It was a nice trip by autoriksha. From Dharamsala, we climbed high to the green hills for about 20 min. The village itself was enveloped in what seemed like a permanent cloud of myst.
In the office, Tashi, a Tibetan woman dressed in traditional cloths, showed us around: we walked into a few family unit homes, small structures with a simple uncarpeted central hall with low benches along its perimeter, where children do their homework, prey and play, a kitchen, and two bedrooms (separate for boys and girls). There was about 30 kids for each household and one surrogate mother.
Kids of various ages are placed into a household so that the older ones can help look after the young ones. Surrogate mothers are mostly former graduate of the school, who undergo 2 years of training (in classroom as well as hands on apprenticeship)
Tashi who worked in the village for 17 years explained that the village was a brain child of H.H. Dali Lama and his sister Pema was the head of this project for many years. Tibetans are very much concerned with the preservation of Tibetan Culture, which is a huge undertaking in this community in exile.
Tibetans who remain under Chinese occupation become Cinefied-meaning that Tibetan children has no choice but study in Chinese, learning only about Chinese culture and heritage. Even in India, Tibetans until very recently have went through
educational system which has left them ignorant of their roots.
Apparently there is still a huge migration of Tibetans out of Tibet to India and Nepal. Tibetan parents hire guides who for a fee agree to smuggle kids across the Himalayas to Nepal (and then to India)-often, children are very young, yet have to walk long distances across strenuous mountainous terrain, at night, for about 1-2- months before they reach safety. In winter, some develop severe frostbites requiring amputations. Under Chinese rule, Tibetan families are allowed to have only two children: having a third child is a punishable offence. Tibetan women , pregnant with their third child either attempt to come to India to give birth (and then leave their child in Tibetan Village) or smuggle their children across the border.
Although the facilities are pretty basic (we did not see many toys, TV etc), the kids seem to be well loved and taken care of. Tashi stopped from time to time to talk to a small kid, wipe her nose.
I asked Tashi if to her knowledge there is a difference between Tibetan and western system of education. She thought that in traditional Tibetan household, grandparents play an important role of looking after young kids, to the extent that children relate to them as their main parents. She also thought that Tibetans are morel likely to correct their kids and explain proper behaviour early on in their development. After some further thinking, she added that Buddhism plays a big role in emphasizing compassion: "when we prey, we never prey for ourselves, not even for our children..we prey for happiness of all beings, humans and animals alike. This way we are automatically included.."
On our way back, Teodora and I wondered about what it is like for a Tibetan mother to give away her child to be educated in India, knowing she will never see him/her
again..Perhaps, been brought up in a tradition where there is a lesser sense of "me" and "mine", the child is seen less belonging "to me", and more a part of a Tibetan culture at large. Perhaps for them continuation of Tibetan culture is more important then personal attachment.. Perhaps.
May be it is too idealistic to think that on our part.
We felt very good being able to share the money we have collected at our wedding (thanks again to all your generous donations!!!!) with the Village. Tashi told us that the money will support those children who have not been individually supported.
you can view more pictures from Tibetan Children's Village at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69781927@N00/sets/72157601889944923/detail/
