Two days in Dharamsala - blog |
15 November 2011
By Sophie Bod, campaigns officer
I travelled to Dharamsala to introduce British actor Dominic West to two extremely brave Tibetans. Dom (as me and his friends call him) is a staunch supporter of Tibet and raising awareness is something he feels particularly strongly about.
As I landed at the small local airport, the sun was shining, the breeze was comforting, and the mountains in the background looked as imposing and majestic as ever.
But the tranquillity of this Himalayan scene was sharply at odds with the turmoil in Tibet which has intensified with eleven self-immolations in the last few months. All of which was on everyone’s mind.
Human bond
It was Dominic’s first time in Dharamsala and I was curious how he would interact with people who have such different lives to his. But when he and former political prisoner Lhamo Kyab met, they greeted each other like old friends. They seemed to have such a strong bond, even though they’ve never met.
Dom knew about the torture Lhamo Kyab suffered but their meeting provided a platform for us to hear more about his life before and after his experience in prison. Many of us fought back tears as we heard how his children were repeatedly told by family that their father was just away on a business trip and too busy to call.
Tea and torture
Our guest also went to visit former nun Tsering at her home – a one-room tin shack. Again I experienced a strange feeling in this cosy home as, over tea and cookies, intimate details of imprisonment, torture and abuse were revealed.
Later on, Dom said the meetings were ‘humbling’. He felt that as someone in the public eye, he has to do as much as he can to draw attention to the inhumane treatment of Tibetans under China’s occupation.
Self-immolation interest
It’s been an emotional week. Tibet was extensively covered in global media due to the interest in the self-immolations. Dom’s work with torture survivors also meant that many people also learned about Tibet through our website and Facebook page.
All of which is positive, but it makes me so sad that the only way the world gets to talk about Tibet is through the extreme suffering of Tibetans. Hopefully one day that will change.
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Photographs by Abhishek Madhukar