Education China Project #12632

Tibet: the Gift of Education

by Trace Foundation

Project Report | Apr 30, 2014
From the Rockies to the Mountains of Batang

By Johnathan Wilber | Communications Officer

Photo by Marvin A. Ross

Gerong Luobo has just finished his studies in cinematography at the Colorado Film School when he visits us at our library to tell us about his plans for his return to his hometown in Batang:

“I want to make a trilogy,” he says, smiling from ear to ear and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Inspired by the 1968 Italian Spaghetti Western Once Upon a Time in the West, his dream is to one day produce an epic that will combine historical events, religious stories, and his own experiences.

First, though, he wants to capture on film the stories, traditions, songs, and dances of the older generation of his hometown.

“The people in my hometown and the surrounding areas have a lot of stories to tell. There’s a cultural gap between the older generation and the younger generation. I want to pull back and start documenting those things before it’s too late.”

The students we’ve introduced you to through our project reports over the last year had one thing in common: they were all training to become teachers. But teachers are just a portion of the thousands of students we’ve supported in pursuing degrees in all fields—science, business, law, information technology, and film.

Gerong has become the latest addition to a storied pool of Trace alumni, filmmakers and cinematographers who include Pema Tseden (Silent Holy Stones) and Sonthar Gyal (The Sun-Beaten Path).

“I felt I could use this tool to tell a lot of the stories I’ve heard and seen in my part of the Tibetan Plateau.”

For us at Trace, it’s a win-win. We are as proud of Gerong Luobo’s achievements as we are excited to see what stories he has to share with the world.

Each year, we support more than 500 individuals by covering the costs of tuition and living expenses. With your tremendous contributions, we've raised $25,668 for our project since December 2012 ($22,168 through GlobalGiving and another $3,500 through other donations). With your continued support, we know we can transform education on the Tibetan Plateau from the ground up, one donation, one student like Gerong Luobo at a time.

Photo by Marvin A. Ross

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Jan 29, 2014
Tenzin Takes the Road Less Traveled

By Johnathan Wilber | Communications Officer

Photo of SIT Graduate Institute by Jeff Woodward

Tenzin, one of our recent international fellows, has just a few days left in the States when he sits down with a cup of green tea and explains: “Trace gives students from very remote places the opportunity to see the bigger world. The young generation in these remote counties is the future. If you can open their minds, if you can give them a hint of what’s going on in the world, that’s the beginning of change. You ignited that.”

At the International Language Institute, where he studied first, mornings were devoted to grammar and vocabulary, and afternoons were devoted to poetry, to art, to music. His favorites. That’s how he learned that teaching English is not just about reading, writing, and speaking, but about opening his students’ eyes to the bigger world. It was here that he fell in love with country music, and it was here that he read Robert Frost for the first time. He went on to a masters program in teaching English at the SIT Graduate Institute, then an internship at an immigrant-learning center, where he taught English of all ages.

Teaching all ages is not new for Tenzin. In the nomadic area he grew up, it’s not uncommon for middle schoolers to be as old as nineteen. If a kid’s family needs support at home—whether it’s in herding sheep or running errands—school can wait. In his school now, he is one of five English teachers, and the only teacher who has taken the road less traveled, the only teacher who has studied English abroad and the only one with a graduate degree. He smiles. “This opportunity and this scholarship totally changed my life, in terms of my future plans and profession. This will be my lifelong treasure.”

Each year, we support more than 500 individuals by covering the costs of tuition and living expenses. With your tremendous contributions, we've raised $25,353 for our project since December 2012 ($21,583 through GlobalGiving and another $3,500 through other donations). With your continued support, we know we can transform education on the Tibetan Plateau from the ground up, one donation, one student, one teacher like Tenzin at a time.

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Nov 7, 2013
No Student Is Ever an Empty Mug

By Johnathan Wilber | Communications Officer

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