold at night, with only a coal stove and heating pad for warmth. During the day, it has been warmer, with temperatures that allow fewer layers if you're moving briskly. Inside the hostel, the main room is a green house, which traps the heat nicely during the day, and is very comfortable.

As far as my personal health goes, I've been feeling great! No issues with food, climate, altitude; the time change has been a little wearing, but my sleep is improving.

I am looking forward to getting settled in at Dockpo's home, and beginning my own teaching! I will continue to update my blog, probably weekly. I posted two albums of pictures on facebook, be sure to take a look at them.

Please send emails! They are great to receive, even if I cannot answer them immediately.

From Xining with love,

Geneva

"The time has come," the walrus said

2009-03-05T12:35:00.003-05:00

Everything is done. Well, except my packing; the floor of my room is littered with vitamins, protein bars, brightly colored childrens books, chamois cloth, water sterilization tabs, and lots of double A batteries. My pack stands ready and waiting to receive this odd assortment while I contemplate the hours I have left in Maine, and the travels that are before me. You'll notice that the blog title has changed from "Tibet; A Beginning" to "Three Months In Tibet", reflecting the beginning to a new chapter in this journey.

I fly out of Boston this Monday morning to JFK in New York. From New York I fly 15 hours to Beijing, where I have a 19 hour lay over before arriving in Xining on Wednesday, March 11. I will stay in Xining for a few days with Dockpo's friend, Maria, at her hostel. When Dockpo arrives in Xining on his way back from Boston, he and I will travel by car to the home in Darlag, approximately 240 miles southwest of Xining.

This week has been a flurry of activity in making last minute arrangements, meetings, goodbyes, and I am feeling the relaxation of my planning reaching its culmination in my departure early tomorrow morning.

If you would like to send books, academic supplies, knitting supplies, or anything else for the girls, you may send it to:

T-Fusion & SDGH Girls Home
Xiao Qiao Miao Pu
Post Box 1
Cheng Bei District
Xining, 810003
Peoples Republic of China

Robert Louis Stevenson said "There are no foreign lands. It is only the traveler who is foreign."

Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel.

2009-02-26T19:47:00.009-05:00

You are invited to Geneva's second fundraiser; we'll watch and discuss the movie, Daughters of Everest, at the Curtis Memorial Library, 6-9pm, Thursday, March 5th.

Admission is $5. Original Tibetan clothing articles will be for sale. Movie and following discussion will be in the Morrell Meeting Room.

Daughters of Everest is the story of the first attempt made to summit Everest by five Sherpa women, and represents the all-too-natural marginalization that women in that hemisphere face consistently. This film should provoke some good conversation, and I look forward to watching it with a larger group of interested individuals.

A scene from the "Daughters of Everest"

Thank you to the Cathance River Education Alliance, and Rick Wilson, for purchasing the film and allowing me its use. Also a very warm thank you to Liz Doucett and the Curtis Memorial Library for all of their help and generosity in use of their space.
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If you are new to the blog, thanks for reading. Check out the links on the right side of the page for more information and background on my project. As always, don't hesitate to drop me a line: gmwilgus@gmail.com

Well, in eleven days, I depart. I am ready to be on that plane; as much as I love planning, I'm ready to put down the perpetually active cell phone, and the always-over-heated laptop, and start on this long awaited adventure.

The fundraiser dance and auction was well-planned and executed, but unfortunately was impeded by weather on the night of Sunday, February 22 when Mid Coast Maine received such severe weather that over 20,000 people in the state lost power. Regardless, we still had Jeff Raymond, Doug Protsik, and Milo Stanley, as well as a few contra die hards and supportive friends so that the evening still brought in over $500. Thank you to all those who participated!

New donors to the project:

Halcyon Yarn from Bath, Maine, is donating wool, knitting needles, and instructional material to the girls in Tibet. I am looking forward to teaching one of my renewed pastimes, and to sharing with the girls a useful and lovely skill.

Emily, with the Service Learning Team at Pacific Ridge School, is working with fellow students to procure and donate maps, globes, and school material to the girls at the home. Good luck to Emily, and thanks for the good work you are doing!

Sue Townsend, an educator of 5th grade at Wiscasset Elementary has invited me to speak to her class next week, as well as work with her students to generate a book swap project, similar to the Longfellow School book swap. I am looking forward to meeting Sue and her class.

On Tuesday, March 3, I will be learning from June, a book mending volunteer at Curtis Memorial Library, about how to make minor repairs to books in order to increase the longevity of the new library at GSD in Tibet. I am grateful for any new skill I am able to come by; thank you to Curtis Memorial Library and June for making this possible.
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As the hourglass empties for the next chapter of this story, please continue to be in touch; I love to meet you and to enjoy your stories.

"Geneva Wilgus Follows a Higher Calling"

2009-02-26T19:40:00.004-05:00

This is the recent article in Mid Coast Maine's The Times Record, about my project. Thank you to the TR staff!

02/20/2009 Brunswick High grad heads to Tibet to teach 'rescued' girls

By Beth Brogan, Times Record Staff

PHIPPSBURG — Twenty-year-old Geneva Wilgus leaves March 9 for Tibet. On her first trip out of the United States, she'll travel from Phippsburg to Boston, then fly through New York and Beijing, landing in Xining, China. After acclimating to the 13,000-foot altitude, Wilgus will then travel by car 13 hours, "and go a little higher."

The journey will take the 2006 Brunswick High School graduate to the Golok Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls in Qinghai Province, Tibet, where for three months she'll teach approximately 50 adolescent girls English and about various aspects of American culture, including dance, art, music — and baseball.

A fundraiser, contradance and silent auction to benefit the Golok Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls in Tibet is scheduled to run from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday at the Westcustogo Inn, 10 Princes Point Road, Yarmouth.

"I'm responsible for teaching the girls in Tibet to play baseball," said Wilgus last week as she began preparing for her trip. While admitting she's no Terry Francona, Wilgus has already bought a book about coaching baseball, noting, "I'm an All-American girl. I guess I can teach baseball."

While a student at Brunswick High School, Wilgus participated in Rick Wilson's service learning class. She then studied political communications at Cedarville (Ohio) University for two years before "taking this year off" to perform some sort of international community service. While volunteering last fall in Wilson's class — she also the served as public forum and policy debate team coach at Brunswick High — Wilgus met Bowdoin College senior Willy Oppenheim, founder of the Omprakash Foundation, an international service agency.

Through that "linking organization," Wilgus designed a service project with the Tibetan school, which had already built a new library through funding from the Omprakash Foundation. Omprakash also granted Wilgus $1,000 toward her travel expenses.

Oppenheim said Wilgus is a great example of the types of service relationships his foundation tries to build, connecting "people who are involved in and want to get involved in grassroots health and education projects" with international projects.

"Geneva will be able to support (the home) hugely by many means other than money," Oppenheim said Thursday. "Our network sort of empowers not just our partners to find the resources they need, but people like Geneva to be more effective social entrepreneurs in their own way."

Since its inception four years ago, the Omprakash Foundation has connected "dozens" of volunteers and partner agencies, Oppenheim said, and has granted nearly $150,000 to some partner organizations.

"I was ready to go anywhere," Wilgus said about choosing the Tibetan home. "I'll be teaching and organizing a library — anything else they need me to do. The home really needs help. They've never had a volunteer before. I've realized I'm passionate about working with women and women's rights."

The home for about 50 adolescent girls was funded by Dockpo Tra, a reincarnated lama. Wilgus said Tra "gave up his position to dedicate his home and his life to continue his father's work helping women escape a sort of marginalization of the Tibetan culture. In Tibet, women are domestic household figures and do all of the work but get no credit, and they can be treated pretty brutally."

The girls at the home, Wilgus said, "were either rescued from pretty awful circumstances or their family gave them up. A lot of the girls' mothers had been sexually abused, and the girls are the result of rape, and their fathers were unwilling to care for them."

The focus of the home, Wilgus wrote on her blog — http://servetolearn-learntoserve.blogspot.com — is to provide an education, a loving home with quality health care and career options, and "the tools to become an empowered woman, rather than a subservient household figure."

While volunteering in a service learning class taught by Rick Wilson — who Wilgus' mother said "really ignites a fire in many of the kids to serve" — Wilgus also substitute taught last fall for Longfellow Elementary School teacher Susie Knowles. As a result of that connection, Wilgus will carry copies of a book written by Knowles' fifth-grade students for the Tibetan girls about different aspects of an American school day. Wilgus hopes the Tibetan students will write similar pages, and that she will find a publisher to bind all the pages into a single book, so she can give copies to the schools and libraries here and in Tibet.

Last week, Dockpo Tra visited Maine, and spent a day visiting Knowles' students, as well as with Wilson's service learning students.

"It was an amazing experience for them," Wilgus said.

And one day this spring, the Tibetan students will also receive a package from Curtis Memorial Library. Wilgus has arranged with library director Liz Doucette to send to the Tibetan home 150 to 200 children's books that the library plans to replace due to gift funds.

"She's such a high-energy person," Doucette said this week about Wilgus. "She seems to have such a passion for what she's doing. I really tried to find a way we could support her."

This winter, Wilgus also has been busy raising funds for her trip. She's raised about $900 so far, which added to the Omprakash grant should just cover her travel expenses. On Sunday, she will hold a fundraiser, contradance and silent auction at the Westcustogo Inn in Yarmouth from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The event will feature auction items donated by local businesses and artists such as a handcrafted stool by local woodturner Paul Baines, as well as a "fast-paced, live music" contradance. All proceeds will benefit the Brunswick Scholarship Fund, which Wilgus established to benefit the home in Tibet.

After Sunday's benefit, Wilgus will begin in earnest to prepare for her travels. She's aware of the turbulent political landscape she'll travel to — March 10 marks the 50th anniversary of the exile of the Dalai Lama and the uprising that followed, and unrest in Tibet is likely. But Wilgus said she plans to "keep a low profile" and constantly be accompanied by locals. And yes, she is nervous, she acknowledged.

"I am 20 and am not completely independent yet," she said. "My parents are nervous, the same way I am, but we are examining the problems and looking at them realistically, and then coming up with solutions like making sure I have good travel insurance, learning the language, making sure I have people ready to meet me at every (point). But the potential for good outweighs the potential for harm."

For more information on the Golok Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls, visit http://web.me.com/dockpotra/SDGH/Home.html

For more information on Wilgus' trip, visit http://servetolearn-learntoserve.blogspot.com

For more information on the Omprakash Foundation or to donate to the tax-exempt, non-profit foundation or the Golok Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls visit http://www.Omprakash.org

new faces, familiar places

2009-02-16T18:40:00.022-05:00

You're Invited to Geneva's First Fundraiser

February 22, 2009: 6-10pm Contra Dance & Silent Auction Wescustogo Hall, North Yarmouth

Come out to enjoy live music, unique auction items, and energetic dancing that's right for all ages and skill levels! It will be a night to remember.

If you have read the Times Record Article, please note that the fundraiser takes place at Wescustogo Hall, Walnut Hill Rd, North Yarmouth
(not "Westcustogo Inn, Princes Pt Rd")

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Susie Knowles' Longfellow classroom played host to Dockpo Tra last week, the founder and director of the Golok Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls in Tibet. Dockpo visited class Wednesday, February 11, accompanied by myself and Steve Le, visiting from the Pacific Ridge School, and also as representative of the Omprakash Foundation, from Carlsbad, California.

Dockpo (back row, left) with Susie Knowles (middle row, right) Longfellow School Fifth Grade, and me (middle row, second in from right.)

Dockpo captivated his audience of 10 year olds with the story of his dream to build a place that would allow Tibetan girls the equal opportunity that this Longfellow school classroom takes for granted. Dockpo explained to the class the oddity of children, boys and girls, sitting side-by-side in a learning environment when a Tibetan classroom is typically catered to boys.

Dockpo then asked the class for ideas to help Tibetan culture see women as equal, and the responses ranged; taking pictures of inverted gender roles, i.e.: men doing the grocery shopping or women in the business world was probably the most popular idea.

The children were left with the idea that "all it takes is a dream," and Reed, one of the students, commented that Dockpo sounded like MLKjr.

It was a delight to meet Dockpo, and he helped answer many of my questions about Tibet. Dockpo, upon arrival to my house for dinner with some other guests, presented me with a Tibetan visual dictionary (which will be like gold in my new society) and with a beautiful yellow scarf, the traditional gift of welcome.

Dockpo and Steve also visited the Brunswick High School Service Learning class, meeting Rick Wilson and some interested students. Willy Oppenheim and Steve spoke to a larger group of students on Tuesday to tell them about independent service projects and the opportunities that Omprakash offers. It was a great week, and I am excited by all the fortuitous meetings that took place.

Dockpo (left) and Steve (right) talking with Brunswick High School Service Learning Class

Geneva, Dockpo and Susie

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A couple things to report:

Through the generous donation of a gift card to LL Bean, I was able to purchase the shoes needed for the Tibetan climate; they are Keen, waterproof, and high support trail shoes that will certainly play a big part in my personal health and well-being while abroad. Thank you, Captain Ric Diaz, for your support!

The Curtis Memorial Library is currently compiling books to send to Tibet, and have invited me to talk with a Library volunteer to get the basics on book repair. They will be sending along a couple mending essentials so that the books will be kept in good condition for as long as possible. CML has also donated $100 towards the shipping and handling costs of sending books to Tibet; it's up to me and volunteers to raise the other approx $150-$200.

Longfellow School's 5th graders, taught by Susie Knowles, are in the midst of writing their pages for the book swap project and I am very excited to have a final project to show the girls in Tibet.

The Times Record, a newspaper for the greater Brunswick community, is writing an article on my project, to be featured in this Friday's edition. Be sure to pick up a copy when you're out and about this weekend, and here is the electronic version on the Times Record website: (copy and paste the URL into your browser)

http://www.timesrecord.com/website/main.nsf/news.nsf/0/FCB5D98778BEB39085257563005BF9E0?Opendocument

or click on the link on the right side of the page.

Betsy Cantrell, a friend of the family, has collected notebooks, childrens books, pens and pencils for the girls in Tibet. Thank you, Betsy!

I am advertising my fundraiser contra dance and silent auction in the Bath and Brunswick communities; if you would like to advertise, email me for the flier.

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The silent auction donations are going well! So far, I have received items and gift certificates from:
-Paul Baines, Fine Woodworking
-DeTerre
-Bohemian Rose
-Bath Book Shop
-Pamela's World
-Game Box
-Bath Ski & Cycle
-Saltbox Pottery
-Mary Kay Cosmetics
-Kennebec Angler
-Ornament
-The Front
-Starz Hair Salon
-Lazy Bones
-Asia West
-Jeff Raymond, Wood Turner
-Red Dragon Toys
-Thousand Villages

There will be a wonderful selection of items, well worth your interest.

There will also be original Tibetan clothing items for sale.

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On my to do list:

-Create a second fundraiser for the first week of March, to have a movie and discussion night. Rick Wilson and the Cathance River Education Alliance (CREA) purchased the educational film "Daughters of Everest" and are allowing me the use of the video. It is the story of the first attempt made to summit Everest by five Sherpa women, and represents the all-too-natural marginalization that women in that hemisphere face consistently. This film should provoke some good conversation, and I look forward to watching it with a larger group of interested individuals.

Image from "The Daughters of Everest"

-The upcoming fundraiser, (Sunday), is a challenge to prepare for, but I am enjoying the work. The silent auction requires a lot of organization, and I am in the process of recruiting volunteers. I look forward to the evening, and to meeting the people who are making this trip possible.

-I need to generate a specific list of creative ways to teach English to the girls in Tibet; I'm going to start with creating a big alphabet of the upper and lower case English letters to put up on walls in different rooms. I'll also create some visual dictionary items of universal symbols to put on the walls; this should be a good example of repetition and recognition. If learning is colorful and creative, then it will be fun.

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Herman Melville said, "We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results."

If you are new to the blog, thanks for reading. Check out the links on the right side of the page for more information and background on my project. As always, don't hesitate to drop me a line: gmwilgus@gmail.com

last month in town

2009-02-10T11:07:00.003-05:00

It's February, and in exactly 28 days, I leave for Tibet. I am feeling the stress of pulling together fundraisers as well as the various travel arrangements that are part of the trip, but, as one of my favorite poets says, "I am learning it daily, learning it through pains to which I am greatful: patience is all!" -RM Rilke, "Letters To A Young Poet."

If you are new to the blog, welcome! Read more about the background of this project through the links to older posts on the right side of the page.

Upcoming Fundraiser:

Sunday, February 22, 6pm-10pm
Silent Auction and Contra Dance
Wescustogo Hall, North Yarmouth

$8/Adult, children under 15/free
Live music, dancing for the whole family, and auction items you can't resist, all for a great cause.

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A very warm thank you to all the people who have donated to my travel costs and to Golok Sengcham Drukmo; I have received approximately $900 from their generosity and I look forward to continuing to thank them for their investment through diligent service while in Tibet.

As per the recent donations, I just received confirmation for my recently purchased flight to Xining, China (Tibetan Autonomous Region) and I couldn't be more excited! I depart Logan Airport, Boston, on March 9th at 11am, to return to Boston on June 8, at 9pm. It's a grand total of 93 days in Tibet. (Does that have a better sound than "7 Years In Tibet"?)

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More networking (my favorite)

Tonight, I am meeting Dockpo Tra, the owner, director, and founder of GSD. He is in Boston until March, doing fundraising for the school and is coming to Maine this evening to join Willy Oppenheim, Steve Le, and several other key players in this trip, for dinner. I am looking forward to meeting him; it will certainly compound the feeling of impending adventure that I have simply from pushing the button to purchase a flight today.

Steve Le is here, visiting from Pacific Ridge School in California, and brought with him a card and handmade books from students and classes at PRS. Thank you, again, for the support I am receiving from the 8th grade as well as other individuals at PRS. You guys are awesome!

Steve Sclar is a student at William and Mary, and will be coming out to Tibet to volunteer at GSD this summer. His stay should overlap with mine by about a week, and we are already in conversation about how to tag-team for the needs of the home. As a volunteer on the ground, I will be able to give Steve exact information for donations, or heads ups before he arrives. I am looking forward to meeting him.

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Dockpo sent a couple of documents to me that provide the background story for every girl who is presently at the home. Not only does it provide insight as to why Dockpo's initiative is so necessary, but it also explains the dreams and goals of the girls, whether it's to be a doctor, a teacher, or a professional dancer. If you are interested in receiving a copy of the girl's stories, send me an email at: gmwilgus@gmail.com.

Dockpo also provided me with a breakdown of yearly expenses and budgeting for the home. If you would like to see that as well, don't hesitate to ask.

Thank you for reading, keep coming back!

Dhay phe-paa thu-je chhe!

2009-01-28T14:03:00.018-05:00

The title of this blog post is Tibetan: "Thanks for coming here!" and is among one of the many phrases that I am learning in preparation for March. Many thanks to Willy Oppenheim for providing "Say It In Tibetan," by Norbu Chophel.

If you are new to the blog, thank you for reading, and be sure to read further via the links to older posts on the right-hand side of the page.

The first fundraiser for Golok Sengcham Drukmo (GSD) is set for February 22, 2009 from 6pm-10pm at the Wescustogo Hall in North Yarmouth, Maine. It is a Contra Dance and Silent Auction to fund my remaining travel costs, generate a donation to the home, and fund the recently created scholarship for the girls at GSD. This is going to be a fun and lively evening filled with excellent music by local artists who have generously donated their time and talent to this cause.

Lots of thanks to Fred White, Sandy Davis, Jeff Raymond, Julia Plumb, and Doug Protsik who are the musicians and caller (Doug) for the dance, and have provided me with helpful advice for the planning and facilitation of this event.

I am heading out into the greater Brunswick area this week and next to ask for item donations for the silent auction; if you or your business are interested in gifting an item, please let me know (gmwilgus@gmail.com).

Other features at the Dance & Auction will include a raffle and the sale of original Tibetan clothing items.

Buy your tickets at the door: $8/person, children under 15/free; family and first-time dancer friendly! Refreshments will be provided.

I am advertising this event on all the local network television stations, The Dance Gypsy, online community calendars, local newspapers and newsletters, and in local businesses. Tell your friends and bring your dancing shoes; this will be a really fun night!

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On another note, February 12, I will be presenting to the Friends of Curtis Memorial Library (CML) a proposal concerning the specific implications of their partnership with the fledgling library at GSD. I am preparing for this meeting with the help of Liz Doucett, the director of CML, who has been great to work with. In preparation for this meeting, I am answering the following questions:
1.) How many books per year will CML send?
2.) Is there an appropriate space for holding the books?
3.) Will money be allotted to the care and upkeep of the books?
4.) Will this be a sustainable relationship between GSD and CML?

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The Book Swap Project (separate from CML) is now under way with Susie Knowles' 5th Grade Class at Longfellow School in Brunswick. I presented the plan to the class on Monday, and sent a letter for approval home to the parents. The kids seem excited to start writing pages for the book based on topics of their school day.

I still have yet to nail down a publisher, but have several promising connections, one of which I'm sure will be solvent.

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On the topic of connections, this month has been full of meeting new people and establishing relationships that are already proving to be enriching in more ways than one.

I was in California during the week of Jan 12 visiting a school in Carlsbad who flew me and another Omprakash volunteer (Vance Walstra, Peru) out to talk to their students about self-designing philanthropic projects. The Pacific Ridge School advocates that the students, during the last three weeks of their senior year, self-design and implement a project that will create a link between two communities while garnering interest for the student's chosen place of service.

While there, I made several connections with different students and educators that are really exciting to me. Students: Anisha with Otesha, the girls for VOICE, Chiara, David, and various other self-motivated service learning students with great ideas for projects. Educators: Steve Le, Namir Yedid, Scott Silk, Merle O'Neill, and Todd Burckin from Pacific Ridge, Teanna Evans from Calavera Middle School and the rest of faculty at Pacific Ridge were all very interested in bringing the world to the classroom through dynamic means and with an attitude for service.

Steve Le's eighth grade service learning team at PRS fund-raised to buy a Flip camera for me to document my time in Tibet in video format; many thanks to the PRS eighth-graders for this wonderful gift.

Ari, a student at PRS, is working with fellow students to write a book teaching the Tibetan girls how to play baseball, and will be fundraising to send baseball gloves, bats, and baseballs along with me to Tibet for the girls at GSD. Good luck to Ari and his peers.

Good neighbor and friend, David Barter, is in the process of pushing a proposal up through the ranks of his company to ask for 10 laptop computers as a donation to GSD. Thank you, Dave!

I spoke with members of the Tibetan Women's Association and hope to establish a connection between the Tibetan Women's Leadership Program and GSD. I also spoke with CEDAW, Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Canada Tibet Committee to see if they have any suggestions for me and for broadening the reach of my project.

I emailed Nicholas Kristof, well-known journalist of the New York Times, whose interest in women's issues prompted me to ask him to write an article about the Golok Sengcham Drukmo Home, in order to raise interest and awareness about education as a means to tackle the problem of the marginalization of women in Tibet and greater Asia.

I created a profile on YouthActionNet in preparation to apply for their fellowship when it opens on February 15, and have found myself receiving emails from peers-- Moses from Sierra Leone and Peter from Zimbabwe who are passionate about changing the world. I am interested in hearing more about their projects and I'm sure that what I learn from each of them will be inspiring stimulus for thought.

Approximately 65 letters went on their way earlier this week to friends and family all across the US, raising awareness for the project and asking for funding to complete my travel costs and donate to GSD.

Other providers of invaluable support include my family members (especially Mom and Dad,) Rick Wilson at Brunswick High School, my boyfriend Sam Read, and best friends Julia Knowles, Alyson McDonough and sister, Madeleine, who will always be my number one proof-reader for these blog posts.

It's also amazing to see just how much networking can happen while making conversation with friends and acquaintances, old and new. Thank you to everyone who has provided me with invaluable tips and anecdotes, keep them coming!

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I received my first stack of beginner English books from a student at Bowdoin College; those books are sitting on top of a box full of Tibetan clothing items that will be for sale at the fund raising events. Thank you to Dockpo Tra (founder and director of GSD) for providing me with the clothing.

On my "to do" list:

-Continue working towards a second fundraiser event, a Movie and Discussion Night with a simultaneous book drive. The Tibetan Women's Association has graciously donated the documentary movie "Voices In Exile," which would be a great generator of discussion; there is also a movie out there called "Daughters Of Everest," which is a story about four Tibetan and Chinese women who were the first women to scale Everest, and is a great microcosm of women rising to the top in the face of extreme barriers. Hopefully, this event will become a reality, and I look forward to the good discussion it will generate.

-I would like to contact Stephanie Goodell and Michelle Lepore with Tibetan Women Leadership Programs to obtain a tool called the "Wellness Wheel" that is designed to give young Tibetan woman a holistic sense of their personal well-being, instead of measuring themselves by the standards of a society that is largely in favor of marginalizing women.

-Dockpo Tra, the founder and director of GSD, has a business plan in mind to build a hotel near the home in Tibet, the income of which will provide for the expansion of GSD to incorporate 70 more girls, creating a total inhabitancy at the home of 100 girls. With his permission, I would like to help Dockpo obtain a small business grant to get the building of the hotel started. I did a little research into the Gates Foundation, and think we may have an option there, but I need to do some more digging.

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On a personal note, there is now little over a month between now and my departure on March 9 for Tibet. Mixed feelings? Yes, but I am much more anticipatory than not, and trying to keep a cap on assumptions or projections of what life will be like in Tibet. I know only this: it will be the culture shock of a lifetime. Please continue to send emails, letters, and well-wishes, it is such a delight to receive them.

I have a couple doctor's appointments this month to receive vaccinations for Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Typhoid, Yellow Fever and Rabies. I don't have to receive a Malaria vaccination as I will be living at 13,000 feet above sea level, and at a climate that is too cold for the Tsetse fly, the carrier of the Malaria disease, to survive.

I am in the process of applying for my Chinese Visa, which will permit me to travel in the Tibet Autonomous Region, which is in China.

And yes, as per the title of this post, I am beginning my foray into the Tibetan language which is proving much less difficult than I previously thought, due largely to the book Willy gave me.

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More updates to come as they arrive, like the status of my proposals for sponsorship to LL Bean and The North Face, as well as a request for donation to the scholarship fund from the McKeen Center For Common Good on the Bowdoin College campus.

On an esoteric note, I just finished re-reading an old favorite, "The Sun Also Rises," by Ernest Hemingway, and I include this quote as a call to arms for everyone who is of a similar mindset, and to those who are not, from Hemingway's character Robert Cohn;

"'Listen, Jake,' he leaned forward on the bar. 'Don't you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you're not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you've lived half the time you have to live already?'"

An Introduction and Welcome

2009-01-05T13:43:00.005-05:00

Dear Friend,

My name is Geneva Wilgus, and I live with my family in Mid Coast Maine. I am taking this year "on," between my sophomore and junior years, in order to pursue some different interests. I attended Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio after recruitment to their nationally ranked debate team. After two years, I withdrew and came home to Maine, and began coaching debate at my alma mater Brunswick High School as well as substitute teaching for the Brunswick district. I also volunteer with Rick Wilson at Brunswick High School for the Service Learning classes and work with a few other independent projects.

This year has provided me with clarity and vision, and I am realizing more about myself than I ever did on a college campus. While in the process of transferring schools, I am also switching majors from Political Communication to Education, possibly pursuing a degree in high school English from Goddard College in Vermont.

Beyond the physical plans, I am re-dedicating myself to the philosophy that everyone should serve, in one aspect or another and am thus planning a three-month stay at the Golok Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls in the Qinghai Province, Tibet, China, beginning in early March, ending in early June. This blog is dedicated to the before, during and after of this trip, and I encourage you to stay connected with me through this journey. I will always be available to talk should you have comments, concerns, advice, anecdotes or if you would like to volunteer in a similar aspect. If you are a student and would like to base a service project around this trip, I am excited for you and invite you to contact me so I can hear your ideas.

My email is gmwilgus@gmail.com; please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thank you, friend, for reading.

Geneva

Who You Are and How You Help

2009-01-05T13:14:00.011-05:00

There will be a numerous amount of people following this blog, and I'd like to highlight each group in order to address their purpose and involvement. This will change as the preparation moves forward, and this certainly is not an exhaustive list.

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Regardless of which category you fall in to, any support you can provide will be immeasurable. Whether you send money, books, academic supplies or simply remain in touch through the blog or email, your support means that you care about this international initiative and the furthering of education everywhere.

If you would like to send money, make your check out to the Omprakash Foundation so that your donation will be tax deductible. The priority for the allocation of funds is as follows:

1.) I still need $400 to complete my travel costs.
2.) After I have raised the $400, all other donations will go to the benefit of the home. Whatever is raised beyond the $400 will be generously matched by the Omprakash Foundation, up to $1,500.
3.) If you prefer to donate specifically to my travel costs, Golok Sengcham Drukmo, or the scholarship fund, please indicate that in the "Memo" of the check. Make all checks out to "The Omprakash Foundation" so that you can claim your tax deduction.
4.) Mail all checks/donations to:

Geneva Wilgus
21 Main Rd.
Phippsburg, ME 04562

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Participating in this project:

-Elementary School Students: Susie Knowles' fifth-grade classroom of Longfellow Elementary will not only be participating in the book swap project (full description under the "Project Narrative" posting) but they will be following the path of their books as they influence these 30 school girls in Tibet. As with all participating schools, this will build a bridge from one classroom to another as we proceed with the ideal that the potential for education is not bound by international borders.

-Pacific Ridge School Students: This new, progressive school located in Carlsbad, CA will be following the journey, as some students complete independent projects associated with the trip.

-Brunswick High School Students: The members of Rick Wilson's Service Learning classes at Brunswick High School will be following the blog, and perhaps gearing their required service hours and/or Independent Service Project towards the benefit of the home.

-Curtis Memorial Library is excited to begin moving towards partnership with GSD, and will stay in touch with the home long after I am back in the States. This blog will serve as a supplement to what I'm sure will be a long-lasting relationship. I will be able to report on the uses and benefits of the partnership, in every capacity.

-Individual donors who have given either to the scholarhip fund, to my travel costs, or to Golok Sengcham Drukmo, will remain interested in my particular experience, the details of how their donations are used, and how the education of these girls proceeds.

-The Omprakash Foundation will be remaining in very close contact with me, as I am now a happy representative of the organization. I am responsible for maintaining the good name of Omprakash and will be the eyes and ears of many different people groups across the world as we take a look in to the life and education of another culture.

-Friends and Family will be intently following my journey simply because they know me and care about my well-being. To them, I say thank you for your interest and concern, I will be sure to provide as much detail as I can.

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To anyone who has stumbled across this blog, I say Welcome! Stop back in, send me an email, I will always be happy to talk about this project both now, during and after.

Resources

2009-01-05T12:52:00.005-05:00

Take some time to glance at the foundation that is making this trip possible:

The Omprakash Foundation: www.omprakash.org

They have awarded me a $1,000 grant to help defray cost of travel. This organization is educational and truly committed to a humble spirit of international service.

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The Golok Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls is located in the Qinghai Province of Tibet, China. They have a blog that you should take a look at:

www.trahelpsgirls.blogspot.com

and here is their page on the Omprakash website:

http://omprakash.org/partners/goloksengchamdrukmohomeforgirls

Dockpo Tra has dedicated himself to the care of these 30 young girls, and is providing them with the tools to become active and empowered in a society that can be entirely oppressive and geared towards the marginalization of women.

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The Tibetan Women's Association: http://www.tibetanwomen.org/

Should you be interested to read more about the specific region in Tibet where I will be living, or if you have questions about the political situation, I have found these websites to be helpful:

This is the standard CIA World Factbook website that provides invaluable information about geography, economy, political situation, religion etc:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html

The Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions are something I studied in my Inter-Cultural Communications class at Cedarville University, and I have maintained using this source because of its unique analysis for the reasons behind cultural differences:

http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_china.shtml

The next two links talk about basic customs, travel tips, climate, vaccinations, diet, etc.

http://www.tibet-tour.com/tibet/tibetan-custom.html

http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/TibPages/Travel/travel-faq.html

Here's a great article from National Geographic:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0204/feature1/

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I will continue to update this post with other sources as I tackle my reading list.

Project Narrative

2009-01-05T12:43:00.005-05:00

Omprakash Foundation: Project Narrative

-Location: Golok Sengcham Drukmo Home for Girls, Qinghai Province, Tibet, China

-Timing and Duration: March 1, 2009 – June 1, 2009 (Three months total)

-Focus of service: Teaching English, Geography, Personal Hygiene, general care of thirty girls

Description of the mission of the organization I will be working with:

The “biggest dream” of the GSD Home is “to enable every Tibetan girl to get an education. Then they will be able to stand up and choose whatever they want to do in their life. Until that day, we won’t stop working.” GSD provides thirty impoverished and disenfranchised girls with:

An education, emphasis on literacy

A loving home, quality health care and career options

The tools to become an empowered woman, rather than a subservient household figure

Type of service I will be doing and the issue I will be addressing through the service:

-Maria, the co-director of the home, has asked me to teach the girls English, Geography, personal hygiene, and be flexible in terms of the other tasks that will present themselves. I am prepared to work hard at all service that will be needed at this home.

Additionally: As I prepare to volunteer in March, there are a couple different things I am working on to supplement this process.

-I am investigating a partnership with the Tibetan Women's Association, more specifially with their Tibetan Women Leadership Program (TWLP) in the hopes that some of the older girls from GSD can attend the leadership program. TWLP also has unique ideas for self-improvement (in terms of quality of life) for young Tibetan women, and I would love to implement some of their ideas. I have also contacted the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

-Longfellow Elementary School, Susie Knowles' 5th Grade Class will be writing a book (each student providing a page) about a typical American school day. I will have this book published, hopefully through charitable donation of a publisher, or through my fundraising efforts. I will bring copies of this book with me to the home in Tibet and share it with the girls there. Then, the girls in Tibet will do the same, I will publish it upon my return (same procedure and company), and use that book to share with the Longfellow classroom, as well as to raise awareness about the GSD Home. Copies of each book will be given to the community library (Curtis Memorial), as well as to all local, participating school libraries. Books will also be available for sale (or free with suggested donation), with all proceeds going to the GSD Home.

I have established a great rapport with this 5th grade class as I was their long-term substitute teacher while Mrs. Susie Knowles was out with neck surgery. Mrs. Knowles and I are also planning on maintaining contact while I am in Tibet, (through blog, and maybe video chat depending on technological capabilities) so that her classroom will see this other culture and these other school children, as well as the results of their book.

-I have created the Brunswick Scholarship fund for the post-secondary plans and education of girls at GSD.

-Curtis Memorial Library has most graciously agreed to become the partner to the fledgling library at GSD, and I am excited to participate in an upcoming Friends of Curtis Library board meeting in order to discuss the details of that relationship. It will, at the very least, involve the annual donation of children's books to the GSD Library.

-I am planning book drives, book swaps, movie and discussion nights, and other similar activities in order to boost the amount of educational material at the home.

-Beyond those particular project initiatives, I will be writing letters, hosting dinners and using all resources in my grasp to talk to people about this home and raise funds to donate for the good of the home.