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Escaping Tibet
Every day I meet women and men who have walked out of Tibet – some as recently as last week, some many years ago like our friend. It’s a gruelling journey, taken in the fall usually, before winter sets in in the Himalayas.
Escaping Tibet 1999
It’s like another world to us…one we’ll never understand. But we try our best to learn. There’s so much sadness surrounding the young Tibetans and their stories…it’s tangible. I feel sorrowful in my heart as I write this. Yet most of them also have a light-heartedness about them, laughing easily. They are able to hold both the lightness and the sorrow within them. That’s an ability humans seem to have.
The refugees walk during the night, the safest time, and try to rest during the day. The size of the groups vary widely, some are mixed gender, some men only and some women. The length of time to get to India or Nepal varies widely also, depending on how circuitous a route is taken to avoid the Chinese military. They seem to all have a paid guide.
The trekkers start out with food, but usually run out before their trip is over. Sometimes they are fortunate enough to be able to buy food on the way or to purchase a sheep or goat from a nomad.
About a year ago we read in our newspaper that 2 young Tibetan nuns had been shot and killed trying to escape from Tibet and it was witnessed by American hikers. Last Friday 4 women were killed trying to leave. There was a 12 hour sit in on a platform outside the main gate of HH the Dalai Lama’s temple, and later in the day, a candlelight march down the main street to the temple.
The sight of this long procession, led by chanting monks, and made up of many Tibetans and a few foreign visitors was very sobering. Don made good point when he said the Chinese government needs to be embarrassed about the deaths.
