"I tell this story for my country. When I was six it was my parents’ wish to send me to India to get an education. My father heard that in India there are schools for Tibetan children and the head of the school is the Dalai Lama.
My parents made prayers for the three of us: my sister, me and an old monk who was my father’s friend. Early in the morning we climbed in a truck.
We reached the border at night and we fell asleep, hiding in the mountains. In the morning we met two Tibetan men who knew the way. There were no trees on the mountain, there was nothing to hold on to. The stones were slippery and it was extremely steep.
Because the monk was so old, we used a rope to protect us. When we came to a road, the monk told us to wait here. He would go find the way. But he did not return.
I waited, then I started to call for him. “Gyenla! Gyenla!” I shouted. No one answered.
I then saw that he had fallen. When I got near, I realized that he was dead. He had a handful of grass with him.
My sister told me to go get help. But when it was dark, I realized that again I was lost. I slept in a cave that night. I was hungry and I was tired.
It took me three days to find the village on the border. I told the police that my sister was with me. They sent someone but they did not find her.
I was held by Chinese police for 2 months. They have a record book. They wrote my name and they wrote I was innocent. And they sent me back home
Six years later I made my second attempt. As night drew, we had to cross the river. The water was very cold. There were a lot of soldiers everywhere with guns. So if they saw us, they would shoot.
It took us 25 days to reach Nepal. At the temple called Boudha in Katmandu, two Tibetan ladies came to our side and said, “Don’t you worry, you are with us now. We will send you to school.”
(Gyalwang arrived at Tibetan Homes Foundation in Mussoorie, India, at age eleven in 1981. He was reunited with his sister there. Gyalwang made these paintings to illustrate his story for Art Refuge and an exhibit at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico.)