We joined many throughout the UK meditating for Tibet at 3pm on 3rd July.
We followed this with a lovely tea beautifully prepared by Dee.
We followed this with a lovely tea beautifully prepared by Dee.
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As part of refugee week we gave a talk about the lives of some of the Tibetan refugees we have got to know in Rewalsar. The photo shows a view of the settlement from the hillside above.  We had our stall as usual at the Steiner Spring Fair and raised £90 - a very helpful addition to our fundraising. Many thanks to everyone who helped on a rather cold and windy day.
For the second year running we returned to Wharfedale Lodge in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales for another inspiring weekend with Lama.  Namgyal Dolkar, Vice President of Gu Chu Sum and EleanorBryne-Rosengren,
Director of Free Tibet and Tibet Watch, visited York on 6th April and gave a very moving and inspiring talk on their work with Tibetan ex-political prisoners. Their event with us was part of UK tour which took in 9 different venues and proved an effective way of highlighting both the appalling human rights abuses in Chinese prisons but equally the extraordinary courage of those who survived and ensured their testimony was presented to the United Nations and heard worldwide  As part of International Women's week Rowena gave a talk about some of the women she had met in Rewalsar and their stories of life in Tibet under Chinese occupation, their escape across the Himalayas and their experiences of living as refugees in India.
As well as being at times harrowing, their stories were also ones of hope, forgiveness and pride in being Tibetan. The money raised from the event is being given to help fund the setting up of a community centre in Rewalsar. We celebrated Losar, Tibetan New Year, with a meal at the Yak and Yeti Nepalese restaurant in York. This has become something of a tradition!
 Rowena returned to the Tibetan refugee settlement in Rewalsar to meet up with the many people we now sponsor there and to make sure everything with the scheme was working well.
The photo shows one of the elderly women who is part of the scheme with a photo of the woman who is her sponsor in York. There was also a lot of work to be done for the early stages of setting up a community centre in Rewalsar. This particularly focused on what activities and facilities people felt would be most useful as well as a search for the most suitable premises. There was a general consensus that classes in Tibetan, conversational English and Hindi would be very helpful plus a drop in for elderly people. This will be an exciting new project for Tibet Support Group York. We are currently hoping that Tibet Relief Fund will be able to help us with funding. Together with the York Amnesty Group we had fun raising over £1,000 running a cafe and stalls in central York. We divided the money we raised between Free Tibet, Tibet Relief Fund, ROKPA and our own projects in the Tibetan Refugee community in Rewalsar, Northern India.
Many thanks to all who gave their time, made food and provided goods for the stalls.It was a hugely successful day - our largest fundraising event ever!  Long term TSGY supporter, Jo, highlighting Tibet's deep concern about the effect of climate change on what's been termed 'The Third Pole' - the area comprising the Himalayan mountain range and the Tibetan plateau. Nearly 20% of the world's population are dependent on the 10 major rivers that rise in this area. Several members from Tibet Support Group York went to London to join the march and rally. |
