Stella's Education

Steve and I need your help. When the twins and I joined our friend Candy Frankel to travel to the Tibetan Plateau to visit her son Andrew, we met Stella, Andrew’s student, an extraordinary Tibetan woman. Her mother abandoned her when she was two months old and when she turned seven, her world changed, and the events and circumstances that followed were intimately shaped by the specific geo-political forces in her country, that very few of us would ever survive. But through it all, Stella never abandoned her dream for an education. Her quest has brought her to us.

It is very unusual for Tibetans to be granted passports but she, and all those who know her, are enormously grateful that she was able to obtain one.  Moreover, her efforts resulted in her enrollment, with a full-tuition scholarship, to Salve Regina University.  Given her limited financial resources, however, she would benefit greatly from any support she might receive for medical and dental expenses, books, and other educational necessities not covered by her scholarship. As long as she remains at Salve, she will be living with Steve and I in Portsmouth. When she completes her studies, she will return to the Tibetan Plateau, and “pay it forward”, so to speak, by opening a school for orphans.  Whatever you can do to assist her to reach these goals will be enormously appreciated.