Scholarship Winners: Phur Tenzin Sherpa and Parsang Sherpa

Phur Tenzin Sherpa B381 and Pasang Sherpa B382 have just been offered scholarships for Grades 11 & 12 on the Intenational Baccalaureate Diploma programme at the International Community School in Zurich. They will start in the summer of 2007.

ABOUT MY LIFE

By Phur Tenzin Sherpa B381

Hi! I am Phur Tenzin, studying in grade ‘X’. I am 15 years old. I have six members in my family including me. I was born in Solukhumbu in the Everest region, in the eastern side of Nepal on 18 th of May in 1991.

It was my bad luck to be born into such a poor family. When I was three years old, my parents quarreled with each other due to the economic problems and each went to their own parents’ home, leaving me behind. At that time I was cared for by my grandma.

After few months the villagers gathered to solve a problem. At the age of five I got sick, but there wasn’t any hospital in the village, so I was brought to Kathmandu for the treatment. Though we didn’t have enough money for the treatment my father, borrowed from my grandma. After the completion of the treatment, I went back to my village.

At the age of six years old, I was send to a government school where there weren’t any good or qualified teachers. It was a three hour walk from my home. Before going to school I had to go to the jungle (forest) for grass for the cattle to eat and after school I had to go to graze the cattle. In the absence of my father I also had to plough the fields.

I studied up to Grade three starting from L.K.G. (Lower Kindergarten). After completing Grade three, I was brought to Kathmandu with the help of my uncle. In Kathmandu I met Pasang, he and his family were also staying with my uncle and getting his help. I became very friendly with Pasang. Then we together joined SMD ( Shree Mangal Dvip Boarding School). I have been here with Pasang for six years.

When I was first time in SMD, I was amazed to see the huge school. Before I had to walk for three hours to reach the school but in SMD I was a hostel (dorm) student. I was very surprised to see the text books and the exercise books. It was hard for me at the beginning but later on I could easily adapt to the environment of the school. I have studied here from Grade four.

My performance in class is also very good. Now I am in Grade ten along with Pasang. I am having very good time in SMD and it has helped in many ways. Being in this school I came to know about Buddha dharma and am getting a modern education, including different sports and activities.

ABOUT MY LIFE

By Pasang Sherpa

Hi!! My name is Pasang Sherpa and I am now studying at Grade ten level. I am from Ramechhap district, which lies in the Himalayas in the eastern part of Nepal.

I was born in my village, which is on the main trail to Solukhumbu district. I was born in a very poor family, so poor that my parents were unable to look after me. So they thought of a plan to go to India to earn some amount of money to help our family get ahead. I went to India with my parents when I was just three months old. My parents worked in India for about two years and came back to Kathmandu to settle down.

On the way to kathmandu from India, my parents lost almost all the money which they had earned so far. It was stolen from them. And when they got to Kathmandu, it was great trouble for them to stay.

Later they found a job in small carpet factory from which we all could survive. At that time I was nearly 3 years old. My mother thought of a plan to send me to the school, but it was impossible because of our financial problems and also, I was too small to get into school. Anyhow, by saving little amounts of the money they earned* they managed to send me to school.

The income which they earned was insufficient for us to survive. So they stopped working at the carpet factory and opened a small hotel**. The hotel was also not running well but one Canadian guy often used to come there as a customer. One day my father asked him for a job and the Canadian kindly accepted my father’s words. He told us to stay in his house and work for him. So, it was a great pleasure to get an opportunity to work for him.

The Canadian guy had a Sherpa wife and two sons. When I was staying in his house, he brought one Sherpa boy called Pasang from Solukhumbu. We became good friends. We always used to study, play and eat together. It was the first time that I had such a good friend in my entire life.

After couple of years the Canadian guy had to go to the Philippines for his job for few years. He planned to take my parents with him over there to do a job. In the meantime one of my mother’s friends who was also really poor asked my parents for help, so my father decided to send the women to work over there in Philippines instead of himself and my mother went over there too.

I stayed with my father when my mother left and it was a very hard time for me to be departed from my mother but we used to have a talk sometimes on the phone.

After two years she came back to Nepal with her friend and then both of my parents went to the Philippines work. Then I was put into SMD by the Canadian guy and he even sponsored me. Even though I was far from my parents, I got all the love and care by my teachers, friends and staff who work in this school. I also learned my religion and started knowing about dharma. Now there are no such problems to me that happened when I was a little boy. In SMD I am deprived of nothing due to the Buddha hood of our Thrangu Rinpoche.

Note:

*The average salary for a month’s work is about Rs1500 (=$20 USD)

*Hotel: they rented two rooms, the whole family lived in one room and they let out the other room, sold simple drinks and meals.