My name is Ngawang Choedon. I am twenty-one. I wanted to come to India for three reasons: I want to study; I want to meet the Dalai Lama and I want peace. In Tibet under Chinese rule we do not have a peaceful life. I made the decision I want to come to India. At first my parents do not accept. We are nomads and I am just a girl. I should live in farmhouse and not travel outside my country. I tell my mother if I see the Dalai Lama my life is complete, I don’t need any other thing and then my mother accept. My mother said if I am not happy, I can come back to Tibet. Now I know this is not so easy. I have no passport. The Chinese will not let me go back.
I come from Kham. My village is very close to China. In my village I went to school from five years old. My teacher is Tibetan but all the subjects are teaching in Chinese. My father and my grandfather teach me Tibetan. My grandfather was a nomad. He did not go to school but he knows Tibetan very well, self-teaching. He knows grammar and always teaches me Tibet grammar.
Sometimes my grand uncle also taught me. He was in prison for 21 years because he was a monk and would not agree to say bad things about the Dalai Lama.
There is a small boy in my village. He is ten years old and always wanted to be a monk. We go together on the bus to Lhasa. In Lhasa we find a group going to India. It is very difficult because we do not speak the same language as the other people. They do not speak our mother tongue so we must speak to them in Chinese. There are 20 people in our group. We are walking through the Himalayas for 21 days. Everyday up and down, up and down. We only walk at midnight, very late, so we do not see the Chinese.
I have tsampa and Maggie cups to eat but I was too small to carry it so someone carries it for me and I share my food. I have about 2,000 yuan (Chinese money – $310, £205). Everyday I am afraid someone will steal my money. On one or two days we see Tibetan nomads and we buy meat and cheese from them.
Finally we get to a river. Our leader told us we are in Nepal then police come and take up to the reception centre. We go by bus to Delhi. I thought Delhi is too hot – I cannot breathe, I spent two hours in the bathroom because I cannot breathe.
Then we take bus here to Dharamshala. We spend one month in the reception centre. Then we go to meet the Dalai Lama. I have no chuba [Tibetan dress] so I borrow a traditional dress from my friend. When we meet the Dalai Lama, I cried so loud! I could not believe I am meeting the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama talked to us but I did not understand because he does not speak my language. My friend told me what he said. He said we must work hard and be honest, good people, and if we you go back to Tibet we must also be good people.
Then I went to Tibetan Childrens Village school for four years until class eight but I need more English study. I left last year and now I study English everyday at Lha.
Sometimes I talk to my mother but the Chinese pick up the phone. She cannot say anything. I do not say where I am. I think if the Chinese know where I am they will punish my parents and put them in jail.
I want to go back to Tibet and meet my parents and my old grandfather. It’s my hope I can get citizenship in another country so I can get a passport and go to China to see my parents and grandfather but I do not want to live in China. There is no good education and no freedom.
Print
Email
