At first look, it seems like Lama Lakshey Zangpo is their father. He scrambles to pay the Spokane Falls Community College tuition for Jigmed Dawa and Jigmed Tubtel. He makes sure they have enough money for living expenses. And he insists they all eat together, at least once, on the weekends.
But Zangpo isn’t their father. He’s the vice principal of the Sengdruk Taktse School in Tibet, and a member of the Joru Foundation, which aims to enhance educational opportunities for the students attending the school. The majority of Sengdruk Taktse School students are orphans.
He came to America in 2007 to seek those scholastic opportunities and to find additional funding for the school. He found a partner in SFCC, where he now teaches dharma and meditation classes. He was able to get Dawa and Tubtel enrolled in the college in 2013.
“They are like my own sons,” Zangpo said. “I see everyday how they grow. It’s not just education of the mind, but education of the heart. I hope I am teaching them how to be good human beings, how to contribute to humanity.”
Tubtel, who became an orphan when he was 8 years old, is getting his degree in elementary education and plans to go back to the orphanage to teach and train future teachers.
“We (the orphanage) are basically the same family, one group,” he said.
When he’s not studying at SFCC, he’s in his room at The Tibetan Center working on his art. He’s brought the ancient art of Tibetan calligraphy to Spokane and has shown his work at several art shows.
He learned Tibetan calligraphy as a student at the Sengdruk Taktse School, and has been finding ways to modernize the art form ever since. He paints monastic and lay-style calligraphy on paper, canvas, slate, driftwood — whatever catches his eye. When he sells his art, he gives half the proceeds to the Joru Foundation.
He said he wants to help Tibetan teachers because there are more than 300 orphans there living in unacceptable conditions.
“My goal is to establish more opportunities, more educational experiences in the orphanage,” he said.
Dawa also grew up in the orphanage. He lived as a nomad in Tibet, until he lost his parents and all but one of his siblings.
“When I was 1 ½ years old my mother became sick and passed away. When I was 3 years old, my father also died form illness. My sister was 9 years old when my father passed away. We lived together and she took care of me. We used to cry when nobody was around,” he wrote on the Joru Foundation website.
He plans to be a science teacher at Sengdruk Taktse School after he graduates next winter.
“Science is a subject that concerns me because in Tibet we lack resources and teachers,” he said. “When I think about my major, I don’t just think about myself, but about how it can help the Tibetan people and society.”
He believes education is essential for a better Tibet and knows educational sources are lacking there. He hopes to change that.
“I know the experience I faced as an orphan, and I don’t want others to go through that,” he said, noting that the Joru Foundation has given him the opportunity to help change that situation.
Zangpo said there’s dozens of students at Sengdruk Taktse School who, like Tubtel and Dawa, yearn for a higher education. But orphans and youth from poor families, can’t afford going to college.
“They have no job, no family paying for them to go, so it’s not possible. They need someone’s support,” he said.
Dexter Amend is a psychology instructor at SFCC and has taken students to Tibet to visit Sengdruk Taktse School.
“We need to develop relationships and help these orphan students come to our place here and go to school,” he said. “To me, it’s important work to do.”
He said since Dawa and Tubtel have been at SFCC he’s seen how they impact those around them.
“They’re great influences on other people, on Buddhist practitioners and also on their school mates,” Amend said. “These students, they stand on their own.”
Zangpo plans to send two girls from the orphanage to SFCC after the boys graduate. It costs about $30,000 to send two students to the college. To help, visit the Joru Foundation website.
