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Global news drama for Fylde tourists based in town of exiled Dalai Lama
9:29pm Wednesday 7th May 2008
A group of tourists found themselves at the centre of global news recently during a holiday with a difference.
The party of 12 Fylde women have just returned from a trip of a lifetime to the Himachal Pradesh district of Northern India where they were involved in a project to renovate a small school in the foothills of the Himalayas.
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The group was based in Dharamsala, home to Tibet's exiled, Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama's temple complex became the focal point for candlelit demonstrations each night led by Buddhist monks demanding freedom for Tibet and an end to alleged Chinese human rights abuses.
The trip was organised by Bispham-based Impact Travel whose slogan is Journeys with Conscience, because their trips give holidaymakers the chance to get involved in a community volunteer project.
Jeremy Mannino, who runs Impact with business partner Ross Raeburn, said: "This was a particularly exciting time to visit the region.
"Outside the Dalai Lama's residence we were moved by a hunger strike by young Tibetans who were calling for an end to the cultural genocide taking place in their country.
"Many of the hunger strikers were schoolchildren left orphaned by Chinese violence."
Whilst in Dharamsala the Fylde group was granted a private audience with one of Tibet's most important spiritual leaders, the Karmapa Lama, at his official Indian residence.
Besides the renovation work at the school the group was involved in leading a variety of classroom learning activities with the children.
The work of the dedicated group prompted considerable interest and the project was reported by Indian TV and radio and was also covered in the local Hindi press.
The group also plans to strengthen its ties with Dharamsala by sponsoring a visit to the Fylde in July by the headteacher of the school where their work took place.
Similar trips are now being planned for April and July 2009 to work in an orphanage in Kathmandu in Nepal.
Your Say YourCitizen
Kathy Podgers, USA says...
12:29am Thu 8 May 08
Cultural genocide is a very serious charge. Do the women just believe this? Or will they use critical thinking skills to examine such an outrageous and unsubstanciated claim. For example, do they know that at the time the Dalai Lama was in Lhasa the life expectancy of Tibetans was only 35 years? And by Mao's death it was 68 yers? Did they know that the Dalai Lama and his family owned over 6ooo field serfs and 106 house slaves? Who emancipated the serfs and slaves in Tibet? China did, not the Dalai Lama. Do the ladies know that the US gov, thru NGOs funded and planned the well orginized riots in March? 7 schools, where Tibetan children studied Tibetan language and Chinese as a second language were burned, and when the fire engines arrived, they were also burned? A doctor, who was loading a child into an ambulance, was beaten. The monks paid money to unemployed to commit crimes, and led the paid mobs? I do hope good people will use their common sense, and not allow ignorancs nor bias to confuse the issues.
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Sven Jule, USA says...
1:02am Fri 9 May 08
Critical thinking involves questioning one's sources. It sounds as though Ms. Podgers is simply repeating what the Chinese government has been repeating ad nauseum with a stunning lack of supporting facts or citations. This has produced a lot of unintelligent ranting recently, which I hope you avoid attracting in your publication.