Seeing Eye to Eye in Tibet

Written by United Planet Volunteer Brittany Gabey

This summer United Planet sent Brittany Gabey and Winston Wei to Tibet to volunteer at a local school in Yushu, Tibet. Their experience was different from most so Brittany volunteered to share a bit of her story with us here.

My time volunteering in Tibet was unimaginably wonderful and formative. As a teacher I know what learning looks like and it happened during my English lessons in Chengdu middle school. However, I know my students taught me much more than I could have ever given them. Teaching alone would have been an experience of a lifetime, so you can imagine how much more the volunteers get out of traveling to local cultural sites, attending traditional dances, eating the local fare, visiting nomadic families, and simply wandering through town.

I was overwhelmed with the kindness of my hosts, their family, my students, and my fellow teachers. I felt like we all took an active role in learning as much from each other as we could, and formed both friendships and working relationships. Through this open-minded and constructive exchange it became clear that my volunteering service could be extended past teaching. For example, since Chengdu Middle School is also a boarding school we–the resident English teacher Tenzin and I– took the students out on picnics, celebrated the students’ achievements, and socialized with them both inside and outside of the classroom. Most notably, a fellow volunteer of mine, Winston, realized that many of our students were nearsighted and could not see the blackboard even from a close distance. We discussed his observation and he suggested we somehow get glasses for the students by pooling our personal funds. Caiya, United Planet’s Tibet Country Coordinator, was very enthusiastic about the idea. Through her connections and guidance we were able to organize eye tests for all the students who needed them and found an eye doctor in Xining who agreed to provide the glasses at a reduced cost. Although we both had to leave before we could see our project come to complete fruition, Caiya and the middle school kept it going and the students just recently all received their glasses!

“It is so generous of United Planet to send such excellent and kind volunteers to support our school. I am the only English teacher here, so please, may I represent all teachers and students of the Number One Ethnic Middle School of Chengduo County in Tibet to take this opportunity to express our hearty thanks to you.” –Tenzin, Number One Ethnic Middle School English Teacher