HTF turned virtual
by Sabrina Liu, 2020
Since our 2019 trip to Tibet, we could not wait to visit the otherworldly region again. Sadly, we had to stand by for a year before we could meet the tulkus and schoolchildren, and so, we anticipated the summer of 2020 to consist of another memorable adventure that we could reminisce about for the rest of our lives.
However, our expectations failed us, and the new reality unexpectedly struck us: the COVID-19 pandemic. It swept through the world in an instant, and before we knew it, our parents informed us that we could not travel to Tibet this year.
Although we already had an inkling that our annual charitable journey would be canceled, we tried to avoid the inevitable. We had to face the actuality that we could not directly benefit the Tibetan children this year.
Fortunately, we confronted this impediment: we could still contact the tulkus every few weeks and offer emotional support to the children. Even though this solution was not the most preferable, the frequent updates and bimonthly video chats satisfied us enough to say with certainty that the children gladly were using our donations for educational yet entertaining purposes as the organization assisted the tulkus in renovating the temple and school.
To have awareness of how the younger children were learning how to read, write, and explore their artistic interests while the older students were taught in depth about subjects such as math and history relieved us, as this consolation fulfilled our purposes. Luckily, Tibet was not severely affected by the coronavirus, and every child and adult living in the mountains were safe and healthy.
The tulkus provided admirable moral support to not only the children, but also to us during our conversations. In spite of the fact that we could not ship more goods over to Tibet, the teachers assured us that the abundance of supplies they already stocked up was more than enough to last many years.
All in all, persisting through this global pandemic together would only unite us as a more determined and effective community, and we recognize that we will survive such hard times. We’ll return better than ever next year, and for now, we can only hope for the best.
