Educating Tibetan Bon Children and Youth

Thank you so much for your continued support and interest in our project! As you can see above, the students at the Bon Children’s Welfare Center (BCWC) were all given new backpacks! Thank you for helping give this gift to the children.

We’d like to share with you a short essay written by a young man named Lhawang. Lhawang is in the eleventh grade, and has written about the value of education both in his life and for everyone. While many of the students are orphans, some to the students like Lhawang have come to the BCWC because there are no opportunities for an education in the villages where they live. Coming to the monastery is the only way that students like Lhawang can receive an education. Here is a bit about his story, in his words.

The Value of Education

In my childhood, it was my thinking that getting an education was a boring venture and would be a complete waste of my time. I didn’t want to study in my school life, but I was completely wrong. One day my father advised me very seriously that nowadays education is in so much demand that without education people can’t do anything and it is a vital part of life. A person without education is like a man without eyes. If we have education we have a great chance to become an engineer, a doctor, a teacher, a pilot, a writer, any other respectable job, even prime minister of a country. Education makes us more perfect human beings and teaches us how to live with other people. These traits are developed in us just because of the education that we get in our life here at school. Life here at school is the most joyful and the happiest period in one’s life. Every day we get to learn new things. In school the teachers show us the right path of life. We get many opportunities to do different activities for our betterment. We also have a lot of time to study. So, the students should give their studies their full attention. If we don’t’ have an education, we cannot get jobs and cannot fulfill our ambitions of becoming a successful person. We all should know the value and significance of getting an education. My father has completely changed my life by giving me this simple advice. My father told me that I have to study hard because I am the eldest son of the family, the oldest of my brothers and sisters, so I have the greatest amount of responsibility. Thus, it becomes extremely essential for me to get my education in a proper way. For this reason, my father sent me to this monastery. There was no way for me to get an education in the village where I lived. Once I came here I began to study hard for my future and for my family. Now, I am in the eleventh grade and am working hard to fulfill the responsibility that is on my shoulder. I now understand the value of an education.