One Mattress, Three Dreams

It's nine o'clock at night, and the dormitory lights are still on. Rows of metal bunk beds fill the room, with barely a gap of walking space between the mattresses. Ten-year-old Tsering and two other boys who share his room are curled up together on a single mattress, under a single blanket.

"It's warmer this way," Tsering says with a grin. Mountain nights get bitterly cold in winter, and the school struggles to supply enough hot water, let alone heating. The children have long since learned to huddle together for warmth, turning each other's body heat into the best heater they have.

Despite the cramped, under-resourced conditions, the children's hopes for the future haven't shrunk one bit. Tsering says he wants to be a doctor one day — "because there's no doctor in my village, and a lot of people can't get treated when they're sick." The boy sleeping beside him, Tenzin, wants to be a teacher, "to look after other kids the way my teacher looks after me." The third boy, Nyima, hasn't decided yet, but he says: "I want to study hard enough to come back and make the school better."

Conversations like this play out almost every night in the dormitory. Three or four children sharing one mattress — and carrying three or four whole, burning dreams.

The school is currently raising funds for more mattresses and hot-water equipment, so that as these children grow up, they can at least sleep a little warmer, and a little less crowded. Every gift brings these dreams a little closer to reality.