Lhasa, Tibet
Welcome
mama Dadhon and baby dhodak Tamdrin ‘Mama’ Dadhon sold her family jewels, gathered the proceeds of the teahouse and with 300,000 Yuan and a lot of courage started Dickey´s Orphanage in Lhasa, Tibet´s capital on September 10th 2002. In Tibetan dickey means ‘fine’ and ‘happiness’.
At the moment Dickey´s is home to 72 children. They all get lodging, tuition and medical aid. Because a lot of the children don´t know where or when they were born, September 10th is everybody´s birthday – a big party! The parents of these children died because of illness or accidents. Some children were abandoned because their parents saw no way out of their miserable situation. At Dickey´s these children are given a chance to a new start in life.
Mama Dadhon received financial support from local business men and international donations. There are, however, no official government grants. The local military hospital provides medical supplies. As such Dickey is a private initiative. They have some staff, including the schoolbus driver. Thanks to a recent substantial donation, Dickey´s Orphanage could fullfill its dream of building a proper home.
Children safe
Despite recent turmoil in the region, the children and staff at Dickey’s are all safe and ok. The new home is located quite far from the downtown area where most of the troubles took place.
Photo expo in Antwerp
Friday January 18th starting at 8pm is the opening night of a photo exhibition at Café Multatuli, Lange Vlierstraat 9 in Antwerp, Belgium. During the exhibition, which ends at Easter, photocards are on sale to support the Dickey Orphanage.
Medical team visits the orphanage
From July 15-28, 2007, family physician Dr. Minh Han in a team of 19 people from Innovative Humanitarian Solutions went to Lhasa, Tibet to care for the people there. Specifically, they wanted to study and find a cure for Kashin-Beck Disease, a debilitating arthritic condition beginning in childhood. But, they also wanted to see what other needs were there that they could make an impact on. So, they ended up doing much more than just seeing patients in villages.
The team visited the Dickey Orphanage on July 22. They brought medical supplies for treating the kids as well as donated beanie babies, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. Most of the kids had diarrhea from a recent picnic. Some had perforated eardrums from untreated ear infections. Most of the kids though were happy and healthy. As the medical staff took care of the kids, the rest of the team played ball, colored, taught English songs, and horsed around with the children. At the end of their time, the children lined up and sang several songs to them. They felt that were definitely the ones who were more blessed through their visit to Dickey.
Read more about their work here: http://minhsmissions.com, Innovative Humanitarian Solutions
Memories of Xingfu
by Lydia McCallister (Pulaski VA, USA)
I’ve decided to call her “Xingfu” for her face has brought me much happiness. I stare at the picture on my desk and wonder what ‘my little girl’ is doing. My visit to the Dickey orphanage three years ago has had the most profound effect on how I have accepted each day since. My travels have taken me far away from home, and Tibet, and yet I am drawn to that smiling face from Lhasa. And, even though I was quite “blown away” by the country and the Potala, it was the orphanage that had the greatest emotional impact on me. The tour group that my husband and I had traveled with had planned the orphanage visit in its itinerary, and I am extremely grateful that OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) for the inclusion of these types of visits in all of their tours. I have been searching the web for a while in hopes of finding more information about the orphanage. When I discovered your website, I was drawn back to a place and time that three years could not diminish in my mind. Our small group entered the orphanage, not too sure of ourselves or how to react to homeless waifs. But, what we discovered was that these children did indeed have a home, and the warmth and love that they freely gave away to strangers touched us all very deeply (so much so that we all had teary eyes upon our departure, as I am sure countless other visitors since then have experienced). BUT, one little girl grabbed my hand and clung to my little finger for almost my entire stay at her adopted home. She sang songs with the other children, but quickly grabbed my finger again when she had finished. I did not get her name for our visit was all too brief and Mama Dadhon (Dazhen) was so busy answering everyone else’s questions that I could speak with her. So, “Xingfu” and I just stayed close together and exchanged emotions with the ‘language of eyes.’
I had hoped to make a return visit to the orphanage before leaving Lhasa, but my plans were circumvented by pseudo-military types who came to our hotel in the middle of the night demanding passports from the foreign visitors. Our guide was able to defuse the incident, but another trip (other than our departure to the airport) was out of the question. My hope is to establish some small conduit through which I could communicate with “Xingfu”; The Internet has definitely helped, and quite significantly, in providing the means. Now, if I could discover her name, perhaps we could renew a connection begun three years ago and I could reciprocate with the same love and warmth that was so freely offered then, bringing to mind that love is the only thing that is not diminished when given away.
Building permit
In June, Chinese authorities have given the official building permit for the new orphanage. They can go ahead with the plans as long as the financial support continues. Please make a donation and help build the new home. Thank you.
Nigel Williams stands up for Dickey’s
On Saturday November 24th 2007, stand-up comedian Nigel Williams gave a 2-hour blasting comedy performance at the Sint-Andries Cultural Centre in Antwerp (Belgium). We want to thank all the people who made this possible and Nigel of course. This benefit raised 1850 Euros for the orphanage. Indymedia.be (Dutch site) made a report about the evening.
Cleaning day
On February 28th, Dickey’s children gathered around the Potala Palace and engaged in a day of environment awareness. Special attention was given to public properties. They all helped out to clean the area around the Palace.
Losar
In February, Dickey’s children celebrated Losar, the Tibetan New Year. Food is presented and offered in prayer.
Tashi, Dawa, Ngodup and Tenzin
Tashi (14), Dawa Tsering (13), Ngodup Wango (9) and Tenzin Thinley (1) are the children of a Chamdo nomad family. When their father passed away because of poor health and their mother suffered from foot injuries, they donated their land and yaks to a temple and moved to Lhasa. Tashi left the house to look for work. During his absence his mother gave birth to baby Tenzi but passed away shortly after. In January 2007, the children were brought to Dickey’s by Lhasa journalists.