Dorjee - Waka Orphanage Founder

Dorjee was born in the Sichuan Province, in a small villa ge in the Derong County of the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The people in his village were very poor and their children had very little chance to go to study. When he was little, Dorjee was sent by his parents to a monastery to be a monk. Later he went to Nepal and studied there for about 10 years. After he returned home he worked as a Tibetan and English translator in Lhasa for the Kunde Foundation, a medical NGO team from the UK. He then went to Zhongdian, the capital of the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, and worked there as a licenced tourist guide.

During his work he often travelled to remote Tibetan areas and saw many poor kids who, like him, were coming from poor families and did not have opportunity to go to school. He decided to do something for those kids. At the time, his friend Sanji told him he wanted to start an orphanage school. Sanji was from the Diqing County of Diging Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province. Dorjee though that was a good idea. The local government welcomed their idea and promised help. At the time of their preparation for the orphanage, Sanji died unfortunately because of a stroke. But the work for the orphanage was continuing, and the Tibetan orphanage in the Waka village was opened in September 2004 with 25 children.

Children were selected from five counties around Waka, from poorest families which were identified with the help of village leaders and government officials. Now Dorjee is in charge of everything regarding children and their study. His wife Lhamo provides administrative support for the orphanage.

Chudon - Caretaker & Cook

Chudon was born and educated in Tibet. She now spends her time caring for the children of Waka Orphanage as well as cooking them.

Ngawang - Caretaker & Tibetan Teacher

Ngawang has lived in Tibet all his life and is currently charged with caring for the children as well as tutoring them in Tibetan.