Visitors on one of Nepal’s many arduous treks through the mountains, including the infamous Everest, will encounter tiny, primitive villages—bundles of stone and mud huts really—nestled in the crooks of a mountain pass and spilling into the small patches of arid land that dot the countryside. They’ll see rosy cheeked apple-doll children playing around women bent in their labours of washing clothes or making food. They tend their small fi elds with oxen and wooden hoes while the smell of yak dung being burned for heat permeates the crisp mountain air. One is struck by both the beauty of this unspoiled atmosphere—a place where time seems to have stood still—and the peaceful vibrance of the people there. Wide smiles engulf time-engraved faces as gracious hospitality from their meager supplies is offered to trekkers in need. Despite the deprivations, the thin air, lack of food and water, no heat or electricity, no books or schools, these people seem so happy. What must they think of us in our Gortex gear and fancy hiking boots? I often wondered what went through our Sherpas’ minds as they glided gracefully along in their flip flops, carrying our gear on their backs as we trudged along, heads bent with fatigue, arms supported by walking sticks. I got the impression that they found us rather amusing.

It would never have occurred to me as I traveled in Nepal that I would one day encounter two girls from those remote villages attending BSS. Their homes seemed a million miles away and many lifetimes behind the urban amenities we enjoy here. How could these girls be transplanted from no running water to BSS boarding? Just imagine us heading off to Nepal to live with a village family for a while. No indoor plumbing, subsistence farming offering a slim menu for dinner, no heat in the frosty mountain air, sleeping on mats on the floor with the rest of the family, and picking up stakes
every season, to journey across the treacherous terrain to reach viable farming and grazing land in the winter months. No, I can’t either.

But for 16-year-old Dolma Tsering and 14-year-old Tashi Lama, that transition was made and a discussion with these two poised and gracious girls does not immediately reveal their
other worldly beginnings.

Both girls were part of a successful experiment by the Shree Mangal Dvip (SMD) school in Kathmandu which has had enormous success in providing an education for children from these mountain villages. As part of their vision, they’ve secured foreign placement for some children so they can continue their education.

A group of generous BSS parents led by Susie and Vahan Kololian and their daughter, Old Girl Tanya KOLOLIAN ’06, raised funds to help first Dolma, then Tashi join BSS boarding. This parent-led initiative is transforming the lives of these two girls who in turn are committed to returning to their respective villages and bringing their education and skills to the children there.

SG: Tell me a little about your villages. I understand you both come from very similar environments. What is it like there?

TL: I grew up in a family of nine. We lived in a small mud and stone cottage without beds, electricity, running water—nothing modern. We all slept on mats on the fl oor. You have to
trek by foot for a week to get to Kathmandu.

DT: Mine is very similar. There are 100 people in my village—it’s very small. In the spring and winter when it’s cold we move around to follow grazing land for the animals. It takes a lot of preparation and days of travel by foot with all of our possessions. It’s like camping. You cook on an open fi re and stay in tents. The very fi rst tourists we saw trekking in the mountains were Japanese. After that we called all tourists “Japans.”

SG: So, what on earth do young teens do in your villages? No television, video games, coffee shops, cell phones…what happened when the work was fi nished for the day and evening began?

DT: Kids often gather together in one of the houses and just do weaving or something and talk. When we were little, my mother used to tell us stories at night.

SG: How did you end up at the SMD school in Kathmandu? How would you even have heard of it?

DT: My uncle was a monk who worked in the monastery where the founder of the school was also a monk. He was the one who came to my village to get me, after persuading my parents that it was a good idea. As the eldest in the family, they needed me for work.

TL: It’s the same for me. My uncle was a monk in that monastery and that’s how we knew about the school.

SG: You both have been separated from your families for several years now. It is diffi cult to imagine what that must have been like at such young ages, particularly when there is no phone and no easy way of visiting each other. When was the last time you were home?

DT: I was away for six years and went back to my village in 2006 to get my passport to come here to Canada.

TL: I went back in 2007 to get my passport too. But my family did make regular visits to Kathmandu to see me when I was there.

SG: What was it like going back and seeing your homes through new eyes, having been out in the world a bit by then?

DT: It was good to be back. It reminds me to do better and how lucky I am. Other kids have no education and no opportunity. They don’t even have sanitation or electricity. I definitely want to go back when I’m fi nished my education in medicine. The village needs doctors and I want to go back to help.

TL: I want to do something in education and go back to my village to set up a school.

SG: It must have been so strange coming here to Toronto and to BSS. What was that transition like?

DT: It was weird coming to Toronto—there are so many different people and the lifestyle and technology was just totally different. At BSS there are people from all over and all of the boarders are away from home so you become closer as friends.

TL: BSS is a lot of work, but we learn so much. And there is a lot of fun stuff too.

SG: I assume you are both Buddhists. How does your religion factor into your lifestyle here?

TL: It calms me down. Sometimes I do meditation to keep me relaxed. Buddhism teaches me to be a better person.

DT: Whenever I feel I’m getting off track the philosophy guides me and makes me think twice before making decisions. In this frenetic world we live in, perhaps that’s something we could all stand to do.

Posted May 12, 2008 at 12:31am

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