Testimonials
Students Love our Programs -
Read unvarnished quotes from Passage participants.
This is what some of our 2007 Tibetan Summer
Alumni had to say:
 If
you lived with a host family, how was the experience? What worked well,
and what could be improved?
Cara:
"The experience was amazing, I loved my home stay and I had a great time
staying with them."
Kaly: "It was Fantastic, wish we could have stayed longer."
Lydia: "It was wonderful. I feel I have truly gained a family."
How were your meals? Was this arrangement
satisfactory?
Cara: "Meals were great. The breakfast and dinner were arranged by my
family so it worked out well."
Kaly: "The food was really excellent, Ama-La made some great French
fries."
Lydia: "Ama la is the best cook of Nepal, India and Tibet."
 What
kinds of extracurricular activities did you get involved in with
your family? Please discuss
these.
Cara: "We spent a lot of time talking and I saw Ama la dance on the
dalai lamas b’day."
Kaly: "Watching lots of TV and chatting."
Lydia: "Thankga Painting, Hiking, Celebrations, cooking,
dishwashing...etc."
What did you do during your free time, at
night and on the weekends?
Cara: "I’d usually be at my home stay."
Lydia: "Helped Ama la, hiked around a
lot, hung out with Choki-la, read."
 What
efforts did you yourself make to meet local people, participate in events
at the host institution, if any, etc?
Cara: "I talked to a lot of the locals and tried to participate in
as many events and holidays as possible."
Kaly: "Went to local hangouts to meet and talk to people."
Lydia: "I had to make little effort because Nepalese and Tibetans
are so friendly and easy to meet."
Did you receive adequate support and advice
from the on-site program staff and, if applicable, from their U.S.
counterparts, before and during your time abroad? Please explain.
Cara: "Yes, everyone
was very supportive and knowledgeable and I felt completely safe and
secure. Knowing this added to my trip 100% better."
Kaly: "The coordinators were some of the most amazing people I’ve ever
met."
Lydia: "The coordinators did a GREAT job!!!!"
"I
absolutely would recommend the program to other students. I don't
particularly enjoy being a tourist - I don't do the tourist thing, I move
to the place instead. Passage gave me a home and a support structure, and
I was able to LIVE in Nepal, rather than feeling like a perpetual visitor.
I really enjoyed living in Nepal, and it was made so much easier by having
everything in place, waiting for me. I also enjoyed having freedom to do
what interested me, but to have someone to go to with questions or for
advice."
-Cassie, Personal Passage
2005
"Going into the process of silver jewelry making, I must say I did not
know what to expect
at all. The only thing that I knew about jewelry buying or making is
shopping at Tiffany and Company. It was one of the most rewarding
experiences of arts and craft that I have ever done."
"From buying the silver and carrying it in a zip lock bag, melting it in
the burning hot furnace, pouring that melting hot silver into a stick.
Then hours of smashing that little silver stick into the desirable shape
and form, bending and molding that shape into a bracelet. From having
little silver pellets into a hard metal bracelet and polishing it, whether
it is nice or not you will end up loving everything that you did, because
it's your own sweat that went into it."
-Phong Ba
Le, Tibetan Summer 2006
"Passage Project helped me learn how to live in Kathmandu. It provided me
with a home stay, and ample volunteer opportunities. Moreover, as a
participant in the individual passage program, I was able to work at my
own speed and pursue my own interests without being constricted to the
schedule of a group program. Passage was particularly flexible and
resourceful when helping me to find learning and volunteer opportunities.
Furthermore, it allowed me to adjust my ideas and interests as they
changed during my stay. The Passage staff was extremely resourceful and
flexible. With everything from reading recommendations and tips on local
music venues to advice on trekking, I found Passage to provide me with an
invaluable local perspective that entirely enhanced my Nepal experience.
The Passage experience has been truly worthwhile for me both personally
and intellectually. The design of the program enables students with the
right balance of consistency and independence that is so important when
one experiences such a different culture/ environment."
-Liz, Tibetan Summer
2005
"Tibetan
medicine is a science, art and philosophy that provides a holistic
approach to health care. It is a science because its principles are
enumerated in a systematic and logical framework based on an understanding
of the body and its relationship to the environment. It is an art because
it uses diagnostic techniques based on the creativity, insight, subtlety
and compassion of the medical practitioner. And it is a philosophy because
it embraces the key Buddhist principles of altruism, karma and ethics. "
"Both Leah and I felt incredibly blessed to have the
experience to talk with and learn from Amchi (Doctor) Lopsang at the
Shelkar Institute in Boudha. We found ourselves not only learning about
the foundations of Tibetan medicine, but also being able to discuss with
the Amchi about how the medical situation has changed in Tibet since the
Chinese occupation, as well as his more personal memories of and
experiences in Tibet. Each day we were greeted by his kindness, offered
warm tea, and found ourselves in the presence of a wonderful teacher and
new friend as we escaped the monsoon and entered into the institute filled
with the aroma of medicinal plants."
"While the students at the institute study for seven
years to become Tibetan doctors, Leah and I were still able to get a small
glimpse into the basics of Tibetan medicine. At the basis of Tibetan
medicine is the concept of how our bodies, plants, and the natural world
are made up of five elements: earth, water, fire, air and space. Just as
plants need a balance of these five elements to stay alive and healthy, so
do our bodies."
"When we become ill
it is believed to be due to an imbalance in these five elements within our
bodies. Tibetan medicine then treats each illness or disease with a
combination of mineral, animal, and plant medicine in such a way that
works to bring the body back into balance by treating our bodies with
medicine made of the elements that we are lacking or have an imbalance of
in our body. The philosophy within this embraces the Buddhist concept of
interconnectedness that exists between each individual and the world we
live in. I was greatly inspired by the philosophy within Tibetan medicine
as well as the wisdom, kindness, and friendship that the Amchi offered
us."
-Jennie
Hicks, Tibetan Summer 2006
"The Personal
Passage in Nepal was most definitely a worthwhile experience. It exceeded
my expectations. Passage found me a volunteer/internship situation which
no other programs in Nepal could do. My language lessons and home stay
were wonderful. Sometimes the home stay were frustrating because my host
parents would worry about me being out until 8:30 PM (!) or going off to
hike or run alone, etc. I came to Nepal to get away from a part of that.
But this mostly came from me being a cliché teenager with authority
issues. It was actually a good learning experience - they genuinely cared
for me and I had to see it as care and not as blind paternal power
assertion."
"I have been very happy with everything Passage found for me.
Everything has been great here. Passage has given me a trip of a lifetime
out of this gap year. I can't wait to get home and talk to some of my
younger friends from high school about it. I'm also planning on asking my
old high school if I can do a short demonstration on gap year and what I
did during my gap year and about Passage."
-Jon, Personal Passage
2004/2005
"The coordinator
went above and beyond the call of duty. He did a great job handling the
group especially in difficult situations. He made sacrifices for the
betterment of the group many times and knew exactly what to do in any
situation. He understood my interests very clearly and set me up with a
home stay family he knew I would enjoy. My interest was in art and the
head of my family was a thangka painter. Also during monastery visits he
took time to explain the creation and meaning of the art depicted within
the monastery walls. The coordinator, early on, made it very easy to feel
comfortable around him - which proved to be a key element to the success
of the group."
-John, Tibetan Summer
2004
 "For
almost seven years I have been intrigued by the Tibetan culture and
history. Only through books and imagining in my mind's eye have I had a
chance to experience the culture.
"Over the last two weeks I have been able to live
everyday life; cook, clean, talk, laugh, learn, and share with a unique
traditional Tibetan family. I lived with three women, from three
generations. My grandmother (Momola), who is 83 years old, and my mother (Amala),
were both born and grew up in Tibet. In 1959 they fled with their family
and the Dalai Lama from Tibet to Nepal where they currently live and work.
Tendol, my 25- year-old host sister, was born and raised in Kathmandu with
her brother, sister and cousins. All but Tendol are currently studying in
America or India. Their family runs a small handicrafts shop at the Boudha
Stupa."
"This small family has graciously taken me in and
included me into the folds of their everyday life, and the stories of
their history. To hear the trials and triumphs, to understand the religion
and culture from their point of view, to eat their amazing food and to
learn their language is an experience that no book can explain, no words
can describe."
"I thank my host family from the bottom of my heart for
their openness, hospitality, history, and for including me in their
story."
-Leah Bomesberger,
Tibetan Summer 2006
"I thought the
program was coordinated very well, and I had a world of resources and
information at my disposal just by picking my coordinator's brain on any
of the topics that we were studying (and some that we were not). I came to Kathmandu with few expectations and the program greatly surpassed them. I
feel that I accomplished so much in such a short period of time, and was
able to meet so many interesting people along the way. It is difficult to
designate just one most valuable aspect of the program, but I will have to
say the trekking was something so new and refreshing for me. It definitely
made me realize that there are plenty of things that I still have yet to
try so I wouldn't have given that up for anything."
-Sapna, Tibetan Spring
2004 Semester
"Since my time with
Passage, I've returned to Kathmandu twice, for a total of six more months-
something that would have been much more difficult had I not had my
initial Passage experience to build on."
-Ben, Personal Passage
2003
"I'm not
going to pretend that I've spent years admiring the beauty of Tibetan
carpets or that my lifelong dream has been to learn the art of weaving; to
be honest I've always just taken carpets as something pretty to cover an
otherwise boring floor or wall. Since spending a week doing a weaving
internship, I've added weaving to my list of simple things that are mind-blowingly
amazing, and when I'm buying souvenirs from my trip, I don't think I'd be
able to bring myself to bargain down the price on a hand woven carpet."
"The first day of the internship all we did was string
the cotton threads on the loom and do the flat-woven cotton edge of the
carpet. The next day, we began the actual weaving with colored yarn. The
yarn has to be
 looped around each thread and a metal stick, pounded down,
cut off the stick, topped by a cotton thread, and pounded down some more.
I came to the weaving internship wanting to copy exactly the endless knot
design on the window of the classroom where we had our meditation classes.
However, after the first day only finishing a couple inches the first day,
I decided I could do without the border of the pattern of the window, and
in the next couple days, as I realized how slow weaving actually is
(especially for me), I cut my design down to a third of what I originally
had in mind."
"I chose the design from that window just because I
thought it was pretty, but I find it rather appropriate because weaving
definitely has a meditative quality to it. It is so repetitive and focused
that I find myself completely lost to motion of it. Though not so focused
that I don't take notice of the small puppy that would play with my balls
of yarn, or the Nepali woman who was teaching us laughing. When I finish
my carpet, it will be a beautiful reminder of my experience in Nepal, the
knots the perfect symbol for the individual ties I've made to people and
places to form the overall image of a culture I've come to deeply
appreciate."
-Lisa Streit, Tibetan Summer 2006
“Sewa Kendra Leprosy Relief (SKLR), run by Dr. Hira
Pradhan is a non-government organization that works for the care and
treatment of leprosy victims. It is located at runs a small hospital
facility with 15 beds. Since frequent medical support is needed, the
patients are given hospital care during their treatment. Sewa Kendra also
gives necessary medical support to a government leprosarium and runs a
weekly mobile clinic that goes to the Old Age Home and to villages outside
the valley."
"It gives free
medicine, dressings, smears to detect leprosy, family planning and eye
treatment. The Kendra treats beggars and other destitutes living in the
Pashupati area. It runs a school program for destitute children who now
number 65. With funds that are mobilized from local and foreign individual
donors, they are studying in a government school in the area and are also
provided with supplemental tutoring in the hospital premises. Most
importantly, Sewa Kendra teaches skills to disabled leprosy patients to
foster a degree of independence and dignity. It helps leprosy sufferers
find a place to live, helps get their children in schools, and provides a
social support group."
"On the morning of June 26, Dr. Pradhan graciously
agreed to take Leah, Jennie and me to a leprosarium in the small village
of Khokana, about an hour out of Kathmandu. We met up with Dr. Pradhan and
her staff (11 of us total!), piled in the Land Rover along with some
supplies, and left the city. The drive there was absolutely breathtaking.
The mountains are so lush and green, and it was refreshing to get out of
the city. I had forgotten what clean air smelled like! We got off the main
road onto a rough dirt road, and eventually, we came down a hill and saw
the clinic in the distance. There were already people waiting to see Dr.
Pradhan's team of caring and incredibly talented doctors and nurses."
"We met a few patients, all incredibly kind and greeting
us all with heartfelt Namastes. Dr. Pradhan took us on a tour that lasted
about two hours, and we met some of the most incredible people I have ever
had the fortune to meet. These people - most of them - have some sort of
deformities, but despite their physical problems and lack of income,
everyone is so cheerful and we are always greeted with a smile. It is
incredible to watch these people with virtually no hands paint, knit, and
write, not to mention sustain themselves. Their will is awe-inspiring!"
"We returned to the clinic, and Dr. Pradhan put us to
work! We briefly wrapped bandages for the nurses who were re-dressing the
sores and ulcers that are so often a part of life for these people, even
though they are cured. Then we did some good physical labor - scrubbing!
The sun was burning hot, but we scrubbed like troopers, as they kept
bringing us more. After that we had tea, and were lucky enough to talk to
Dr. Pradhan for a bit. Then, we loaded back up and headed back to the
city. My experience at Khokana was moving and inspirational, and a trip I
will forever be grateful I was able to take."
-Theresa Loy Maierhauser, Tibetan Summer 2006
Check out our recommended
Reading List
View Lisa's Riveting
Tibetan Summer Slide
Show with Music...
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