Three days' drive from the provincial capital Xining, and 4,000 metres above sea level, Qinghai belongs to nomads, a world of felt tents and yak herders. A snowy peak hovers above a valley forgotten by the world.
Well, almost forgotten. Across a freezing river, a tiny factory can be seen. Supervising the workers is Jigme Jensen, a native Tibetan saffron-robed monk turned cheese factory entrepreneur. He built his factory in the mountains so nomads could deliver fresh yak milk daily because he 'did not want to inconvenience them'.
He has changed the way I think about business, education and the very concept of sustainable development. Previously, Qinghai Tibetan nomads had no real income. Now, without affecting their traditional lifestyle, Jigme Jensen provides them with one by purchasing yak milk every day. His form of development does not change their culture; it supports it.
The cheese blocks are transported by jeep across Qinghai, from where they are exported to Europe and North America. (Yak cheese tastes like a cross between Gouda and parmesan). But Jigme Jensen is not interested in reinvesting his profits to build more cheese factories. He wants to build schools, instead. Driving his jeep into another valley, he pointed at tents on the horizon surrounded by tiny dots: yaks. 'Children living there have no opportunity to go to school,' he said. 'So, I will bring school to them.'
As we entered the valley, workers were already marking out the lines of a school to be built. Jumping from the jeep, Jigme Jensen behaved more like a construction site boss than a monk, ordering workers to redraw the lines to make the classrooms bigger. 'By having a school here in the mountains, children can go to school, still be with their parents and retain their traditional lifestyle.'
This is the second school built by Jigme Jenson. The first is nearby, at Lajia Monastary, where he is the second-ranking monk. It is a Tibetan-style building, constructed of stone and wood. On the first floor, colourful Tibetan paintings cover the corridor walls, leading to physics and chemistry labs full of modern equipment. A small library is filled with Chinese and Tibetan books, copies of Buddhist Sutras on traditional long Tibetan paper, and Disney cartoon books. 'Tibetan children like Mickey Mouse,' said Jigme Jenson, leading me upstairs to classrooms filled with computers. The written Tibetan language has now reached the digital age. His school offers nomad children free 24-hour global internet access; Qinghai online. 'We encourage students to go online after class and be connected to the world,' he said.
