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In Your Words

Forging a new friendship

By Angie Spicer '08

"I'm more nervous about this than I was about graduation," I comment.

Everyone laughs and David Keitges, director of International Education at Miami, smiles and says, "Rightly so."

If you had told my mom that she would be mailing me a box of Esther Price chocolates for His Holiness the Dalai Lama just seven months after my graduation, she would have laughed—just like she did the first time I told her I was going to India.

I was honored to have been invited to the private audience held for the Miami delegate sent to Dharamsala, India, to sign the official study abroad agreement between Miami and Sarah College for Higher Tibetan Studies. This is where I first visited through the summer study abroad program "Peoples and Cultures of Tibet" and now teach English.

In what would have been my senior year had I not done the fifth final lap, I noticed the poster for the Peoples and Cultures of Tibet study abroad opportunity and signed up for it. My passport arrived the week before our flight, and my troubles didn't end there. Once in Dharamsala, I contracted amoebic dysentery and was laid up in bed for a week.

My parents thought I was crazy when I told them I wanted to go back, and if it weren't for the help of Dr. Sidky and Dr. Akers, I wouldn't have gone to India the first time, let alone the second!

I was only supposed to stay for six months, but my love of the place and people kept me longer, even if it meant I had to travel alone to Nepal to get a new visa. I have made and will continue to make a lot of sacrifices being here. Miami is not a cheap school and as I am a volunteer, my parents have taken it upon themselves to help me out with my loan payments until I return to the States.

As the first Miami student to stay at Sarah for an extended amount of time, I was honored to have witnessed the first official act that Miami University undertook in 2009—that of the official signing of the agreement between two places I hold very dear to my heart. I am excited to witness the ways that more Miami students will be affected by their interaction with the Tibetan community, set in exile against an Indian landscape.

Most of my students are refugees from Tibet, having crossed the Himalayans at young ages in the middle of winter with only tsampa (a kind of roasted barley) to keep them going. Their contact with their families is extremely limited, and most of them will never see their parents again.

Others are Indian-born Tibetans struggling with identity issues of remaining a traditional Tibetan in a spicy stew of Bollywood culture.

I have students that, other than Sarah, have never attended a school in their lives. Many come from farming families who cannot afford to send their children to school. Most of the students have international sponsors for their education.

My students' perseverance, their loyalty, their intelligence, and their humor amaze me everyday. They understand the importance of having a degree in this world, (they feel blessed at having such a chance), and many of them want to use their knowledge to become teachers.

With the new semester program between Miami and Sarah, more students like myself will learn about the Tibetan cause and the values of peace, freedom, compassion, and wisdom. Hopefully these students will then be able to open dialogue on an international platform regarding issues such as human rights, education, and preserving endangered cultures.

If you would like to help out the students of Sarah, the best thing you can do is feed them! Dinner is always rice and dal, and lunches range from potatoes and tingmo (a kind of bread roll) to fried rice and soup. For about $100, you can sponsor a special lunch for Sarah's 400-some students that includes rice and two different vegetable dishes.

For more information about my adventures or how to donate a special lunch, visit my blog: An American in Dharamsala.