Objective:

The Ze Sheng and Dorjee Charity Home, also known as Waka Orphanage, was established in September 2004. Its objective is to take care of Tibetan orphans or children from poor single parent families and sponsor them to go to school. We put strong emphasis on learning of Tibetan culture, history and language. Children live together in the housing provided and attend the same school. We provide all things that are necessary for them to live and stay at school.

How it started:

The orphanage was founded by two Tibetans originally from the surrounding area, Dorjee and Sanji, with support from the local government. (During the time of their preparation for the orphanage, Sanji, one of the partners, died from stroke.) The orphanage in the Waka village was opened in September 2004 with 25 selected children. In 2006, Dorjee met Ze Sheng, who is originally from Guangdong province, and who practices Tibetan Buddhism. Ze Sheng has become closely involved with the orphanage, and his kindness and generosity allowed the orphanage to have a new kitchen and common room built in 2007. Now the orphanage bears both names, Ze Sheng and Dorjee.

School background:

The school is located at the Waka village at about 80 km northwest from Zhongdian, the capital of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province of China. The village is close to the Yunnan and Sichuan province border and locates on the Sichuan Province. Waka is a small village with only few hundred populations. There is only one primary school, Waka Central Primary school. All the children can have primary1 to primary6 education in that school. All the children live together in a dormitory provided by the school. The basic subjects that they will have are Tibetan language, Chinese language and Mathematics. If they want to go to the middle school, they would have to be sent away as there is no secondary school in Waka. The local government allows the charity home to use free for the school dormitory, water and electricity. The charity home has two Tibetan workers to look after the children and one part-time Tibetan teacher for the Tibetan tutorial class on weekends.

Student Background:

The children are from Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province (Kham, or Eastern part of Tibet). Currently we have 30 students: 12 orphans and 18 from very poor single parent families. The children are from 5 to 15 years old and are chosen from the poorest families in the Kham area with the help of a local government officer. Most of them never went to school before, and some went to school for very short time.

学校背景：

孤儿院位于云南省迪庆藏族自治州香格里拉县(旧为中甸)西北方80公里的瓦卡村。瓦卡村位于四川省境内但隔着金沙江与云南省的奔子栏县相邻。它是一条只有几百人的小村子，全村只有一间小学：瓦卡中心小学。学校提供一年级至六年级的教育。我们的学生都住在学校的宿舍内。在校内他们会学习藏文、中文及数学。

如果学生要上中学，他们必须离开瓦卡村因村子里没有中学。当地政府是大力支持瓦卡孤儿院，所以孤儿院的水、电开支及宿舍费用是由政府承担。现在孤儿院有两位工作人员负责照顾学生并且监督他们学习。

学生背景：

我们的学生都来自四川省甘孜藏族自治区康及得荣两个县。 2007年我们有30个学生：12个是孤儿，18个是单亲家庭的小孩。他们年龄由7岁至13岁。这些小孩是我们亲自去到当地从最穷困的家庭中挑选出来的。他们大部份从来没有上过学或只上过一两年便辍学。

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