Offer the best help to Tibetan leprosy families to celebrate the World Leprosy Day
2023-01-17
Bringing love to Tibetan Leprosy families to celebrate the World Leprosy Day
Love Without Borders 2023
Lhasa, Tibet, China
Jan. 14, 2023
We finally kicked off our 2023 Love Without Borders Tibet tour! On a beautiful, crisp winter’s day, we virtually joined our Tibetan partners and embarked on an hour-long trek from Lhasa to an isolated leprosy village nestled in the mountain ranges of Qüxü County, Tibet. Our mission is to extend aid and raise awareness of the needs of Tibetan people suffering from Hansen’s disease, or leprosy. It seemed fitting that our mission launches in the weeks approaching World Leprosy Day, which officially lands on January 29, 2023. What would start out as a typical day for the Tibetan villagers of the leprosarium in Qüxü would soon transform into an unforgettable international celebration, which was all made possible thanks to the efforts of our student volunteers across five countries!
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we unfortunately could not visit and carry out the project personally, as in previous years. But that didn’t stop us! Rather than be defeated, we persevered and managed to find a way to extend aid with help from some Tibetan volunteers; children from the Tibetan orphanages for the visually impaired that we had helped in past campaigns and a veteran of service who we all refer to as Brother Gaisang served as our domestic liaisons and assisted us in our goal of spreading goodwill to the Qüxü villagers.
Brother Gaisang (“Gaisang” is the Standard Tibetan name of a species of hardy deciduous flowering shrubs that grow in mountainous regions of the country) was our eyes, ears, and hands throughout the day. Although we could not be there physically, we were able to virtually accompany him throughout the journey via camera. When the day arrived, Brother Gaisang set off from Lhasa to Qüxü and took us into the mountains of Tibet to deliver our donations. At nine o'clock in the morning, Beijing time, we logged on from the US, Canada, Australia, South Korea, and China and eagerly waited for our mission to begin. Before setting off, Brother Gaisang showed us the collection of supplies that we had gathered to give to the villagers. Our donations included rice, ghee, various cooking oils, sugar, soy sauce, beef, and vegetables. He loaded all of these goods onto a truck and then we were off to Qüxü. Brother Gaisang led the hour-long journey while the children followed behind in a van.
As the vehicles rumbled up the mountains, Xinzhu (Julie) Chen from Tsinghua University High School in Beijing, China reflected on the incredible moments from the fundraisers of the past year. She proudly thought about how much Love Without Borders had grown, from a handful of hopeful students wanting to make positive change in the world to a developed organization that spanned 7 different time zones worldwide. Many a late night and early morning was spent planning, fundraising, and carrying out campaign after campaign, but each year our efforts paid off. This year, we managed to raise more than $18,000 USD for the villagers of Qüxü within just 3 months.
As we proceeded to our destination, Brother Gaisang had his assistant prop the camera to the passing scenery and introduce local scenic spots along the way to the village. "Look! There’s Potala Palace!" Even through the lens of a video camera, we could see the majesty of the palace, its golden roof gleaming in the sun and great silhouette guarding over the high mountain. Every now and again the feed would cut out as, Brother Gaisang passed through tunnels and valleys, until we reached peak of the mountain range, where there was nothing but sharp, steep cliffs and grand overhangs for miles. Fellow student volunteer Kairui (Kerry) Zhou, a junior from Kent School, a private boarding school in Connecticut, explained that it wasn’t possible for flora to grow on rocky terrain at such high altitudes, the climate didn’t allow it.
Chloe Mao, a sophomore at the Rhode Island Design of School, Kent School alum, and Love Without Borders group leader from 2019 to 2020 then brought everybody’s attention to the children following close behind them. “Look everybody, our blind brothers and sisters are putting their hands on the shoulders of their peers as they’re approaching!
“Through our fundraisers, we have learned the value of lending a hand to others, and how important it is to support each other, especially when we are down,” commented Xinzhu (Julie) Chen. That’s what it means to be a Love Without Borders volunteer. Through this organization, and specifically this project, we realized that when everybody contributes a drop of ghee, the lamp’s flames burn brighter, rise higher, and last longer. What I mean is when we work together, we can achieve so much more than when we’re divided. In our case, we managed to help over 80 families in Tibet who are suffering from blindness or leprosy.
When we finally made it to the leprosy village, our hosts came out to greet us. As our offerings were unloaded, the villagers wasted no time in extending the warmest smiles and hugs, ensuring that we felt completely welcome. We were then brought to the community gathering hall where the people of the village were politely waiting for us to start the show we’d prepared. Our online volunteers were broadcasted onto a monitor.
Xinzhu (Julie) Chen and Kairui (Kerry) Zhou opened the show with some heartfelt remarks and introduced the online guests one by one as they performed their talents over the livestream. Then the spotlight switched to the orphans. Accompanied by the accordion and the dranyen, a traditional Tibetan string instrument, the children started to sing and for a moment the world seemed to stop. Only the sweet voices of the choir could be heard, touching the hearts of every listener. Zhikai (Oscar) Wang, a Love Without Borders group leader 2021 attending the University of Pennsylvania, followed the children’s performance with a piano sonata composed by Beethoven Waldstein and then another volunteer from Las Vegas, Nevada Lulu performed her rendition of “A Dream of Red Mansions” from the famous opera of the same name. Xinzhu (Julie) Chen then sang four traditional Tibetan songs, such as Tenzin Nyima's "The Brightest Star in the Night Sky.” Her choice of song was intentional. Through her performance, she wanted to unite everyone and ensure that the Tibetan helpers and villagers felt included and appreciated. Yang (Martin) Zhao and Xuyang (Jerry) Zhang, both from American Heritage School, Plantation, Florida, on behalf of all online 30 members greeted and paid respected our blind sisters and brothers, and over 80 leprosy members in the village. “Happy Tibetan New Year (Feb. 21, 2023)!” They cheered in Standard Tibetan.
“Watching the performance of the children, those who we had once helped, was especially meaningful to me,” commented Xinzhu (Julie) Chen. “It really put everything into perspective. We can see, and we take that for granted, yet they cannot and live each day to the fullest. They worked with us to deliver aid to another underserved group. And they even performed for the villagers of the leprosarium. Leprosy is stigmatized in Tibetan society, but despite this the children still decided to help with this project. They did not allow bias to sway them from doing what was right. They truly live by the message of their song, ‘there is no limit to life as long as you keep trying.’ I was inspired by their courage, capability, and optimism.”
To close the show, Brother Gaisang led the villagers to an open courtyard at the back of the village hall. Esteemed monks from the Dang Debate Monastery located nearby were there to bless the saplings we had donated to the village. Then, the children planted the baby saplings together with their teachers and the villagers. The joyous occasion was imprinted on each volunteer lucky enough to bear witness to the event. We watched as those who we’d helped came together to extend aid to another underserved group. It was a moment that reminded us all why we do what we do and how we leave lasting impact through our good work.
The technology supporting the livestream was set up by Kairui (Kerry) Zhou, a junior at Kent School and the Kent Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. “Undertaking the task of activity organizer and live host is both a challenging and transformative experience for the team,” commented Kairui (Kerry) Zhou. “Managing the technological problems, unexpected situations, time differences, and coordinating other logistics to allow us all to connect across four different continents around the world was a great feat. We rehearsed endlessly to guarantee today’s success. As the chief technology officer, I had to be an effective leader. As a team, we all had to be flexible, considerate, and confront every challenge head-on! And ensure we had backups for every situation, haha!”
Kairui (Kerry) Zhou’s efforts were appreciated not only by his team, but by the other organization’s leaders as well. Xinzhu (Julie) Chen said “Collaborating with Kairui (Kerry) Zhou to co-host our live online activity was a great experience. We had quite a challenge ahead of us, so we rehearsed our lines and pacing. We also had to come up with solutions to possible problems prior to the event, and because we live in two different countries that are 13 hours apart, our rehearsals were taxing to say the least. We really wanted to put on a seamless event for our Tibetan volunteers and the villagers. And it was worth it all in the end. Our hard work paid off. Today was a testament to what true collaboration is. We used our talents and differences to create something amazing together.”
Finally, as the ceremony began to wind down to the tune of Alan Dawa Dolma’s signature melody “Potala Palace,” scholarships were awarded to four students from the leprosy village and four children from the orphanage. As organization leader, Xinzhu (Julie) Chen gave a speech during the ceremony on behalf of Love Without Borders.
Xinzhu (Julie) Chen laughed: “I felt there was a lot of weight on my shoulders giving a speech as a representative of Love Without Borders. I hope our message was clear. We aimed to express our whole-hearted gratitude to everyone who loved and cared for our Tibetan friends today. Our sincerest hope is that while both the villagers suffering from leprosy and the blind children face many challenges ahead, they will still be able to thrive and live a life filled with love and happiness.”
People living with leprosy are often stigmatized, and for this reason, they are often isolated and removed from their friends and relatives. As a volunteer for this project, we believe that we need to speak on this issue, raise awareness, and inform people about the truth of leprosy and dispel the stigma surrounding this disease. We hope that one day, these kind souls can break free from their isolation and re-integrate into society. We have a long way to go, but nothing is impossible when love flows beyond borders. By working together, we can break down the walls in our world and in our hearts.
Written by:
Xinzhu (Julie) Chen, Kairui (Kerry) Zhou, Zhikai (Oscar) Wang, Jiawei (Chloe) Mao
Yang (Martin) Zhao, and Xuyang (Jerry) Zhang
Love Without Borders Group / US-China Youth Leadership Team
Check out the Highlights video made by Xinzhu (Julie) Chen on YouTube!
Learn more about Leprosy:
From National Library of Medicine - National Center for Biotechnology Information
From World Health Organization
From Health Resources & Services Administration