February 12

Through My Eyes

Saturday February 12

(We continue to listen to Dalai Lama as he tells of the terrible hardships of the new settlements.)

" The settlers had made a special tent for me with bamboo walls and a canvas roof. But even though it was well made, it was no proof at all against the terrible dust thrown up by the clearing process. Every day, a thick cloud of smoke and soot hung over the whole area. At night it would settle slowly, penetrating every tiny opening, so that in the morning you woke covered in a fine layer of powder. Because of these conditions, morale was very low. yet there was not much I could do save give these pioneers every encouragement. I told them that we must not give up hope and assured them, hardly believing it myself, that in time we would be prosperous once more. I promised them that we would prevail. Fortunately, they believed every word I said and sure enough, little by little, their situation was transformed.

Thanks to the generosity of several Indian states, we were able, during the early 1960's, to establish over twenty settlements, gradually taking people off the roads, so that today there are only a few hundred out of the present total of over 100,000 refugees, who are still making their living in the road camps. And now it is of their own free will.

Because nearly half of the land given to us was situated in southern India, where the climate is considerably hotter than in the north, I stipulated that only the strongest should be sent in the early stages. Nevertheless, the death toll from sunstroke and heat exhaustion was at times so high that I wondered whether I had been right to accept land in the tropics. Yet, I was certain that, eventually, my people would learn to adapt. Just as they had faith in me, I had faith in them.

Often I had to console the refugees in their sadness when I visited these camps. The thought of being so far from home and with no prospect of seeing ice or snow, let along our beloved mountains, was hard for them to bear. I tried to take their minds off the past. Instead I told them that the future of Tibet depended on us refugees. If we wanted to preserve our culture and way of life, the only way to do so was by building strong communities. I spoke too of the importance of education and even of the significance of the institution of marriage. Although it was not really a proper thing for a monk to advise, I told the women that whenever possible thy should marry Tibetan men so that the children they bore would be Tibetan too.

The majority of the settlements were begun between 1960 and 1965. I visited them all as often as I could over this period. Although I never entertained thoughts of failure, there were moments when our problems seemed insurmountable. At Bandhara in Maharashtra state, for example, the first batch of settlers went in spring, just before the start of the hot season. Within a matter of weeks, a hundred ( that is a fifth) of them had died from the heat. When I visited them for the first time they came to me with tears in their eyes and begged to be evacuated to a cooler place. I could do nothing other than explain to them that their arrival had been badly timed but that the worst was now certainly over. they should therefore learn to adopt the ways of the natives and see whether they couldn't make the best of the situation. I urged them to try for one more year. If they could not make a success of the place by the time I returned the following winter, then I promised to have them moved.

As it turned out, things went well from then on. Twelve months later I went back and found the settlers beginning to prosper. 'So you're not all dead' I said when I met the camp leaders. They laughed and replied that everything had happened just as I said it would. However, I must add that, although this particular community has since become quite successful, it proved impossible to attract more than 700-odd settlers, due to the heat problem. As at Bylakuppe, we were given 3000 acres of land on the basis of one acre per settler. But because of the small number who arrived we forfeited the remaining 2,300 acres, which were made over to some other refugees-though they did not last long either.

One of the great difficulties of the resettlement programme was that whilst we were able to foresee many of the obstacles before they arose, there were some that took us completely by surprise. At one place, for example, great difficulties were experience as a result of wild boars and elephants straying on to the land. Not only did they destroy the crops, but they stampeded form time to time, knocking down several huts and killing a number of people.

I remember one old lama who lived there asking me to pray for their protection, but using the Sanskrit term hathi for elephant. It means literally, precious creature and refers to the mythological elephants which symbolise charity. I knew precisely what he meant, but I was very surprised to hear the word used in this way. I supposed the monk had expected real elephants to be benevolent animals."

(Tibetan courage in action! I promise to add more tomorrow...)

*( please click here to read of the day with me )

* This is from the book Freedom in Exile The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama by Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth

Dalai Lama of Tibet.

Through my eyes

( Please see my spinning for you!)

( Tahshi Deleh gentle one! Kehrahng kusu debo yinpeh? I began the day in our studio spinning for you then worked a bit more on the printing block which with we two working as one pulling strongly and patiently together is going quite well! After that I headed out to wander about taking pictures then returned to our studio to work on the monthly pages. Two as one we've gotten a lot done having completed selecting the pictures and created much of the pages already! This is important as later in the month we'll have the pruning to do. Then I continued work on our a land of Tibet. Two as one we've fixed a few more mistakes on the pages as usual. I'm going to put the pages up on our infosite;I'll put this up for now so we can rest.

And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow

my one gentle beautiful patient swift dream bright

long dark mane in sunlight

so for now I bid goodnight...Simjah Nahngo!)


	Through My Eyes Saturday February 12 (We continue to listen to Dalai Lama as he tells of the terrible hardships of the new settlements.) " The settlers had made a special tent for me with bamboo walls and a canvas roof. But even though it was well made, it was no proof at all against the terrible dust thrown up by the clearing process. Every day, a thick cloud of smoke and soot hung over the whole area. At night it would settle slowly, penetrating every tiny opening, so that in the morning you woke covered in a fine layer of powder. Because of these conditions, morale was very low. yet there was not much I could do save give these pioneers every encouragement. I told them that we must not give up hope and assured them, hardly believing it myself, that in time we would be prosperous once more. I promised them that we would prevail. Fortunately, they believed every word I said and sure enough, little by little, their situation was transformed. Thanks to the generosity of several Indian states, we were able, during the early 1960's, to establish over twenty settlements, gradually taking people off the roads, so that today there are only a few hundred out of the present total of over 100,000 refugees, who are still making their living in the road camps. And now it is of their own free will. Because nearly half of the land given to us was situated in southern India, where the climate is considerably hotter than in the north, I stipulated that only the strongest should be sent in the early stages. Nevertheless, the death toll from sunstroke and heat exhaustion was at times so high that I wondered whether I had been right to accept land in the tropics. Yet, I was certain that, eventually, my people would learn to adapt. Just as they had faith in me, I had faith in them. Often I had to console the refugees in their sadness when I visited these camps. The thought of being so far from home and with no prospect of seeing ice or snow, let along our beloved mountains, was hard for them to bear. I tried to take their minds off the past. Instead I told them that the future of Tibet depended on us refugees. If we wanted to preserve our culture and way of life, the only way to do so was by building strong communities. I spoke too of the importance of education and even of the significance of the institution of marriage. Although it was not really a proper thing for a monk to advise, I told the women that whenever possible thy should marry Tibetan men so that the children they bore would be Tibetan too. The majority of the settlements were begun between 1960 and 1965. I visited them all as often as I could over this period. Although I never entertained thoughts of failure, there were moments when our problems seemed insurmountable. At Bandhara in Maharashtra state, for example, the first batch of settlers went in spring, just before the start of the hot season. Within a matter of weeks, a hundred ( that is a fifth) of them had died from the heat. When I visited them for the first time they came to me with tears in their eyes and begged to be evacuated to a cooler place. I could do nothing other than explain to them that their arrival had been badly timed but that the worst was now certainly over. they should therefore learn to adopt the ways of the natives and see whether they couldn't make the best of the situation. I urged them to try for one more year. If they could not make a success of the place by the time I returned the following winter, then I promised to have them moved. As it turned out, things went well from then on. Twelve months later I went back and found the settlers beginning to prosper. 'So you're not all dead' I said when I met the camp leaders. They laughed and replied that everything had happened just as I said it would. However, I must add that, although this particular community has since become quite successful, it proved impossible to attract more than 700-odd settlers, due to the heat problem. As at Bylakuppe, we were given 3000 acres of land on the basis of one acre per settler. But because of the small number who arrived we forfeited the remaining 2,300 acres, which were made over to some other refugees-though they did not last long either. One of the great difficulties of the resettlement programme was that whilst we were able to foresee many of the obstacles before they arose, there were some that took us completely by surprise. At one place, for example, great difficulties were experience as a result of wild boars and elephants straying on to the land. Not only did they destroy the crops, but they stampeded form time to time, knocking down several huts and killing a number of people. I remember one old lama who lived there asking me to pray for their protection, but using the Sanskrit term hathi for elephant. It means literally, precious creature and refers to the mythological elephants which symbolise charity. I knew precisely what he meant, but I was very surprised to hear the word used in this way. I supposed the monk had expected real elephants to be benevolent animals." (Tibetan courage in action! I promise to add more tomorrow...) ( please click here to read of the day with me ) This is from the book Freedom in Exile The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama by Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet. Through my eyes ( Please see my spinning for you!) ( Tahshi Deleh gentle one! Kehrahng kusu debo yinpeh? I began the day in our studio spinning for you then worked a bit more on the printing block which with we two working as one pulling strongly and patiently together is going quite well! After that I headed out to wander about taking pictures then returned to our studio to work on the monthly pages. Two as one we've gotten a lot done having completed selecting the pictures and created much of the pages already! This is important as later in the month we'll have the pruning to do. Then I continued work on our a land of Tibet. Two as one we've fixed a few more mistakes on the pages as usual. I'm going to put the pages up on our infosite;I'll put this up for now so we can rest. And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow my one gentle beautiful patient swift dream bright long dark mane in sunlight so for now I bid goodnight...Simjah Nahngo!)