Hi all,

Well the nice thing about taking my kids around the world since they were young is their keen interest in experiencing other cultures. Now my son, my oldest son I might add (and only one...have 2 younger girls) wants to go on a summer program in China that looks terrific. It is a month long in July, and he would live in China's Qinghai province....with a family there....and work with Tibetan kids teaching them basic English. I wish I could do this myself! But now here is my concern, after the initial thoughts about how cool it is. What about safety issues in that area? He is 15 years old. They make a point about the "delicate relationship between Tibet and China, that cultural sensitivity is paramount to the success of the program". I am not worried about my son's cultural sensitivity. But this made me worry about how sensitive the area actually is...politically, etc. Bottom line....does anyone know much about this area? Most importantly, is it safe??? Are the people in general honest, are there any red flags I should know about the region?
Thanks so much in advance. I would be far less worried going myself, but my son....it is a different story!

I can't help to wonder who organizes this program? Who are "they" who make the point about the delicate relationship? And are you (and your son) ethnic Chinese?

Tibetians consider Chinese as occupier of their land, and they have been resisting peacefully the invasion of Chinese population and culture to their land for the last 50 years. They are a very peace-loving people, but if this program is run by some pro-Tibet-indepdence group, then your son can easily be in trouble with the Chinese authorities.

You should clearly understand that before sending a minor to such a program. If he or you are just travelling, then no problem at all.

We are not Chinese, we are American Caucasian. It is a group called Globaltours and they do community service type programs for high school students in different countries throughout the world. They specialize in volunteer work/community service and teaching overseas. On this trip they tour the area for a week, and then live at Qinghai Normal University with Tibetan students training to be English teachers, then live with families traveling with these English teachers to help teach the children in the villages to speak English. www.globaltours.com. They come highly recommended from parents whose children have been on other summer programs with them, but not China. Is there any possibility this could have association with any pro-Tibetan Independence group as you mention??
The tour group is very highly regarded, the other families who have recommended it are all very educated culturally aware people....but may know nothing about China. Would really appreciate any input on this, as I said in my first note, this is my son we're talking about, not me! Thanks so very much.

stockexchanger - I do not know about Globaltours or any other similar companies or groups, so I can't tell you who are they affiliated with. I just want you to understand the nature of the conflict, and investigate or ask the right questions to them, before sending your son over.

Let me state again that Tibetians are very gentle and peaceful; and are extremely welcoming to foreigners. That includes ethnic "Han" Chinese as long as they are not agents of the Beijing government. My parents (who are Chinese) have visited Tibet with a Hong Kong Chinese group, and they were treated extremely well by the locals.

Therefore, just want to emphasize again that there's nothing about the Tibetians which you need to worry about. But make sure the program and the company is officially sanctioned by the Chinese authorities, so that you son won't get into trouble with them.

I took a quick look for globaltours and I think I found the right company. If I'm not mistaken, globaltours acts as an agent for other companies who actually put the trips together. There is nothing wrong with this, provided that the actual tour provider is good.

Having worked for a small student travel company in the late 80's, I can say that some programs are very good indeed. And some, are well, lacking. You will want to be very sure who you are actually travelling with, because if I'm not mistaken, it isn't globaltours, and the globabtours online info does not give you any indication of what company or companies it is selling.

Student travel companies typically employ university students as guides/leaders for their tours. The better companies will actually hire teachers and/or "mature" leaders with experience with both teens and the host country. Be sure you are comfortable with who your son will be travelling with.

The company that I worked for has been divided and sold over the years, and appears to be now even out of operation....but one company that was very stiff competition for us at that time was Putney Student Travel. It has grown and expanded over the years. 15 years ago it was a leader in student travel, and it still is...probably for a good reason. I don't work for them nor did I ever, but I do know their programs are good, very, very good. My boss of 15 years ago truly aspired to have a company like Putney, better than Putney...didn't happen for a variety of reasons...but Putney is still going strong. They don't have a China trip, but I think that their philosophy, experience and criteria for staff is excellent...at the very least you could use them as an example to compare whatever company is offering the China trip to.

It IS a big deal sending your child abroad with complete strangers...you are absolutely right to seek out all the information you can...and if you can't get all the answers that you want, then personally, I'd look for an alternative for him.

Kim, rkkwan....I am so sorry, my mistake...it is GlobalROUTES (www.globalroutes.org). As I undertand it, all of the guides are actually teachers. But I appreciate the feedback so much! I am going to do my homework. Any other comments are definitely welcome, especially if you know anything about this particular company.
Thansk again!

That looks like a pretty cool program from the website. Since part of the program is conducted at the Qinghai Normal University, this program is clearly government-approved, so ignore my warning in the previous posts.

Just two other comments. One is that your son should expect the living conditions and facilites to be pretty poor, if they actually let him stay with real Tibetian families in their own dwellings (i.e. not Chinese-government housing inside the city of Xinning). A kid growing up in suburban United States may be kind of surprised, if not shocked, at the conditions.

Second thing is that you should let him read and learn a little about the conflict between China and Tibet before he goes, to get a neutral view of the matter. Because I don't know if there may be propraganda stuff from either or both sides when he's there, trying to influence his views.

Final thing I want to comment on is the cost. $4,000 for 4-weeks in China is a lot of money, even if it includes airfare Beijing-Xining. I know the organizer is non-profit, but I wonder how they're spending the four grand you're giving them. Cost of living in the China interior/west is very low, and $4K may be more than some Tibetians will earn in their whole life.

Or look at it another way, $4K plus the airfare can almost buy a 2-week vacation in China for your son, you and spouse! Would that be a better way for your son to experience other culture? I don't know, but perhaps.

Globalroutes...website looks nice, certainly nice. Many of the staff are somehow involved in education, and they seem well rounded and qualified from their brief descriptions of staff. price is high, but I think you'll find similar pricing or higher from any reputable student travel program. It's quite easy to be non-profit and allocate a large portion of company income to salary and operating expenses, which I'm sure is what they do. Typically, group leaders will get a free trip and a small monetary reward for being a leader. The everyday staff of the company earn a good living wage.

This is certainly a program worthy of consideration I think. If possible, get a list of past participants of the China program and get in touch with some of them...this can be difficult, since many families prefer not to be bothered with being included on the reference list...and anyone who had a bad experience will not likely be someone whose name they will give you call...but some feedback is better than none! I'd also try to get in direct contact with last years group leaders and see what they have to say. How many leaders participate year after year? How many students are repeaters? These number could tell you a lot about the program.

I'd also carefully check into the volunteer teaching part of what your son might be involved in. I'm not well versed in Chinese visa issues, but I do know they have many categories of visas, and engaging in an activity not allowed by your visa could carry serious penalty. I'd contact the Chinese embassy in the US as well as asking globalroute about this.

As the program is affiliated with a Chinese university, there is little chance that Global routes is in any way connected with any pro-independence movement; in fact, it is my guess that your son will encounter a lot of propaganda from Chinese authorities as to how they hare “helping” the Tibetans, see, they are even teaching them to learn English! I personally will not travel to Tibet. This is entirely your personal decision, but IMO there are many other places in the world where your son could teach English to children without being used as a tool by the Chinese government to further its inroads into Tibet and to “convert” another Westerner to the idea that the Chinese occupation of Tibet is actually a good thing.

stockexchanger; I understand your concerns. KimJapan mentioned Putney Student Travel and years ago, when I was of the age to be one of those high school students; it was well regarded. You might like to look into 2 student organizations. both are focused on community service. My 17 year old daughter fi nished high school last month and is now teaching english in a village outside of Chaing Mai. The organization she is with is GLOBAL ROUTES out of Northampton, MA. This program has been around for about 4 decades. WHile she is on a college program (3 month stay) two of her friends went this summer as high school students for 6 weeks of living with a host family, teaching eng. in a village school and touring. From the 2 emails, my child is ecstacially happy with the experience she is having. My college age daughter was in Malawi this summer with a group called OPerations Crossroads Africa. To give you an idea of the viability of this organization, her dad, now retired, went to Africa with it more than 4 decades ago. Perhaps the reputations and amount of time in the business of these two outfits are worth your time if you still have concerns about Tibet.