So I don't really know where to start for this day. The plan, filled with typical tourist kind of things (seeing some tibetan medicine, tibetan astrology) went out the window pretty early in the morning. Even the visit to the Tibetan Children's Village in Dharamsala (in which I felt very uncomfortable because first of all, its like going into someone's house and taking pictures, or in this case, a high school that isn't your own, and secondly because I think one girl I live with in the college hostel lives here otherwise), wasn't open for volunteering.
So my friends and I went to go speak with some political refugees who are learning english. I talked with a twenty-something farmer from the province of Kham, who participated in the 2008 uprisings, and as a result was shot in the back (the bullet went into his stomach) and in the arm, which shattered his elbow and he now wears a sling. After the protest, he escaped to Nepal, by way of tractor trailers and hiking in the mountains for one year, one month, and twenty-seven days, before reaching Nepal and paying a bribe to get papers to travel to Dharamsala. He's not able to work, due to his arm, and he only spoke Tibetan before coming to Dharamsala, so he is on a little scholarship program to learn English and Chinese. In 2010 he went to Taiwan to talk about Tibet. He wants to teach people about Tibet and tell his story, and hopes for a day he can go back home.
Before the official class time was finished, one Tibetan student stood up and made an announcement, followed by an english version announced with difficulty and to the general amusement of his classmates (whose english was no better, but who all found it riotously funny). Yesterday, a woman self-immolated in his town, and there was a solidarity march organized by the local nuns, and we were all invited to come. The protest, which was filled with flags and candles and singing, done I believe both for publicity and also social solidarity, was an amazing thing to see. It looped the main center of town twice before heading down to the main temple area and ending at the Tibetan National Martyrs' Memorial (interesting to note thats one of the first things you see when you step into the temple/museum/dalai lama's residence grounds).
I have some videos I will try to put up when the internet is better - here is one picture for now
So my friends and I went to go speak with some political refugees who are learning english. I talked with a twenty-something farmer from the province of Kham, who participated in the 2008 uprisings, and as a result was shot in the back (the bullet went into his stomach) and in the arm, which shattered his elbow and he now wears a sling. After the protest, he escaped to Nepal, by way of tractor trailers and hiking in the mountains for one year, one month, and twenty-seven days, before reaching Nepal and paying a bribe to get papers to travel to Dharamsala. He's not able to work, due to his arm, and he only spoke Tibetan before coming to Dharamsala, so he is on a little scholarship program to learn English and Chinese. In 2010 he went to Taiwan to talk about Tibet. He wants to teach people about Tibet and tell his story, and hopes for a day he can go back home.
Before the official class time was finished, one Tibetan student stood up and made an announcement, followed by an english version announced with difficulty and to the general amusement of his classmates (whose english was no better, but who all found it riotously funny). Yesterday, a woman self-immolated in his town, and there was a solidarity march organized by the local nuns, and we were all invited to come. The protest, which was filled with flags and candles and singing, done I believe both for publicity and also social solidarity, was an amazing thing to see. It looped the main center of town twice before heading down to the main temple area and ending at the Tibetan National Martyrs' Memorial (interesting to note thats one of the first things you see when you step into the temple/museum/dalai lama's residence grounds).
I have some videos I will try to put up when the internet is better - here is one picture for now
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