Dolmalazorn: I came to Wuhan to learn more about helping others

Dolma is displaying products of tailoring workshop

"The small tailoring workshop is where my dream came true. My partners with hearing impairment and I depended on each other to make it happen. We, persons with disabilities, also have dreams, which will come true as long as we work hard." This is the introduction of a Weibo account named "Dolma's Dream".

Its Weibos include thoughts on life, interactions with friends, and photos of products of tailoring workshop. Dolmalazorn, the Weibo owner, is a beautiful Tibetan girl. This 20-year-old young girl worked together with deaf friends and successfully built this tailoring workshop. She is now also in charge of Tibetan Association of Persons with Physical Disability and is preparing for the second workshop. During 26-30 August 2013, she attended the Forum of Integrated Education and Employment for University Students with Disabilities (hereafter as the Forum) and Wuhan Training Camp for Youth Leaders with Disabilities in Wuhan, which is held by ILO and other partners.

Dolma has been experiencing from Kaschin-Beck disease since childhood, and this rare disease made Dolma and her mother at a total loss. She tried numerous kinds of pills and injections, but did not get better. But Dolma never gives up her confidence on life and her beautiful and sweet smile always leaves an unforgettable impression on people. Optimistic and persistent persons, like her, are often favored by fortune. Dolma encountered the Handicap International workers on the street. They told her that her disease was cureless and they asked her whether she wanted to go to school. Longing for knowledge for a long time, Dolma was thrilled to have this opportunity. Dolma worked very hard and became one of the top students.

Dolma Graduated from primary school in 2008 and chose to study English in a training school in Lhasa instead of continuing secondary education, for she didn't want to increase her mother's burden. Dolma thought that it only took three to four years to graduate from training school and after that she might find a job. Dolma wrote many Weibos in English and during Wuhan Forum she even point out a mistake made by a translator. It is because of the experience of studying foreign language, Dolma loves to communicate with other people. At a party for persons with disabilities, she met a consultant from the Tibetan Project of Handicap International. The consultant was impressed by Dolma's language ability and asked whether she was interested in a training program in India offered by Agastya International Foundation.

The year in India turned out to be a turning point for Dolma. The training program aims at helping people with dreams to set up social enterprises and all applicants have to go through five rounds of selection, including English essays on life stories and future plans, telephone and Skype interviews. Dolma did an excellent job in all the tests and earned the opportunity. It is the first time for Dolma to go to a place far away from home. She not only suffered from homesick, but also felt the pressure from classmates who were older than her and many of them not only having obtained a bachelor or master degree, but also having had rich life experiences. Besides, Dolma had difficult in understanding the lessons, which made her doubt about what she had learned in training school. But even so, Dolma remained optimistic and never gave up improving herself. She stayed up late every night to learn by herself and turned to teachers for help when she encountered difficulties. At last, with all her efforts, Dolma completed her studies splendidly.

As a coffee-lover, Dolma explained the plan of opening a café on Bakuo Street in her graduation project, and successfully raised some money. As soon as she returned to Lhasa, Dolma started to implement her plan, but she still faced certain difficulties like lack of funds. However, during this process, Dolma made a lot of friends from Tibetan Association of Persons with Hearing Impairment. Her deaf friends have outstanding sewing skills and thus wanted to build a tailoring workshop producing handicrafts with ethnic characteristics. As they lacked communication skills and entrepreneurial experiences, they hoped that Dolma could join them. This workshop served as a starting point for the dream of Dolma and her deaf friends.

The workshop ran very well with endeavors of all the employees. The products were popular among tourists home and abroad for their unique design and cultural characteristics. The types of the products also became more and more diversified, developing from simple headwear, phone bags and satchels to folk costume, masks for Tibetan traditional performances and so on. Dolma then decided to let her deaf friends be in fully charge of the workshop for they are now able to manage all the tasks, and she would offer suggestions from the view of a spectator. She did not cease to pursue her dreams, but began to undertake all the work in Tibetan Association of Persons with Physical Disabilities, together with another colleague to help friends with physical disabilities solve their problems in employment and life. They also started to prepare for the second tailoring workshop that provides job opportunities for members of their association. So far, they have successfully raised some sewing machines and accessibility facilities.

During the interview, Dolma has showed her great concerns of living conditions of persons with disabilities in Tibet. Dolma mentioned, in Tibet, making handicrafts like sewing products and Thangka is the main way of employment for the disabled. The education they received is mainly based on skill trainings. She hopes that one day, disabled friends could break through the limitation of physical barriers and have a say themselves in what kind of knowledge and skills they would like to learn, which will help them to be courageous enough to pursue their dreams.

In Tibet, persons with disabilities have not yet enjoyed good living condition and social tolerance as well. Not only hasn't the accessibility of public transport system and education been fully realized, but also are placements of persons with disabilities mainly based on charity and medical model. Dolma said, many people still believe that the disabled should stay in hospital. Persons with disabilities received not much education, which made them less popular among employers. Getting a job is not easy, let alone pursuing their dreams. Dolma also mentioned that, persons with disabilities in Tibet have little communication with those in other regions, which makes them more unlike to accept and believe in themselves. She said that in the future she will encourage disabled friends to participate in training camp activities like this one in Wuhan to find confidence and courage through exchange of ideas with other disabled youth and understand that disability should not an obstacle to the happiness of life.

In her dream café, Dolma hopes that she could not only sell delicious self-made coffee, but it could also be used as an information exchange place for persons with disabilities to find jobs and customers are encouraged to provide job opportunities as well. At the same time, Dolma has a quite innovative and interesting idea that café could become a "real life library" with disabled persons being the books and their life experiences being the content to be exchanged to encourage more persons with disabilities. Although the establishment of Dolma's dream café has to be delayed, she believed that as long as she keeps working hard, her dream will eventually come true. So will the dreams of all the persons with disabilities.