My name is Dakpa, I am a Tibetan refugee who has left everything behind the Himalayas. I was born in a rural area into a small farmer family in the Amdo region of Eastern Tibet. When I was small, I was very interested in studying but the poor standard of living put an end to my dream of becoming an educated person.

I have four sisters and three older brothers and most of them are married with children. All my family members work in the fields. Our life depends on the other farms we work with. We grow different types of grain such as wheat and barley and a range of vegetables as well.

When I heard about the Tibetan exiles in India where all the Tibetan refugees get an opportunity to study irrespective of age or wealth, I was excited to get away from Tibet to India. Therefore, in April 2004, I escaped from Tibet to India. The main purpose of my coming here was to study modern education like Computer Science and English. Of course to seek an audience with the Dalai Lama is another purpose of coming here, as it is for all Tibetan refugees.

My future ambition is to go back to Tibet after I finish my schooling here at E.S.T-School and at least to stand on my own feet even if I can&t help

others. It doesn&t matter about what may happen to me if I return to Tibet; I have to see my family whom I have not seen for seven years. Actually I feel this school is my home, and all the students and staff are like my family. But how can I forget my homeland where I was born, and all the brothers and sisters who were born from the same mother.

When I came to Dharamsala, the Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre sent me to a school called the Tibetan Transit School to study for more than four years. Accommodation, medical treatment and food were available for nothing because of the great kindness of the His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After I finished that school, I was not satisfied with what I had learnt. I thought that had been my last chance to study in my life, but this school, E.S.T-School, is here to help those people who really want to do further study. Now I am grown up, but still the heavy burden of my difficulties is on other&s shoulders. So I would like to say thank you to the director of this school and all the members who are helping us. This school has empowered me to pursue anything in the world that I want.

Thanking you

E.S.Tibet Student
Dakpa