A Smile That Defies China
By Charlotte Wigram - Evans / November 11, 2016
How much suffering does it take to wipe a smile off someone’s face forever? Ven Bagdro’s body still bears the scars from Chinese torture chambers, he still sees as though it were yesterday his baby sister dead, his fellow monks slaughtered, the look in his mother’s eyes as they said read more →
Managing Perfectly Well
By Neil Roberts / November 1, 2016
When I made the decision earlier this year to see more of the world, I knew exactly where I wanted to go first.I contacted Lha, offering my services as a volunteer English teacher, and arrived in McLeod Ganj on August 20. McLeod Ganj is the strangest of places. A refugee read more →
Pursuing Happiness
By Lodoe Gyatso / October 30, 2016
Ten Phun is a man who believes in pursuing happiness and wants to inspire others to do so too. A talented man with achievements in theatre and movies, he has now turned his attention to poetry with his collection Sweet Butter Tea. His motto is “Live the life you want read more →
Bringing Film to the Himalayas
By Theadora Walsh / October 20, 2016
Though neither Ritu Sarin nor Tenzing Sonam was born in Himachal Pradesh, the filmmaking couple were drawn to Dharamshala. Ritu’s family is from the area and Tenzing saw many Tibetans, including his parents, take refuge in the former hill station when the Indian government chose it as the exile capital. read more →
Journey Towards Freedom
By Tsering Wangdue / September 21, 2016
Apo Thuka and Apo Serka guided us to India when my cousin and I escaped from Tibet in 1995 when we were eight and ten years old. As we grew up in India, I got to know Apo Thuka and he told me his story. I came to know that read more →
Many Thanks From a Half-Tongued Language Teacher
By Ignaty Dyakov / September 1, 2016
In summer 2015 I was diagnosed with tongue cancer. Well it is a misfortune one would say, but not so rare nowadays with millions of people diagnosed with various cancers every year. My major issue and concern, however, was the fact that my tongue is my working tool – as read more →
Inspired to Lead
By Lauren Chaplin / August 19, 2016
It’s Friday morning and I’m in the office of Tenzin Tselha, the National Director of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) India. It’s a position she’s held for almost a year now and her enthusiasm shows no sign of waning. Born in Ladakh, her childhood was, by her own admission, read more →
R stands for…
By Charlotte Wigram-Evans / August 12, 2016
Tenzin Tsundue always knew he was different. He was marked, his teachers told him, branded with a huge red R on his forehead. R for refugee. “I felt like superman. Only we Tibetans had it and it meant that our lives were not for ourselves but for a greater cause, read more →
“I feel very fortunate that I can help”
By Sonam Wangyal, with Lauren Chaplin / August 10, 2016
My name is Sonam Wangyal and I’m from Tibet. My childhood was spent surrounded by my warm-hearted family. As I grew older, I started to think about going to school. However, there were no schools nearby, so I didn’t get an education. The Chinese don’t build any schools for the read more →
Chaotic, Colourful, Alive and Special
By Charlotte Wigram-Evans / August 1, 2016
Where to begin.If I had to describe India in three words it would be chaotic, colourful and alive. It is anywhere else x1000 –more stressful, but also far more special. My time at Lha made the experience unparalleled. I volunteered to write for Contact magazine, trying my hand at it read more →