A Shoulder to Lean On. At the end of August of 2017, the golden autumn was crisp...

2017-11-12

At the end of August of 2017, the golden autumn was crisp and refreshing. Our eight-person "I Love Tibet" group boarded our plane on the east coast of China. Our destination - Lhasa, located 10,000 feet above sea level on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This trip would welcome newcomers, Jay Ma from Berkshire School and Julia Zhu from Hockaday School, on their inaugural trips to Tibet.

After arriving in Lhasa, our first stop was to visit our elderly friend, Pema, in Namu Village. A widower from years ago, Pema lives alone and would be our on-site person for happenings in the local villages. In the village, most people live in stone-built houses. The typical Tibetan house has a flat roof with many windows and simple in structure and color. As part of their distinctive native style, Tibetan houses are often built on elevated sunny sites facing the south. In Pema's garden, the giant reflector in the middle of the yard uses sunlight to heat a tea pot that is placed at the solar focal point. It worked incredibly well.

At one point, our team visited a leper colony consisting of around seventy families located 12,000 feet up on a mountain outside of Lhasa. After an hour drive, we arrived at the village and distributed various daily living necessities and food to the community. "Although we knew the dangers beforehand about leprosy, we stayed firmly committed to our goal of serving their community" commented Aaron Mao, a Kent School rising sophomore.

As we prepared to depart, Tezin, the local Lama, offered us her heartfelt and serene thanks. When you walk out of the village and look back, yak skulls and colorful flags can be seen waving high above the villagers' homes. "What a people, what a culture!" exclaimed Aaron Mao. "For everything that they've been through, in such a harsh and unforgiving environment, the people here are an example to us all for their resilience and courage."