My name is Sonam and I am 21 years old. My family lives in a village in Ganzi, Sichuan. My hometown is an underdeveloped village, secluded from the rest of the world. There are 6 children in my family. I have 2 brothers, one is a monk and the other is herding livestock at home. I have 3 younger sisters, all of them are nuns in a monastery. I never received any education, and like my oldest brother, I was sent to a monastery at a very young age by my parents. My parents are all herdsmen, and they never went to school. But I really want to see what the world is like outside of my small village in Sichuan, and I told my parents I wanted to go to school. I want to be able to take care of my elderly parents and maybe help more people like us with my education. My parents didn’t support me at first, but their attitude changed when they saw my determination. Now I am a student at Cixing school studying Tibetan medicine. If everything goes well, I will go to college and pursue a career as a doctor. I will be the first person in my family to ever go to college.
