Asia Travel | Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

Street Kids in Nepal Drum Their Way to Self Esteem

Published February 26, 2011 | By Barbara Weibel

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Paying to Volunteer - Scam or Legitimate Social Program?

The dangerously handsome man sitting at an adjacent table in the Pokhara coffee shop nodded as I wrapped up my interview with two young girls who’s had an abhorrent experience with a local volunteer operator. A jumble of dreadlocks peeked from beneath Hugo Caminero’s rainbow knitted skullcap as he leaned across the aisle and admitted that he’d been eavesdropping. Hugo was also working with children in Nepal, but he’d created his own program rather than pay a firm to arrange a volunteer opportunity. He flashed a seductive smile through his two-day stubble. Would I like to accompany him the following day to see for myself?

Hugo, drummer for the popular Spanish cover band RETO 999, was inspired by the philanthropic works of Carlinhos Brown, a Brazilian percussionist who was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighborhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. As a child, Brown played in dirt streets where human waste flowed; when it rained, excrement and mud washed into the homes. Yet it was the rhythm and percussion sounds from these same rough streets that brought him fame. Hoping to give back, Brown opened a music school in Candeal and formed the musical group Timbalada, recruiting more than 100 percussionists and singers called “timbaleiros,” the majority of them young kids from the streets of Candeal. Timbalada eventually recorded eight albums and toured various countries around the world. Today, largely through the efforts of Brown and Pracatum Social Action Association community action organization also set up by the drummer, the streets of Candeal are paved and free from sewage.

Can’t view the above video of teaching drumming to street children in Pokhara, Nepal? Click here.

Taking his cue from Brown, Hugo bought a dozen drums, flew to Pokhara, and began looking for an orphanage where he could put his skills to use. One day he knocked on the door of the Protection and Rehabilitation Centre for Street Children and soon he was tutoring kids for an hour or so each afternoon in simple rhythms they were sure to master. At a jam session in a local bar one night he met Kim Jinuk, a Korean guitarist, and Pablo Etayo, an amateur musician from Basque Spain who had studied music therapy. And then there were three.

The next afternoon, Hugo led me through a maze of Pokhara’s dirt back streets on a shortcut to the highway, where the inconspicuous centre concealed itself behind a low concrete wall. A door cracked open we were ushered inside, where raggedy urchins immediately latched onto our legs, our clothes, whatever they could grasp. They bickered and pummeled one another; one young boy performed backflips from a nearby bench hoping to win our attention. Utter chaos reigned until Hugo broke out the drums.

Forming an orderly circle in the center of the courtyard, the children focused on Hugo as he drilled them on their respective parts.

“Ick, dui, tin, char!” One, two three, four.

Within minutes the undisciplined mob was transformed into a cohesive unit, automatically working together for the good of the group. It was quite remarkable to witness and it wouldn’t surprise me to see these kids performing in a major parade someday, featured as one of the world’s great rags to riches stories.

Pokhara Vacations

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Posted in Asia travel |

Tagged blogsherpa, cultural travel, culture, drumming, Hugo Caminero, Music, Nepal, percussion, Pokhara, RETO 999, Travel, volunteer, volunteering, world travel |

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Paid Volunteering and Voluntouring – Scams or Legitimate Social Programs?

Published February 21, 2011 | By Barbara Weibel

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Paying to Volunteer - Scam or Legitimate Social Program?

My life changed for the better when I deserted corporate America to pursue my true passions of travel, writing and photography but over the past few years I’ve often felt there was still a piece of the puzzle missing. There was something more I was meant to do; I just wasn’t sure what it was. And then I arrived in Nepal.

As my three week visit stretched to three months, I became acutely aware that behind the veneer of beauty lay excruciating poverty. Here was a place where I could do some good, I thought. I began researching NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) and learned it was quite simple to create and register one in Nepal. Combining an NGO with a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in the U.S., which would allow people to make tax deductible donations, seemed the perfect way to help Nepal and satisfy my desire to give back.

As I toured the country I broached the subject of NGO’s and volunteering with everyone I met. My first inkling that all was not as it seemed came from a guide in Chitwan National Park. Morally opposed to riding elephants, I instead opted for a walk through a nearby village to learn more about the local Tharu people. My guide, who lived in the village, warned, “Maybe 75% of orphanages are not real.”

He told me about a group of Polish tourists that had established an online relationship with an orphanage prior to traveling to Nepal. Upon arrival, they hired my guide to help purchase bulk food and supplies, in addition to a cash donation they planned to make. Although he warned of potential fraud, the Poles insisted that this particular orphanage was legitimate. Several weeks later, long after the donors had returned home, my guide stuffed his pockets with chocolates and returned to the orphanage. As the children clamored around him, fighting for candy, he quizzed them. What had they been given to eat over the past few weeks? Had they received new clothes? School supplies? None of the children had new clothes or supplies and they had been fed only dahl bhat (rice and lentil bean stew), as usual. He later learned that all the fresh foodstuffs and a good deal of the bulk non-perishables had been sold off, with the cash distributed among the orphanage owners.

My guide explained that many orphanages solicit funds through websites that feature photos of destitute children and inspiring stories of rescues made possible by donations. Yet in truth, many of these same orphanages are non-existent. In the rare instance that donors travel to Nepal to meet their sponsor children, the owners of the “orphanage” collect children and put them on display for a night or two in a local home.

At this point in our walking tour he pointed to a decrepit house next to a brand new three-story concrete building painted in a trio of turquoise hues. The sign on the chain link fence surrounding the two structures declared that a new orphanage would soon open.

“I assume that’s one of the good ones?” I asked.

“No, the owner built the orphanage with money from donations but now that it is finished, he is turning it into a hotel.”

Two days later I boarded a bus with a slew of Brits who had come to Nepal to volunteer. After a weekend tour of Chitwan, they were headed back to Pokhara, where they were helping out at local orphanages and teaching English in government schools. After extensive research on the Internet, each of them had booked their trip through Personal Overseas Development (POD), a UK firm that facilitates volunteering opportunities around the world. Valerie Jamiason of Newcastle paid 750 British Pounds ($1087 U.S. dollars at the time) for an eight-week stint. Her package included pick-up at the Kathmandu airport ( I was picked up for free by my hotel), one night’s stay at a Kathmandu budget hotel (~$10), her bus ticket to Pokhara (~$6), and eight weeks stay at the Castle Guest House in Pokhara at what Val was told was POD’s special rate of $6 per night, for a total of $352.

Val reinforcing prepositions with the students

Volunteer Michael Anfield reviews homework

POD does not require volunteers to have any prior teaching experience and they are given no orientation upon arrival. With no formal turnover process, fresh arrivals have no idea what the children have been taught previously and each new group is left to decide for themselves what to teach their classes. Tom, who had opted for a summer of volunteering prior to entering university as a pre-med student, focused on teaching his students how to tell time.

Kids study English manual at Annapurna School

Can’t view the YouTube video of volunteers teaching English at the Annapurna Primary School in Pokhara, Nepal? Click here.

Annapurna Primary School in Pokhara

Two of my volunteer friends invited me to visit Annapurna Primary School with them one day. As I wedged into a miniature desk at the rear of the classroom, Val established a modicum of order among the raucous pack and began drilling the students. She placed a chalkboard eraser on the floor and in her thick Newcastle brogue instructed:

“Repeat after me. The duster (DOH stah) is next to the desk.”
“The duster is on the desk.”
“The duster is in the desk.”
“The duster is under the desk.”

Meanwhile, Michael reviewed homework assignments, explaining errors in his very proper Londoner accent.

Volunteer Val Jamiason drills English prepositions

Though the raggedly clad kids had level one English workbooks, the school administrator told me in broken English that they were lacking even the most essential supplies: pencils, erasers, and lined pads were all in short supply and since there were no funds for lunches, the students went hungry. As for assistance from POD, I was told that only the teachers were provided. With Continue reading →

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Street Kids in Nepal Drum Their Way to Self Esteem

Posted in Asia travel |

Tagged blogsherpa, charities, charity, corruption, cultural travel, culture, INGO, Kathmandu, Nepal, NGO, non-profit, orphanages, Pokhara, scams, teaching english, Travel, volunteering, voluntouring, world travel |

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Handbook for Travelers to Pokhara, Nepal

Published February 17, 2011 | By Barbara Weibel

This handbook is designed to help anyone who wants to visit the place on this planet that has most captured my heart, Pokhara, Nepal. Having spent three months in Nepal in late 2010, much of the time in Pokhara, and returning for another few months early in 2011, I came to know the town quite well and wanted to share with other Nepal-bound travelers my tips for everything from the best hotels and restaurants, to the not-to-be missed sights, right down to the best place to get a haircut:

CELL/MOBILE PHONE SERVICE:

If you have an unlocked smart phone you can purchase a Nepal sim card for 300 Nepali Rupees (NRS), which is about $4 USD. This price includes 50 NRS of “talk time,” which is charged at 2 NRS per minute. When you need more credit, simply buy a recharge card at any store that displays the purple NCell sign, scratch off the strip on the back of the card and follow the directions. A local number is invaluable, among other things, for calling an honest taxi driver with whom you’ve established a relationship or getting in touch with other travelers who also have local numbers to team up for tours or trekking. I never travel for any length in a country without a local phone number, especially considering the cheap price. For three months in Nepal, my total cost will be about $5. If you have an iPhone, you may want to refer to my previous article: Traveling Internationally with an iPhone without Incurring High Cell Phone Bills. Nepal’s international country code is 977.

WALKING AROUND:

There is no such thing as a pedestrian right-of-way in Nepal; be alert at all times when walking in or crossing streets, however walking around Pokhara is much more pleasant than Kathmandu, as sidewalks are available in much of Lakeside and the traffic is much less. Additionally, the main street in Lakeside has recently been turned into a pedestrian mall every Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m.

TOILETS:

There are no public toilets in the Lakeside area of Pokhara, so you will have to rely on restaurants and hotels/guest houses. Many places now have western toilets, though in many places you will still find squat toilets. Hoard napkins, you will need them as toilet paper, but as in most places throughout Asia, if there is a trash bin in the stall it generally means you should deposit used paper in the bin rather than the toilet.

WATER:

Many hotels are now buying five-gallon bottles of purified water and allowing guests to refill their bottles either for free or for a price that is much less than buying a new bottle. This water is perfectly safe to drink and travelers should not hesitate to refill their bottles from it. You will also be doing your part to help save Pokhara’s lovely lake, which is becoming overloaded with plastic trash.

MUST SEE SIGHTS:

Hike to the top of Sarangkot pre-dawn to see sun come up over the Annapurna Himalayas

Hike or take taxi to the World Peace Pagoda for a spectacular view of Phewa Lake and Pokhara, framed by the distant Himalayas

Take a boat to Barahi Temple in the middle of Lake Phewa

Attend a Puja ceremony at Jangchub Choeling Buddhist Monastery, held at 3:30 every afternoon

View from atop Sarangkot at dawn

World Peace Pagoda

Barahi Temple on a small island in Phewa Lake

Jangchub Choeling Monastery

OTHER INTERESTING THINGS TO DO:

Gurkha Memorial Museum

International Mountaineering Museum

Shopping in the Old Bazaar

Visit one of the Tibetan refugee camps and spend time with the locals, perhaps a storyteller who can tell what it was like to come to Nepal during the years when China invaded Tibet, arrange for a healing ceremony with a Tibetan Shaman, attend Tibetan folk dancing performances, or learn about Tibetan Thangka painting.

Walk to the head of or entirely around Phewa Lake

Go paragliding from the top of Sarangkot, landing at the edge of Phewa Lake

Take the bus to Naudanda and hike back down to Phewa Lake

Whitewater rafting through the Upper or Lower Seti Gorges

Trekking possibilities abound, ranging from 2-3 days to the longer 14-21 day Annapurna Circuit Trek

Devi’s Waterfall, but only in the summer during the monsoon season, when the water is high

Gurkha Museum

Hamming it up with Tibetan ethnic dancers at Jampaling Tibetan Refugee Settlement

Haming it up with Tibetan ethnic dancers at Jampaling Tibetan Refugee Settlement

Paragliders take off from top of Sarangkot and land on the shores of Phewa Lake

BEST HOTELS:

Hotel Mandala, owner Surya Pahari. On Lakeside Marg in Hallan Chowk, turn onto the small road between Be Happy Restaurant and Sweet Memories Restaurant. The hotel is a short distance down the road on the left. Very nice rooms for 700 Rupees per night ($10 USD). All have private bathroom with 24-hour hot water, comfortable beds and TV with remote. The 14 rooms surround a lovely enclosed garden with tables and chairs. The hotel offers a one-day laundry service, can arrange for tours (but are not pushy about them), and free wi-fi is included in the cost of the room, but the signal is usually only strong enough to pick up in the lobby. The side street on which the hotel is located is very quiet, is near some of the best restaurants in Lakeside, and is a short walk (one block) to the lake. Bars on the windows ensure safety. PO Box 185, Lakeside, Pokhara-6, Telephone 061-464690, Fax: 061-462889, Website: http://www.hotelmandala.com.np, email: [email protected]

Hotel Temple Villa is a short walk down the first side street south of Standard Chartered Bank, on the north end of Lakeside, in a quiet, safe location just a block from the lake. Set back from the road and surrounded by manicured gardens, this combination private home/hotel offer rooms ranging from dorm-type accommodations with shared toilet to spacious private rooms with ensuite bathrooms. Unlike many of the standard Nepali hotels that are furnished with beds that are hard as a rock, Temple Villa has comfortable beds and upscale linens. Guests have access to a rooftop deck as well as several balconies tucked between the rooms, and a lounge area offers TV with remote control. Free wi-fi is included, prices begin at 700 Rupees. Contact Bikash: Lakeside-6; Telephone 061-462203; cell 98462-94602; email [email protected]

Karma Guest House, located on a side street in Gaurighat, on the south end of Lakeside. Family run, nice folks. Really high speed Internet included in the nightly price of 350-400 Rupees ($5-6 USD) per night and if you ask nice the owner will bring an Ethernet cable right into your room. The rooms are spacious and clean, with private baths and 24-hour hot water, but no TV, and the first floor rooms tend to be musty smelling. If you really need the Internet, opt for a first floor room, otherwise take the second floor room. Nice quiet location on a side street, across from the lake and surrounded by good restaurants, sturdy bars on the windows. Owner Chandra Pun; telephone 61-462850; cell 98460-49867; email [email protected]

Hotel Mandala

Temple Villa Hotel is surrounded by lovely gardens

Karma Guest House

BEST RESTAURANTS:

Zinnia Fans: The best in town, both in quality of food and price. On the north end of Lakeside in Hallan Chowk. Delicious food, best lemon/ginger/honey tea in town, and excellent prices. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Try the Eggplant Moussaka. Owner Minraj will take good care of you and always has a smile on his face.

Olive Cafe: Near the center of town on the main road in Lakeside. Not only do they have great food, they have the best Internet in town and they will let you veg for hours and work online if you eat there. The prices are a bit on the pricey side, but the quality of the food is excellent (best hummus wrap in town). Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with fresh baked pastries every morning and homemade desserts every day including heavenly chocolate croissants.

Ooh La La: A bit further north from Zinnia Fans. Also great food at an affordable price. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Pema Tibetan Restaurant: On Barahi Path near the Barahi Hotel in the center of Lakeside. Tiny restaurant with excellent traditional Tibetan food for budget prices.

Asian Tea Room: Located down a narrow alley just south Thic Thak Restaurant, in the center of Lakeside. Great food at amazingly cheap prices. Try the chowmein for 70 Rupees ($1) or the Rosti (boiled potatoes, chopped up with vegetables, spices, and cheese, and fried into a thick potato pancake) for slightly more. Delicious! And the owners are really lovely people.

Pokhara Kitchen & Restaurant: On the north end of Lakeside near Hallan Chowk. Look for a narrow walkway between buildings just south of Standard Chartered Bank. The family run restaurant serves mostly locals but welcomes tourists. They serve only the traditional Nepali set (dahl bhat, curd, curry, pickle, and papad) or an Indian set. Your plate will be refilled as many times as you wish for the 170 Rupee price (about $2.50 USD). Wash your hands at the outdoor sink before sitting down. Although they will bring you a spoon if you wish, they will be delighted if you try eating with your hands in true Nepali/Indian fashion.

Busy Bee: Lakefront In the center of Lakeside on the main road, this restaurant has good food at an affordable price, plus live music every night of the week until 11 p.m. Free wifi.

Zinnia Fans Restaurant - the best in town!

Pokhara Kitchen and Restaurant; not fancy but good Nepali and Indian food and plenty of it!

Continue reading →

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Tagged blogsherpa, cultural travel, culture, guidebook, handbook, hotels, long term travel, Nepal, Pokhara, restaurants, sights, tips, tourism, Travel, world travel |

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Pilgrimage to the Birthplace of Buddha

Published February 13, 2011 | By Barbara Weibel

The bus stopped at a dusty crossroad and the driver shouted “Lumbini, Lumbini, Lumbini.” Indeed, I was Lumbini bound, but I had been told this bus would carry me all the way; suddenly it seemed I would have to change buses. I unfolded my aching legs from the cramped space between seat rows, stood and stretched to get the blood flowing after seven hours of sitting. Slinging the backpack containing all my electronic equipment over my shoulder, I remembered a time when this situation would have alarmed me. Though I carried a map of Nepal and could guestimate my location, in truth I was in a small town in remote southern Nepal where I knew no one, was unable to read Nepali, and was hopelessly incapable of figuring out which of the dozen or so tin-cans lining the dirt shoulder would take me to my final destination.

Smiling, I invoked my secret travel mantra, “What’s the worst that can happen?” and put myself in the hands of the adolescent boy who’d hung out the open door of my bus for the past few hours, hawking tickets. He grabbed my second bag and led me from bus to bus until he found the one going to Lumbini. This is my second secret: I turn myself over and just do what I’m told, with faith that whoever is leading me knows the way. As a strong-willed, fiercely independent woman, these techniques would have been inconceivable in the corporate world, yet in the world of long-term travel they are the secrets to success. Staying present, being mindful, not stressing out. Enjoying the experience, whatever it brings.

The mini-bus groaned and leaned precariously to the left as I stepped up. Inside, every seat was taken except for one spot on a front row bench next to a Buddhist monk. Respectful of his vows, I stood in the center aisle, but he motioned for me to sit.

“Thank you,” I said, surprised. I was even more surprised when he struck up a conversation in perfect English.

“Are you traveling to Lumbini for the Sakya Monlam Prayer Festival?” he asked. I told him I’d come to see the Sacred Gardens and the birthplace of Buddha, but knew nothing about the festival. He explained that prayers for world peace are held once each year at the four major Buddhist pilgrimage sites: the birthplace of Buddha; the site where he attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, India; where he first preached at Benaras, India; and where he died and achieved nirvana at Kusinagara, India. Luckily, I was arriving a day before the Sakya Monlam festival would begin in Lumbini and he invited me to attend, with an assurance that everyone was welcome.

“You are Buddhist, then?” he probed. I replied that I had been Buddhist for many years.

“And what tradition do you follow?”

“Well, that is an interesting question. I’ve long been confused by the many different sects and traditions of Buddhism. I have investigated Chinese, Theravadan, and Zen Buddhism, and briefly attended classes at a temple in the U.S. that was associated with the New Kadampa tradition, until I discovered they did not follow the Dalai Lama. But I’d never quite found my place until I was introduced to Tibetan Buddhism. Here in Nepal, in just a few short weeks, I’ve learned more about Buddhism than in the previous ten years, and have finally found my spiritual home.”

He smiled knowingly. “It was the same for me. You have made a good choice. And have you found a guru yet?”

“Not yet. I am not looking but I am waiting.”

He adjusted his orange robes and pushed gold wire-rimmed glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose. “Just wait, he is coming.”

I finally asked the question that had been bothering me for the last half-hour as I tried to keep from sliding into him every time the bus bounced over a pothole. “I always thought that monks are not allowed to touch women. I’ve even been told that women must not hand anything directly to a monk; instead items must be put on the ground for the monk to pick up so that he is not contaminated by the touch of a woman.”

He laughed. “That is the old way. There are some sects that still follow those rules, but most do not. Our main purpose is to help and we cannot do this if we are unable to touch others.”

True to his purpose, as we disembarked from the bus in Lumbini he pulled a cell phone from the folds of his robe and offered to call my hotel for directions. When he learned he had instructed me to get off one stop too early, he accompanied me the mile to the hotel and deposited me at the front door, with a reminder that breakfast would be served at the monastery at 7 a.m. the following day.

Anxious not to miss the beginning of the festival, I set out for town before dawn the following day. Muted green plains stretched to infinity on both sides of the highway, the vast flatness relieved only by an occasional tree and a sleepy stream meandering between sinuous red dirt embankments. Smoke from burning rice stubble gnawed its way up and mingled with morning mist, creating a gauzy curtain that turned the rising sun into a crimson candy apple. Slowly the town came to life. Rustic wooden carts loaded to overflowing with rice stalks rambled down the highway behind teams of white oxen. Buses spewing black smoke from long tailpipes groaned to life with the day’s first load of passengers. Focused on dodging cows and buffalo meandering along the road, I was caught off guard when a wild monkey passed me. Turning a menacing gaze upon me, he bared his teeth in a “what are you staring at” challenge. I looked away, telegraphing my acceptance that he was the alpha, and he continued on his way. As I neared the town, monks began emerging from tents set up alongside the road, rapidly becoming a tidal wave of saffron, crimson, and orange that surrounded and swept me into the front gates of the monastery.

Can’t see the above YouTube video of the Monlam Prayer Festival in Lumbini, Nepal? Click here.

Picking a spot at the rear of the courtyard, I sat cross-legged on a patch of grass, one of only three foreigners in a sea of Tibetan faces. Women in ankle-length gray dresses with golden nose ornaments and thick braids hanging down to their waist twirled Continue reading →

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Tagged birthplace of Buddha, blogsherpa, Buddhism, Buddhist, chanting, cultural travel, culture, Lumbini, Monlam prayer festival, Nepal, pilgrimage, Sakya, the terai and mahabharat range, Tibetan, Travel, world travel |

15 Comments

The Art of Tseten Chomphel

Published February 4, 2011 | By Barbara Weibel

As I waited to fill my plate during the International Human Rights Day celebration at Tashiling Tibetan refugee settlement in Pokhara, kids darted back and forth through the dinner line, playing tag. When one of them unexpectedly scooted in front of me, I reflexively took a step back and bumped into Tseten Chomphel. He laughed, diffusing my embarrassment, and introduced himself. By the time we made it to the head of the buffet line we were chatting like old friends. For the next hour I sat cross-legged on the concrete floor of the community center with Tseten, his wife, niece and mother-in-law as he related how he came to be an artist and art teacher in Nepal.

Tseten came to Nepal from Tibet at the age of six. Like his older brother and sister before him, Tseten’s parents sent him out of the country to receive a better education than he could hope for in Tibet, especially since he’d shown great artistic promise from the time he could pick up a pencil. At the Tibet-Nepal border his parents handed Tseten over to his older brother who, with help from the Tibetan Assistance Agency in Kathmandu, arranged for him to attend school in India. After graduation, Tseten returned to Nepal, where he reunited with his brother and began focusing on his art.

Tseten Chomphel, artist and art teacher at Tashiling Tibetan refugee settlement

Tseten's niece and mother-in-law

Although he is happy living in Nepal, the forced separation from his family is a difficult burden to bear. Since the day he left Tibet, Tseten has seen his parents only once and they have never even met his wife. In 2007 the Chinese government finally granted permission for his parents to travel to the Nepal-Tibet border to reunite with their son, but only for six hours. They huddled together in the bleak landscape that marks the border between the two countries, enduring the scrutiny of Chinese soldiers as they shed tears of joy and despair.

Fascinated by his story, I could hardly believe my good fortune when he asked if I would like to see his paintings. At the elementary school he pulled aside a floor-length tapestry covering the front door of his tiny apartment in the teachers’ residence area and stepped aside for me to enter. A huge oil painting of a leopard chasing prey dominated one wall of the front room and smaller paintings covered much of the remaining wall space. He served up tea and offered me Yak cheese and dried sheep yank that his mother-in-law had carried all the way from Tibet, then pulled out a large portfolio and began spreading piece after piece in front of me on the sofa table, most of which were produced in watercolor on art paper that Tseten makes by hand, since canvas and oil paints are expensive and rarely available.

Tseten and his wife share tiny teacher's quarters

Leopard mural dominates Tseten's small living room

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Tagged Art, artist, blogsherpa, cultural travel, culture, long term travel, Nepal, painting, Pokhara, refugee, Tashiling, Tibet, Tibetan, Travel, world travel |

8 Comments

Two Tibetan Refugees – A Freedom Fighter and a Simple Farm Girl – Share Their Stories of Survival

Published February 1, 2011 | By Barbara Weibel

Jampa Chodok is 83 years old but he remembers his days as freedom fighter in Tibet as if they happened last week. He joined our small tour group just as we were finishing lunch at the Jampaling Tibetan refugee settlement, located about 12 miles east of Pokhara, Nepal. He sat in the sun, as old men often do to warm their bones, and, squinting in the bright light, began telling us about a life sacrificed to years of war.

Hostilities began in 1949, when Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China and made it a top priority to incorporate Tibet into the PRC. The government of Tibet sent letters to the U.S. State Department, Great Britain and Chairman Mao, declaring its intent to defend itself against occupation “by all possible means.” China sought negotiations with Tibetan government officials but they refused to talk, instead stationing more than 8,000 ill-trained and nominally equipped Tibetan soldiers on their eastern border with China. Chinese troops invaded on October 7, 1950; 12 days later 5,000 Tibetan soldiers were dead and the army had surrendered.

Jampa Chodok, Tibetan freedom fighter now living in a refugee settlement near Pokhara, Nepal

Jampa was only 22 years old at the time and not involved in the fighting. Like other Tibetans, he watched helplessly as China amassed 20.000 forces on their eastern border, advanced to within 120 miles of the capital, Lhasa, and then stopped. Surprisingly, the Chinese government demanded Tibet send a delegation to Beijing to negotiate an agreement. Although they were given no authority to sign any such agreement, representatives put their seal to the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, giving China sovereignty over Tibet. It was signed and sealed in Beijing on May 23, 1951 and confirmed by the government in Tibet, which later repudiated the agreement, claiming it had been signed under duress and threat of attack.

China immediately began implementing land redistribution in the far eastern part of Tibet, where the indigenous Khampas and nomads of Amdo traditionally owned their own land. By 1956, fighting had broken out in both Amdo and eastern Kham and in 1958, when the Chinese ratcheted up their efforts to fully incorporate the still semi-autonomous area around Lhasa into the PRC, Jampa, now 33 years old, joined the resistance forces forming in the capital.

In March of 1959, Chinese officials invited the Dalai Lama to attend a theatrical performance at the Chinese military headquarters outside Lhasa and insisted that he not be accompanied by his traditional armed escort. Thousands of citizens of Lhasa, alarmed by rumors that the Chinese army was mounting an attempt to kidnap the Dalai Lama, surrounded Norbulingka Palace, where the Dalai Lama was in residence, preventing him from attending the event. Within days, protesters were marching in the streets of Lhasa, proclaiming Tibet’s independence and infuriating the Chinese. As the Dalai Lama was preparing to flee the city, the Chinese army surrounded Norbulingka and began shelling the palace.

Miraculously, the Dalai Lama, accompanied by a lone security guard, made his way through the Chinese lines and escaped. Jampa and his fellow resistance fighters accompanied the Dalai Lama and his small group of followers for nearly a month as they trekked across the Himalayas on foot and on horseback, bound for northern India. When they had safely delivered their spiritual leader, Jampa and his fellow soldiers headed back to Tibet to fight, however the Chinese forces in Lhasa were so overwhelming that they soon had no choice but to return to India.