Growing together

Mike Parent poses with his students at the Braille Without Borders vocational school in Xigaze, the Tibet autonomous region. Provided to China Daily

My China Dream | Mike Parent

Ten years ago, Mike Parent arrived in the Tibet autonomous region to teach at the Braille Without Borders vocational school. Palden Nyima finds out why the Canadian intends to stay here until the end of his days.

The sky stretched out clear and bright above our heads as we approached the remote village nestled among willows and fields high in the mountains.

There was the laughter of children and the smell of butter tea as we arrived at the school we had arranged to visit, which was easy to spot, as "Braille Without Borders" was written conspicuously on a wall in three languages.

The man we have come to interview, a Canadian who has lived here for almost 10 years, and who intends to be buried here, warmly welcomed us with the traditional Tibetan greeting, "tashidelek", and cups of tea.

When Mike Parent first came to Baishung township in Xigaze prefecture in the Tibet autonomous region to teach at the Braille Without Borders vocational school, the children called him an old monkey because of his hairy arms. Now, after almost a decade of "being together 24 hours a day, seven days a week", the 70-year-old is called "chigyal pola" - which means "foreign grandpa".

"At the beginning they called me here because they needed me. Now 10 years later they don't need me, they want me to stay because they love me," he says.

It was a chance encounter that brought Parent to Baishung. He met Sabriye Tenberken, the German woman who co-founded Braille Without Borders, when he was studying the Tibetan language and culture at Tibet University from 1998 to 2000.