I made a speech this year – by Pema Lhamo (Stella)

Have you ever done something that you never imagined you would do when you were young? When I was a little girl sitting near a black tent on the thick and wide grassland, I never knew or imagined that I would go to Shen zhen one day and learn English. It was even harder for me to believe when I heard that I was supposed to make a speech this year at Captivating s fifth annual charity auction night at the Futian Shangri-la hotel in Shenzhen, China.

Before the guests arrived, I stood in front of the stage and pictured myself standing on it and making my speech facing the crowded audiences from the spacious square shaped stage in the beautiful ballroom. Seeing the shiny huge glass-made lights suspending from the flowery ceiling like a bunch of moons hanging on the star-filled sky, I opened my eyes wider and thought to myself in great expectation that as long as I could properly make my speech, the place where we were going to perform was just wonderful. However, as I saw so many people coming into the room wearing such fancy dresses and suits, the suspense to go onstage and make my speech grew into torture, like I wasn’t quite sure if I could make it and I wanted to do it soon. I have no idea why I felt like this way. Maybe I didn’t want to wait feeling anxious and nervous! Very luckily, as I wished, it didn’t take so long at all. Instead I was supposed to make my speech at the beginning of our performances. I went up onstage wearing my Tibetan dress. As I took my steps to the center of the stage , I felt very different because I wasn’t shy or nervous like I thought I would be. Instead, I smiled and looked toward the silent audiences from side to side as I introduced myself first and then the horse dance which was like watching a horse race on wide grassland.

When my speech was over and I was walking off the stage, I saw the audiences clapping their hands and whistling with such an immense excitement. They made me feel like they were so happy for me! Having my big job done, I walked slowly off the stage with a big smile on my face!

After making the speech I learned that when you want to do something it’s better to try than being afraid to fail. If you don’t try, you’ll never know what the result would be. Like before making the speech, I was pretty nervous as well but then I made my decision to try anyway, and I did it at the end!

From Captivating: Stella did an amazing job and, thanks to the success of her speech, incredible educational opportunities have opened up for her since that time. Her dream of one day becoming a journalist is now one step closer.