Educating Tibetan Bon Children and Youth

My name is Paljor Lhundup. I was born on November 6^th in Guwahati in Assam, India. I am from Lubra, a small village in Mustang, Nepal. I was born in Assam because my parents were doing some business there during the winter. My father’s name is Dawa and my mother’s name is Dickey. I have two brothers and a sister. Their names are Nyima Tsering, Tsering Wangyal and Sonam Lhamo respectively.

I began studies in my village in primary school. There I studied Nepali language, but there is no Tibetan language there and the facilities are not so good. So in 2001, at the age of six, I came to the peaceful village of Dholanji, Himachal Pradesh in India to study and further my education. Later I was advanced from primary school to C.S.P. in Dholanji. There I studied five subjects: English language, General Science, Tibetan language, Social Studies and Mathematics. When I first joined the school there were about 250 students and classes were offered up to eighth grade. Now there are nearly 600 students and we have classes that go all the way through to high-school. 

In primary school classes I always used to play in the classroom with my friends and learn for a short amount of time. When I was in the standard sixth grade class I realized that education is very important in our life. There is a quote that says, “A person without education is like a bird without wings.” After understanding that I started to pay attention to what the teacher explained.  Recently, I successfully completed the ninth class. I am fond of traveling to new places, listening to music and playing football. My favorite hobby is playing football with my friends. My favorite subject is mathematics because there is so much calculation, puzzle games, mind games and puzzle questions, etc. I like the colors black and white.

In my home village there are nearly twenty families and most of them are farmers. There is a small school with nearly sixty-five students and which goes up to the fifth grade class level. Students come from nearby villages to learn there. Many of their parents are farmers and they do not have a chance to study in a good school. Because of this, many of them remain unemployed. In the future I want to do something about that.

The head monastery of the Bon religion is in Dholanji, as is the head Spiritual Leader of Bon H.H. and  the thirty-third seminary Trizin Rinpoche. We wear monk cloths and go to prayer in the monastery once a week.  By the grace of the Spiritual Leader, I received free hostel facilities, food, clothing, education, etc. I will be very thankful to him for my entire life.  Thank you.

Please remember that Wednesday, June 13^th (beginning at 12:01 AM EST) is a Bonus Day through Global Giving.  Donations received that day will be provided a matching gift of 30, 40 or 50 percent.