During one summer vacation in his hometown， Tashi heard peoplepointing at him and calling him “Blindman”。 Tashi turned back andsaid， “I am not blind， my eyes are just invisible.” Sometimes， he wouldchallenge his antagonists with： “I can read in the dark， and I also knowChinese， English and computer skills. What about you? Their confidence stems， on one hand， from knowledge， and on theother hand from constant words of encouragement from Sabriye andPaul. “You are all Picasso，” Paul would tell his drawing students.
As another form of encouragement， Sabriye invited Erik Weihenmayer，the first blind man to scale Mt. Everest， to lead six of theblind students in an attempt to climb one of the world’s tallest andmost challenging mountains， Lhakpa Ri， a peak on the northern sideof Everest. Sabriye， Erik and six blind teenagers， as well as a team ofguides and a film crew （for the documentary Blindsight）， scaled the7，045-meter peak successfully. One of the climbers， Dachung， said? “Ihad never thought of climbing before， but it really happened. Knowledge begets confidence， confidence empowers one with theability to fulfil one’s dream， which in turn brings happiness. Sabriyehas proved this time and again， with these children， as they chatter andlaugh around her. “I believe they are quite happy，” she says， with typicalunderstatement. These blind children are familiar with her everymovement and word. She often touches their shoulders and asks， “Areyou happy?” and when she hears their laughter， she laughs in return，“Good， I am happy that you’re happy. The Tibetan Training Center for the Blind trained the first groupof blind people in Tibet’s history to read. In August 2001， the firstschool book and dictionary in Tibetan Braille was published; and onDecember 1， 2000， the Tibetan School for Special Training was established.
Sabriye published her first memoir， My Path Leads to Tibet in2000， for which she received the Christopher Award four years later.
On March 8， 2000， Sabriye was elected Woman of the Year by membersof the International Lady’s Club， Frankfurt， and presented the CharityBambi Award by the German government the same year. In 2001，on behalf of the Queen of the Netherlands， H.E. Dr. Philip de Heer，ambassador of the Royal Netherlands Embassy to China， awardedSabriye and Paul knight medals; in 2006， they both were awarded the“Friendship Medal” from the Chinese government.
The Color of Warmth Is RedDuring the summer vacation this year， there were still a dozenstudents staying at the school. Kyila explained that none of them， excepttwo orphans， wanted to go back home， because they all felt morecomfortable in school. Kyila felt the same way.
These blind children were afraid of confronting their village people，with their prejudices and taunts. Kyila told it as it was， “We havealready regarded the school as our home. 24 0 They also look up to 37 -year-old Sabriye as their mother and39-year-old Paul as their father. Before every meal， they voluntarilyexpress gratitude， straight from the heart， “Thanks to Mom and Dadfor providing us with food.” The children also call their nanny “Mom”，and the chef “Dad”。 Tashi， who is quite relaxed in front of Paul andSabriye， has a close kinship with them. Kyila says， “My life wouldhave been destroyed if I had not met Sabriye.” All the blind childrenexpressed this simple idea during this interview： “Sabriye and Paulchanged my destiny. Kyila， who is now studying in Britain， was rather poetic in herfeelings of gratitude towards Sabriye， “God closed my window， andSabriye opened it for me again. In 2003， when they earned their first salary， Kyila and Derjee invitedtheir Mom and Dad （Sabriye and Paul） to have dinner at XueyuRestaurant. The actual parents of these blind children regarded Sabriyeand Paul as Buddhist idols.
The affection between the blind children and their headmistressis a cumulative one， accomplished over more than 3，000 days. In herdrawing class， Sabriye taught students how to differentiate colors.
She held their hands in the sun’s rays and told them that warmth wasred. She let them kneel to touch the earth， and said， “Soil is yellow. Water was colorless， while the sea was blue. Sabriye asked Niyma thecolors of Lhasa and Shannan， and Niyma answered that Lhasa wasyellow and Shannan blue. Sabriye admits it’s a difficult task to teachblind children， and so she and the other teachers were extremely patient，and extremely careful.
In June this year， Ciqiong， a 17 -year-old girl in Sa’gjia County，was diagnosed with brain cancer. A tearful Sabriye and Paul requestedtheir friends abroad to look out for treatment possibilities， emphasizingthat they would pay whatever it took to cure her.
