TIBETAN REFUGEES

 

I have worked, on and off, for over 30 years with Tibetan refugees in India and elsewhere. In the late '60s I visited many Tibetan road workers' camps in the Indian Himalayas. These people had recently suffered terrible losses in their exodus from Tibet; they were living in squalid conditions and were paid almost nothing for their hard work, yet their cheerfulness, generosity and hospitality, together with their obvious close family ties, demonstrated a true wealth far greater than one might find in the affluent West. 

Their Buddhist faith, love and compassion made all who came in contact with them happier, and appeared to make them happy too. If that is not wealth, what is?

 

Ngawang Gyaltsen, his wife, Tenzin Dolkar, Daugher Tenzin Salden & Trude at Dharamsala.

Phuntsok Sonam with his wife & family & Trude at Bhandar Tibetan settlement in Maharashtra. Almost nothing but rice!

 

Phuntsok with some of his cattle.

 

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