The Dogga School: Founder Rinchen Tsering
Rinchen Tsering |
The Dogga Adult Education Center is the vision of the
director, Rinchen Tsering. Rinchen Tsering came out of
Tibet in 1997 at the age of nineteen. Raised in the Eastern
part of Tibet known as Amdo, he was a shepherd from the
age of seven, herding sheep in the meadows and mountains of
Tibet. Rinchen was taught to read by his grandfather, but
never attended school. Early on his grandparents who cared
for and raised him, recognized that if he received formal
schooling, the chances were great that he would leave
the family. Because of this, schooling was discouraged,
as was Rinchen's fondness for reading.
"In the summers, when I would head for the
mountains with the sheep, I would go to the local school
where the teacher, who was very kind to me, would allow me
to check out 80 to 100 books — novels, books on geography,
history, medical books, how-to books on a variety of
subjects (including knitting — how to make a sweater)
children's stories, adventure and manuals on how to operate
machines. I would pack these books on an extra horse
that belonged to one of the other villagers and take them
with me to the mountains for the summer. My grandfather
didn't know that I took these books with me. All summer,
while the sheep grazed, I would read. Sometimes when my
grandfather would talk about me to others, he would say,
"Rinchen is a good boy. He doesn't smoke, he doesn't
drink, but he has a bad habit — he reads."
When I was eighteen, my elder brother/uncle told me
that he had heard that people could go to India and get
an education. We all knew that people werer going to
India, but for us it seemed like an impossible story —
no one we knew could do this. He thought I should go. At
first I couldn't imagine how I could go as I had the
responsibility to tend the sheep and take care of my
grandparents. My uncle said that he would take over this
responsibility. That I didn't need to worry about the
family. I could go. So my uncle is the greatest, he has
given me the chance to become educated.
An English class at The Dogga.
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At the age of nineteen, I joined 32 other people of all
ages who formed a group, with two guides, and began the
journey to escape from Tibet into freedom in India. My
uncle knew, but I didn't tell my grandparents because they
would definitely have stopped me. The journey itself took
us across ice filled rivers where the adults carried the
children on their shoulders through the water. We crossed
the mountain passes with each person carrying just their
own food and a blanket. Everyone could only take out what
they could carry for themselves. I wanted to bring books
from Tibet, but didn't, thinking that I would be able
to get wonderful books in Tibetan when I arrived in the
refugee communities in India. We traveled by truck for six
days from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet and then walked for
22 days until we crossed the border into Nepal. Along the
way I became very ill and couldn't eat for days. I was so
weak that I could hardly walk. Everyone was very worried
about me, I thought I was going to die. I only recovered
when we were a few days outside of Kathmandhu, Nepal.
When I arrived in McLeod Ganj, I lived and attended
classes at the Tibetan Transit School for more than a year,
studying English. There were 700 other students, all who
had escaped from Tibet. Later I went to the city of Shimla
to study English and Hindi and then returned to McLeod
Ganj. It was upon my return that I realized the sad state
of adult education in McLeod, the main Tibetan refugee
community in India. I came back to start a magazine with
friends, but then decided that I would rather start a free
school for adults — that an adult school was more important
at this time."
Currently, Rinchen is looking for long term experienced
teachers to help develop a solid lesson plan and curriculum
for The Dogga school.
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