by Lydia McCallister (Pulaski VA, USA)
I’ve decided to call her “Xingfu” for her face has brought me much happiness. I stare at the picture on my desk and wonder what ‘my little girl’ is doing. My visit to the Dickey orphanage three years ago has had the most profound effect on how I have accepted each day since. My travels have taken me far away from home, and Tibet, and yet I am drawn to that smiling face from Lhasa. And, even though I was quite “blown away” by the country and the Potala, it was the orphanage that had the greatest emotional impact on me. The tour group that my husband and I had traveled with had planned the orphanage visit in its itinerary, and I am extremely grateful that OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) for the inclusion of these types of visits in all of their tours. I have been searching the web for a while in hopes of finding more information about the orphanage. When I discovered your website, I was drawn back to a place and time that three years could not diminish in my mind. Our small group entered the orphanage, not too sure of ourselves or how to react to homeless waifs. But, what we discovered was that these children did indeed have a home, and the warmth and love that they freely gave away to strangers touched us all very deeply (so much so that we all had teary eyes upon our departure, as I am sure countless other visitors since then have experienced). BUT, one little girl grabbed my hand and clung to my little finger for almost my entire stay at her adopted home. She sang songs with the other children, but quickly grabbed my finger again when she had finished. I did not get her name for our visit was all too brief and Mama Dadhon (Dazhen) was so busy answering everyone else’s questions that I could speak with her. So, “Xingfu” and I just stayed close together and exchanged emotions with the ‘language of eyes.’
I had hoped to make a return visit to the orphanage before leaving Lhasa, but my plans were circumvented by pseudo-military types who came to our hotel in the middle of the night demanding passports from the foreign visitors. Our guide was able to defuse the incident, but another trip (other than our departure to the airport) was out of the question. My hope is to establish some small conduit through which I could communicate with “Xingfu” The Internet has definitely helped, and quite significantly, in providing the means. Now, if I could discover her name, perhaps we could renew a connection begun three years ago and I could reciprocate with the same love and warmth that was so freely offered then, bringing to mind that love is the only thing that is not diminished when given away.
