Opportunity for Chogyal
Education is what makes informed citizens; it’s what makes better leaders; it’s what makes better parents. It can change lives. That’s what it’s done for Chogyal.
Chogyal, a smart, energetic young man, is happiest when he is at his working table. From a poor family from Amdo, Tibet, with three siblings and a mother, he had never been enrolled in school and had a bleak future back home. Frustrated to be a burden for the family, he decided to escape to India to find better opportunities and support himself.
He was nineteen when he, along with other Tibetans from his village, took the difficult journey into India – even more difficult than usual because China had intensified the border patrol after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They made it safely into Nepal, the only possible route to India, and Chogyal was guided to the Sherap Gakeyling School for Tibetan youth in Soga, Himachal Pradesh. It was his home for two years, where he learned English and Tibetan and where his interest in art, particularly traditional Tibetan painting (Thangkha), was sparked.
It was by chance that he found out about SOS Vocational Training Centre, Mussoorie, India. He applied for a place through his school’s office, and, in March 2012, he was delighted to arrive in Mussoorie. When asked what his life would otherwise have been like, he replies smilingly, “Maybe I would have been working as a waiter in one of the Tibetan restaurants in Dharamsala and I am happy that it is not that case.”
Instead, he is able to pursue a vocation that he is passionate about. “For me every new day is special,” he says, “as I am able to learn and create. To me the real joy is when I complete a painting which is there for everyone to see. I love my class as I have all the freedom to work and the informal bonding I share with my two teachers is very special.”
When asked about his future, Chogyal comments, “I want to be a perfect Thangkha painter and want to open a shop and sell my paintings.” He adds that if nothing works for him in India, he could return to his family in Tibet: he longs to show them all the skills he has developed.
Education helps people like Chogyal to have hope for the future and to have a fulifilling, self-sufficient, career. That’s because he was able to discover the joy and power of learning through SOS Children’s Villages.
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