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Thirty days on the mountains

By Dolma  /  April 4, 2013;

When I was in Tibet, I lived with my aunt because in my home there were seven siblings.  My siblings didn’t get an education like me.  During winter, my younger brothers and sisters worked in the fields and during summer they went with the nomads.  When I was in Tibet, I went to school to learn medicine, but during that time I was very naughty and didn’t study hard.  My teacher was very scary and he beat me and gave me very hard punishment.  Sometimes when I saw him I scurried away but he was very good at catching children who ran away!

My younger brother, my sister and I escaped from Tibet to India.  I was eight years old, my younger brother seven and my sister was nine years old.  We came with our father to Lhasa, he went home leaving us with our aunt where we lived for three months.  Then she brought us to India to study.  We slept on the mountain from 6am to 6pm at night, and from 6pm at night to 6am in the morning we walked.  We walked like this for 30 days.  On the way, we got into much trouble.

We were very afraid because we thought that the Chinese would catch us and put us in prison. Also, on the way our food and drink was finished and some days we had to beg.  We saw one person die on the way while he was escaping from Tibet, and also one yak which died when a river flooded.  During that time I was very afraid because I thought that we would die.

But suddenly we arrived in Nepal.  At the boundary there were police but we hid in a truck and they put so many tables on us, and also many other things to hide us when we reached the border.  They checked the truck, when we heard the police walking on the table I was very afraid and started vomiting.  There was nowhere to vomit so I used a plastic bag.

We entered Nepal and we were free to go where we wanted.  We reached Dharamsala and lived in the Reception here for 3 months, after which I went to school at Gopalpur.  After six months they sent me and my younger brother and sister and some other students to the school in the south at Bylakuppe.  The first time I went to school I missed my family very much, but now it was too late.  When I was at home I didn’t obey my parents.  Now I regret this very much, and am grateful to my teacher in Tibet because he made me into a good student and taught me many things when I was there.  At the time I was very afraid of him because he beat me but now I understand very well, and have learned that whatever you do, think first!

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