yan settlement in northern India, which is host to thousands of exiled Tibetans, including their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Nyima was only 7 when he made the perilous journey here with his uncle, crossing the border to Nepal and then to India. He left behind his mother and sister in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. His uncle returned to Tibet after putting him in the care of a school run by the government-in-exile, headed by the Dalai Lama.
"I don't remember much about the journey, I was too little," Nyima said. "But I do remember walking for a long time on a bridge over a very large river. After my father died, my mother sent me to India. She said, `I want you to study in a free country and have the blessing of the Dalai Lama.' It has been 16 years, and I have not seen my family since."
Nyima, known as Sam to his friends, grew up like many other Tibetans in a boarding school here called the Tibetan Children's Village. In addition to the regular subjects of math, science and English, the school anchored Nyima with classes in Tibetan history, language and religion.
"I know everything about Tibet -- its mountains, its provinces, its folklore and history. I have thorough knowledge from the books, but I have no memory of Tibet," Nyima said as he skimmed news bulletins about the Tibetan uprisings that had been pasted on the walls of the main square. "I do not remember my house, my friends or what I used to play. My mother calls me every now and then and tells me that one of my childhood friends got married. She tells me the name, but I don't have any image to go with that."
