Today we went to Choglamsar, a Tibetan refugee just outside of Leh and visited the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) that takes care of orphaned and destitute Tibetan children in exile. Before coming to India I honestly didn’t know much about the situation with Tibet except for the hunger strikes I would occasionally hear about and the “Free Tibet” stickers I would see on the back of cars around Burlington. Last week was the 50th anniversary of China’s occupation in Tibet so there was much conversation about the situation. There are refugee camps all over India, the main one being right outside of Dharmsala where the Tibetan government is in exile. The refugee camp we visited, Choglamsar has 8,000-10,000 refugees and the TCV has about 2,000 Tibetan children living and attending school there. When we first entered the village a group young boys wearing blue school uniforms and “Free Tibet” wool hats huddled together and giggled as we walked by towards the Director’s office. In the office, photographs of the Dalai Lama covered his back wall. A woman entered with 15 cups of tea and following her was the Director. He warmly greeted us with “Tashi Delek,” meaning “Greetings” in Tibetan. He introduced himself and then the organization, TCV. The Dalai Lama established TCV in the hopes it would help preserve Tibetan identity for refugee orphans.
The Chinese have killed over one million Tibetans since their occupation in 1959 and over 100,000 followed the Dalai Lama into exile, becoming refugees. Among these refugees were thousands of children whose parents were either killed or not able to escape with them. I learned from the Director that each year there are around 1,500 refugee children that arrive in India after escaping from Tibet.
I asked the director why there weren’t any rallies or protests in Ladakh last week during the anniversary and his response was that “our method for freedom is not fighting.” I found his response very typical of the Buddhist people. The Chinese have done and are still doing everything to destroy the culture and traditions of the peaceful Tibetan people. In Tibet, for every Tibetan household there are two military officers that live with the family in order to oversee any Tibetan traditions that might occur. He said if anyone is caught worshipping the Dalai Lama in Tibet, they are killed on sight. The Chinese are even appointing the next Dalai Lama themselves, however Tibetans know that the Dalai Lama himself has already declared he will be born in a “free country.”
Just last year the Chinese killed 200 Tibetans. I then asked him if he thinks there is hope for the future of Tibet with so many Tibetans being killed each year. He looked at me and stated “The world is changing. You can kill people, but you cannot kill the heart.” His passionate words sent chills down my spine.
After receiving an introduction about Tibet we checked out classrooms filled with tiny Tibetan children learning the English alphabet. The small children all continued to trace their letters as we peaked our heads in. They were all dressed in white shirts, maroon jackets and ties and dark blue pants with the same “Free Tibet” wooly hats I had seen before. Next to the classroom was a library filled with books about the Dalai Lama’s teachings and a librarian who told us his story about returning to Tibet 30 years after escaping as a small child hidden in a big sack. When he returned he was caught and held captive for a few months and then released after staying true to the Dalai Lama’s words through extreme interrogation Every month his family, as do most families who are affiliated with a refugee, have to pay a monthly fee to the Chinese government until their family member returns. His dream to visit his village and just see his family one last time before he dies made me have hold in tears. He told us about the changes he saw in the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, once known as the last pristine Shangri-la when he went back and how much more developed it has become with drunken military men at night and prostitutes roaming its streets. It made me angry to think no country has stepped in to help this innocent and peaceful culture when the Chinese pretty much led a genocide among the most peaceful of people when forcing monks and nuns to fornicate in the stress and children to kill their parents. To think the reason of the US for completely blocking economic relations with Cuba is supposedly because of its communist regime seems so absurd when China is our country’s number one trading partner and the largest communist country in the world. Once again, it is just a reminder of how much the rich are unwilling to sacrifice when it comes to their own wealth and comfortable lifestyle. Even the librarian when praising our newly elected president said, “The world will never support Tibet because of its economic relations with China.”
Since being in Ladakh I have been drawn to the peacefulness and serenity of the Tibetan Buddhist people I have encountered. Their passion for helping other, creating peace and compassion among the world is so different from the materially rich developed world I am from. And it is inherent in their way of life, always having time to stop and talk to a passing friend. Worries about weight, depression, low self-esteem and stress do not exist among these people, perhaps it’s because they have other things to worry about.
No comments:
Post a Comment