Dickey Orphanage

When we first travelled to Tibet in the fall of 2005, we read in our guide book that travellers could support an orphanage project by eating in a particular teahouse in Lhasa. When I asked our tour guide if it was possible to visit the actual orphanage, he made some phone calls. The next day our guide brought us to a seemingly deserted alleyway in the backstreets of Lhasa. It was there that we first met Amala “mama” Dadhon and the children of Dickey Orphanage. We listened to Amala’s story. How the orphanage came to being, Dickey’s struggles and small victories.  Before we were back in the alleyway, feeling somewhat overwhelmed but inspired, we promised to help out when we got back home.

In the spring of 2006, back in Belgium after a seven-month journey through Asia, we started organising local fundraising events for the orphanage. We opened a bank account for them and constructed this website. There have been flea markets, photo exhibitions, blues and folk concerts, stand-up comedy and tombolas. Whenever we have saved a substantial amount of money in their bank account, we make a money transfer to the orphanage. Half an hour later, Dickey’s has access to the cash.

We believe that this small-scale person-to-person support has proven to be a good way of helping out that enables us to keep in close personal contact with the staff and children at Dickey’s.

Because the orphanage has no internet connection and internet access is sometimes troublesome in Lhasa, we also serve as contact persons for the orphanage. You can mail your questions to Sarah at sarah.buys.deville@gmail.com or post your personal experience with Dickey’s in the guestbook.

Thank you.