Kate Hilscher, the oldest daughter of Boothbay Harbor residents Bob and Debbie Hilscher, is currently journeying across the Roof of the World trekking through the Himalayas. She is traveling with an outfit called Pacific Discovery. She is among about a dozen 18 to 26 year olds with two guides. The group is set to return to the United States around Nov. 15. She earned all the money for the trip herself over the summers working at Tidal Transit.

A few of her planned tasks while there are studying yoga, meditation and Tibetan Buddhism, living with a local family in a rural village and volunteering on a community development project.

She is recording her experiences in a blog, which people can access by going to: https://nepalfebmester.wordpress.com/

Below is one of her blog postings from late September, which family and friends asked us to share with our readers.

The People We Meet

We often remember the places we travel by the taste of the food, the smell of the streets, the things we see and what we do. When we’re lucky, though, we remember them by the people we meet. For me, Tibet will always be defined by the story of one man – a Tibetan guide who risks his life and freedom everyday to help his tours see beyond the Chinese flags, fresh concrete buildings, and billboards teeming with propaganda. He is a man who wants the west to see the truth of Tibet.

1992: A twelve-year-old Tibetan boy loses his mother to a heart attack and watches as his father is taken away as a political prisoner. He is orphaned, the youngest of his siblings, pulled from the monastery where he is training to become a monk and sent home, only to be sent to Nepal by his older sister. The boy hikes for 23 days through the Himalayas with two strange men who’ve been paid to sneak him across the border. Walking alone, away from his home and family. Walking to a strange country with no knowledge of the language and no connections when he arrives. He’s abandoned at a Nepali refugee camp, interrogated until it’s confirmed that he’s not a spy, then taken in. “My first adventure,” he tells us.

1993: The thirteen-year-old boy is sent to India to be schooled, a giant among a classroom of 10-year-olds. He asks every Tibetan he meets if they know his sister, if they know how he can get in touch with her. He begins to learn English. Eventually, he quits school and travels India working as a busboy, a farmhand, anything a Tibetan boy can do. “I was alone,” he tells us, “I took care of myself.”

1996: The 16-year-old continues to inquire about his sister. A woman knows her, helps him call her. The boy talks to his sister for the first time in 4 years. His oldest brother has been killed by the government, another brother has escaped to America (the boy would never hear from this brother again), another sibling has escaped to India, the rest remain in Tibet. “I had to go back,” he tells us, “Tibet is my home.”

1998: The 18-year-old boy returns home. Without a passport or paperwork, he is forced to sneak across the border into his own country. His sister’s home becomes his as well. His father died as a political prisoner only 6 months before.

2009: He is no longer a boy. He is married. his wife is expecting a child. His English has improved and he earns a job as a Tibetan guide. He tells his story and the story of the country in his own small rebellion.

2016: The Tibetan guide has two healthy daughters and a beautiful wife. He invites us into his home for dinner, takes us to Everest, tells us his story. He has a heart of gold and the wisest words of anyone we’ve ever met. He tells us that his smile is his strongest rebellion; that life is not dependable, so we might as well be happy while we’re here. He tells us never to be jealous; that our fingers differ because they each serve their own purpose, and our lives differ for the same reason; that the rich and the poor man can each only eat three meals a day; that every man dies no matter his wealth, but the man’s burden in life increases with money. He tells us never to pray for our own good, but instead to pray for all living beings and trust in the fact that we are part of the whole.

He was orphaned at twelve, left to raise himself, forced to sneak in and out of his own country, never schooled past fourth grade. He smiles, tells us never to be jealous, tells us he only wants to have a pure heart. He is Tibet.