Computer for a young Tibetan monk

Thrinley Dimarco is hoping you can help fund a computer for her Tibetan friend Khedup. Here’s her story:

SKC is a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center here on San Juan Island. While we support the displaced Tibetan people and their culture both inside and outside of Tibet, finding a computer for this young monk is not a project of the Center.  It is a personal project of mine for which I am solely responsible.  I am soliciting contributions so Khedup Dor, my Tibetan monk friend, can buy a computer which he needs for his studies.  Since it is risky to send an actual computer to India, I am sending the contributions to Khedup so he can buy a computer there.

What Khedup needs is an Apple MacBook Air, 13″ screen.  When I asked about perhaps a less expensive computer, the director at the school said they have a horrendous problem with viruses there in India and the Mac solves that problem.

I’m hoping you might help me to get the message out.

This is the initial letter I got from the director of the school when I wrote that I wanted to help Khedup get through school.

On Apr 22, 2011, at 4:04 AM, Wangchuk T. wrote:
Dear Trinley,

You most well come.  I am glad to hear from you.
I understand your problems.  Don`t worry we work together everything will be succeed. 
Thanks for your time and submitted your agreement for Khedup in my file.
Khedup is excellent student .
So. I know his problem [the financial part] but I am understanding you need to help him. .
That`s great news which i need .

With best wishes
Wonck.

Please contact me at thrinley [@] rockisland.com or 378-4059  I’m happy to answer any questions about Khedup, the school or things Tibetan.

Sincerely,
Thrinley DiMarco
Retreat Manager

Background:
I met Khedup while I was in India in 2004.  He had recently graduated from Sakya College and was planning his next educational step.
Khedup told me he wanted to become a doctor.  Like so many Tibetan exiles, he has no one in India to help him realize his dream.  His family, what’s left of it, is in Tibet and he must rely on the kindness of strangers.  I told Khedup that if he was really serious about this goal that I would try to help him.  That was 9 years ago.  Khedup needed to improve his English before applying to medical school.  He did that and in addition studied at a medical school in Darjeeling.   Now he is enrolled full time at a school of Tibetan medicine in Leh, Ladahk.  Khedup tells me it is a very good school and that he really likes it. Schools in India close during the winter for 2 1/2 months.  Everyone leaves.  Buildings have no central heating and it gets quite cold there in the foothills of the Himalayas!  No matter where Khedup goes for his winter holiday, he studies. Usually it’s an English class.  He also spends time in Dharamsala studying on an informal basis with a Tibetan doctor that he knows.  He is always eager to expand on what he has learned at his school.

Khedup’s entrance test scores for school were so good that the school gave him a full scholarship.  The money I have raised for him to date is for room and board, a monthly stipend and trips away to the mountains and other places for collecting and studying the medicinal herbs used in Tibetan medicine.

I hope people in our very kind and giving community will take an interest in joining with me to help fund a computer for Khedup.  By helping this one young person become a doctor of Tibetan medicine, we will eventually be helping many others through him.

You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.