Over 3 months - K & P

Well, its been over 3 months since I have had time to write. So much has happened and I know I should have been making these entries as I go along but hey... That's why I do activist work... There are no rules and its all good. Because so much has happened since the last I am diggin into my memory here.... I'll start with the Tibetan Refugee kids.

Let's see where to begin. There are some Tibetan students we all know. They were first brought here by a remarkable woman in the work who managed to gain scholarships for these Tibetan kids living in a camp in Nepal. These kids are descendents of the Khampas and come from a very poor camp in the hills of Nepal. The camp is in trouble - and conditions continue to deteriorate. These kids have experienced abuse in one form or another... Especially being Tibetans - hence their asylum.

They first started coming to the U.S. during high school - say ninth grade, through the commitment of one woman who worked tirelessly on their behalf - Bless her. The kids are now in their 20s. Their Asylum was a big relief to everyone who has known them over the years. All the surrogate mothers and fathers. Imagine your son or daughter go to live in another country - where the possibility is very good you may never see them again... or putting your kid into the care of stranges. Especially for the Tibetans - where family/clan means so much more then we know here in the U.S.

After receiging asylum, two of the kids came here to stay for a few weeks. These kids had to make a very tough choice. Either apply for asylum - and lose their college schlorships as International Students - or risk the chance of not applying for political asylum. Because of the increased tension and other things happening in Nepal... the kids chose asylum - which they received.

Two of the kids came here to stay, while they figured out what to do next. I'll call them K & P. They were both 20 years old and had finished 3 years of college towards their degrees. They married each other- which may have been a long-standing agreement of the families. I don't know and Tibetans typically don't discuss personal business. My friend Nawang is from the Khampa warrior class and she tells me its is very important the Khampas marry Khampas.

P was ready to go to work right away. She and I went down to the local temporary agency and filled out the paper work so that she could begin to pick up temp work. P is very shy, yet extremely smart. She has had good work experience as well. The temp agency did not know what a "Political Asylee" is and never heard of Tibet. They were not very interested and not very helpful. It was clear to me we would need to help P get relaxed and extroverted enough to tell folks of her skills talents and abilities with confidence. Although this agency advertises it will help with Resume's, accessing job skilles, etc., they weren't helpful at all - we would have to do it ourselves.

Mary Agar - who is a teacher, editorial expert with Tibetech.org helped P & K prepare their resumes. They also went to CALJOBS, an extension of the EDD who were very helpful to them.
The folks who so generously offered the kids a place to land, David & Susan, also took the kids to the Federal office to learn what assistance they may obtain as refugees.

Our friend the Doctor put P to work for a week - doing some filing in his office. This was good for her. It broke the ice. Then the local cafe, one with a big Buddha in the garden, offered to give P a job. So she gained some work there. After a few weeks, the kids figured out it was time to move along and begin their life in the US... P went to Minnesota to be with her Uncle and three cousins. All girls her age. K went to New York to be with his family. Though they are married, they planned to go to their families and work for a while until they figured it out...

March 10th and more

Well, its has been quite some time since I sat down to write up some notes. Last week I went to a March 10th Walk in San Francisco, with the Tibetan Community in Exile. I did have the opportunity to sit for a little while with Nawang, who will be getting the computer from us when Sandy and I take it down... soon. Perhaps Joseph will join us.

I am really happy to be bringing a computer to Nawang. She is a hard working woman and her Mom lives in India. Nawang use a computer at work so I hope having a computer at home will be helpful. She has some very good ideas and I hope to be working with her in the future somehow. We'll start by getting her home system going... I have decided to put XP on the system for her instead of Windows 2000 as I think its going to be less problematic. I forgot to ask her if she uses the TCRC or Sambhodta.

Up a steep hill

Well its been a month or so since I have posted a blog. After the Gaden Monastic visit there was a great deal of catch up work to do -starting with my personal life. Now back on track with a newsletter for Sierra Friends of Tibet -to publish this week.

Recently Joseph and I have attended a Bay area meeting of Tibet Support Groups and with the Tibetan community in exile, as they begin to prepare for the March 10th Walk to commemorate Tibetan Uprising Day. I was there with Joseph on behalf of Sierra Friends of Tibet (www.sierrafriendsoftibet.org) as I believe it is not appropriate to mix the politics with the mission of Tibetech.org. This is indeed a ridiculous statement - people are dying, how could I not address the politics. However it comes back down to my work with Bob Marley, and the questions I raise which is, "how do I create the most amount of "good" with the time I have to do it in?". Sierra Friends of Tibet is a different organization, although most of the communications -especially in the cyber arena, is done by the same folks, so as long as it .

Anyway, when we were at the Tibet Justice Center in Berkeley, there were 9 people there. 3 of us Westerners and the other 6 Tibetans exiled here in the U.S. These people, who were instant family, were so appreciable of any help they can get in preserving their dying culture. The office had tell tale signs of dead and dying computer equipment lying around, I again reaffirmed its absolutely necessary to continue on this path. These people work hard, very hard, and probably for little if any money. Maximizing resources, especially technology, could facilitate their work efforts ten fold.

With that said, I have a couple of projects swimming out there. More to come...

Nawang Gets her computer

Just thought I would share this to those of you who have supported Tibetech and the work we are seeking to do. Andrea is not this woman's "sponsor" per say. We met Nawang on a March 10th walk years ago and Andrea has befriended her...
We resolved to get her a computer but did not know how that was going to transpire. I committed to getting her a computer by June. I know she is in Oakland by herself and all her family is in India. The same day Andrea and I hatched our plan I was walking down the street and I saw a sign on a business for a computer system for $175... so I checked it out. For $175
I picked up a complete Dell Desktop System, Pentium3, 80GB Hard drive with Windows 2000...
Read on...

January, 2005
Dear Melanie,
My name is Nawang C_______. I am a Tibetan Refugee and I live in Oakland, CA. I received an email from my friend Andrea Sedin that you have chosen to donate a computer to me. I am speechless!!! I feel I am a very fortunate person at this time to be writing to your organization. Words are not enough to describe how lucky I feel and how blessed I am to be receiving this gift from your organization. From what I learned from my friend Andrea your organization is a non profit organization that helps Tibetan cause as well as Tibetans. I have heard of many such organizations who offer help or assist Tibetans in general. I for one, never thought I would be benefiting from any of this. Personally I am grateful to your organization as well as all the other organization that is working for Tibetan causes and helping needy Tibetan people. I am sure with this gift from Tibetech I will be able to achieve something positive. It would be my contact to outside world which is now more open than the horizon itself hope to make very good use of it. I can keep in touch with my family and friends who are all scattered around the world as refugees would. I can find out about Tibetans all around the world. I would like to thank you and your organization for making this dream of mine come true. I hope you realize that I will ever remain grateful to your organization for the generous gift.
I can not wait to receive it!!
Thanking you and Tashi Delek,
Sincerely,
Nawang.

Journal entries, news and finding from the front

This has been a busy month or should I say a busy year for us at Tibetech.org and a few projects are shaping up and we are happy to have been of good service in the previous months.