Hello from India

Coming to the end of my LHA work in India for this year and soon headed home for New Orleans. What an incredible summer! All of the projects here have been growing and getting more and more fine-tuned. The biggest news is that we have now moved into our new service center building just across the street from His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Home and Temple, which is spectacular. Renovations are in action and much of the space already in use. We are receiving lots of encouragement from the local Tibetan community here in Dharamsala, from the main office of the Dalai Lama and from many local and international Tibetan organizations.

A few of the high points from this year:

Ø Lha now has 7 full time Tibetan staff members who manage the organization while at the same time earning 100 percent of their own salaries and all monthly maintenance costs. They earn funds by offering services and courses to the local tourist population such as Tibetan cooking, language and art classes, massage and yoga. Once the balance of the new service center building is paid off Lha will be totally self-sufficient.

Ø Over 300 Tibetan Refugees benefit from Lha’s FREE services every day.

Ø Free daily classes offered to the Tibetan Refugees now include 7 English classes, 2 French classes, 1 Spanish, Health education, Environmental education, Social Work, Business management, Accounting, Photography, Massage Courses, Yoga training and more. Lha also operates 2 Libraries open to the public.

Ø The Lha computer school now offers free scholarships for 4 daily classes and special evening and weekend workshops for more advanced trainings.

Ø Lha now provides the least expensive Internet phone service for Tibetans to contact their families back in Tibet

Ø Throughout this summer, in conjunction with the OmPrakash Foundation, Lha successfully distributed 30,000 children’s books to Libraries, Tibetan Children’s Village schools and other Local schools throughout the area.

Ø 1400 copies of Contact Community News Paper is published and distributed each month

Ø Hundreds of articles of clothing are collected and distributed each month

Ø Boxes of medical supplies are collected and distributed to local medical clinics.

Ø Our Tibetan staff and volunteers constantly identify individuals with medical, dental, housing and other personal needs and work together to help those with no one else to help them.

Ø This summer Lha once again successfully hosted four University groups that came to study Tibetan culture and to volunteer throughout the community: a graduate student group from the Tulane School of Social Work, a Tulane University undergrad group, a Loyola University group and another from Centenary College of Louisiana.

Ø This year alone the Lha staff has already coordinated 427 volunteers from 39 different countries to serve throughout the Tibetan Community. These volunteers all make a personal connection with the Tibetan Refugees they work with then bring awareness of The Tibetan situation back to their homes around the globe.



A Short Story of a Lha Volunteer and a 19 year old Tibetan Girl Whose Life was Saved

The list goes on but I’ll stop here to give just one short personal story about one of our Tulane volunteers we’ll call Lisa and her 19 year old Tibetan English student we’ll call Dolma. Normally Tibetans don’t complain or show their pain so we often have to look closely behind the smile to find their needs. After only 3 sessions with Dolma, Lisa reported that she knew something was wrong but Dolma just kept showing up and wanting to study her English. On their fourth meeting Dolma fell unconscious and we rushed her to the hospital. She was on the verge of death due to a simple but untreated urinary tract infection. We easily collected the funds for the hospital visit and the antibiotics and after just one week Dolma was back to normal. Dolma most likely would have died alone in her room had it not been for Lisa. There are so many similar stories between our volunteers and the Tibetan Refugees being served. The other side of the coin that I can’t even begin to get into here is the countless stories of personal transformation happening to our volunteers after spending time with these incredible Tibetan People.

Outside support that was received this year

Ø $58,500 was donated for the down payment of the New Service Center Building (a short breakdown on this: 25K from a single donor which came through the OmPrakash Foundation, 13K from fundraising activities of the LHA New Orleans Team, 5K from a new friend in Lafayette Louisiana, 3k from one of our long time LHA supporters, 2k from a past LHA volunteer in Athens Greece and another 2K from one of our New Orleans Volunteers. In addition, there were so many more kind donations ranging from a few cents up to a thousand dollars or more. Every little bit helped so much! Thank you all.

Ø The Office Of His Holiness the Dalai Lama donated five new computers for the expansion of the Lha computer school.

Ø The Tibet Relief Fund of the UK donated a new copy machine for the Lha office.

Ø A German Organization for Tibet donated a new computer for the Lha volunteer coordination office.

Ø One of our Current Volunteers donated the funds necessary for flooring and interior painting of the new service center.

Ø The List goes on and on to include so many other donations, both large and small that keep the organization functioning, growing and serving the Tibetan community and the world.


Important Support Still Needed

Ø $30,000 is due June 1, 2009, which is the next payment deadline for The New Lha Service Center ($7,000 of which has already been donated leaving $23,000) The total balance payoff is $109,500.

*A short note about the funds being paid for the new building. The owner selling the building to Lha is donating all proceeds from the sale directly back into the Tibetan community: one third goes to the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, one third to support Tibetan Refugee Monks in South India and the other third going to social service projects inside Tibet.



Ø Due to the current situation in the Tibetan Community and the swiftly growing need of the services provided by Lha we have decided to retain the current location of operations while also expanding services into the new service center building . This will require $9,000 annually to cover the ongoing rent of Lha’s current building . Lha’s hope is that an organization or individual will be able to take on this sponsorship.



*A short note about the building which Lha currently rents and which has housed the organization for the past 5 years. The building is owned by the Tibetan Handcraft Coop which is composed of over 400 Tibetan families. The $9,000 rent paid annually goes directly back into the Tibetan Refugee Community and is a vital source of income for many of these families involved.



As for Today and the Days to Come
So many of you have helped in so many ways, all of your previous support and encouragement is so very important and appreciated. If we all stop now we can be happy and say that we have done a good job, and we have ! If we don’t stop now and just put in a bit more effort, our Tibetan Friends of LHA will be self sufficeinet enough to take these vital service projects long into the future. Due to the current situation inside Tibet, it appears that the need for Lha’s services are continuing and will continue to grow.

Our world leaders were not able to seize the opportunity of the Beijing Olympics to better human rights conditions inside Tibet. It appears that for the families of many of our Tibetan freinds the situation has only become much worse. Lines of communication have been broken and foreign media pushed out from many of the Tibetan areas. We can only hope and pray that the many uninformed and misinformed Chinese people will realize what is happening and begin to stand up against their government for what is right and just.

We do realize that the state of world affairs is an issue for most of us right now and financial donations may not be as easy as they were last year. Our hope is that some of you will still be able to donate or at least help us to be creative with fund raising and to get this message out to others that are able to help in one way or another. As always, together we are going to make this happen just because it is the right thing to do!

Thanks Again and please feel free to contact me anytime with questions, comments or helpful ideas.

Neil Guidry
President
Louisiana Himalaya Association
nguidry@tulane.edu

p.s.
All donations are tax-deductible. Tax-ID#: 72-1487498

Make checks payable to LHA and mail to :



LHA

PO BOX 71826

New Orleans 70179

Louisiana, USA

For online donations go to the paypal link on the LHA website www.lhainfo.org

Dates to Remember : Cypress Bayou Weekend March 19 –22, LHA Mardi Gras Ball Feb 20

Sept. 19 Fri: 7:00-9:00pm Public Talk: Tulane, Freeman Auditorium

“Dealing with the Problems of Ignorance, Greed and Hatred”

Sept. 20 Sat: 10:00am-12:00pm Public Talk: Tulane, Freeman Auditorium;

“Understanding the Mind and Why We Suffer”

Sept. 21 Sun: 7:00–9:00pm Teaching: Swan River Yoga, 2130 Magazine St.

“Meditating on Selflessness”

Sept. 23 Tues: 7-9:00pm Public Talk: Loyola, Audubon Room (Danna Center)

“Working with the Mind through Change: An Explanation of Impermanence”

Sept. 25 Thurs: 7pm -9:00pm Teaching: LHA Center, 621 N. Rendon St.

"Mantra Recitation Instruction and Transmission"

Chamtrul Rinpoche will give an explanation of mantra meditation and recitation practice in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He will also offer the community an oral transmission of some of the most common mantra practices, including the mantras of Avavalokitesvara, Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava, Amitabha and Tara.

Sept. 26 Fri: 7-9:00pm Public Talk: Loyola, St. Charles Room (Danna Center)

“Altruism and the Importance of Compassion: the Buddhist concept of Loving Kindness”

Sept. 27 Sat: 6:00–8:00pm Farewell Potluck—LHA Center, 621 N. Rendon Street

Chamtrul Lobsang Gyatso Rinpoche is Coming to New Orleans

We are very excited to announce that Chamtrul
(Lobsang Gyatso) Rinpoche has accepted our
invitation and is coming to New Orleans for
the month of September. This is his first visit
to the United States, and he will be staying
courtesy of LHA right in the Bayou St. John
neighborhood. Chamtrul Rinpoche has been a
teacher to and close friend of ours since we
began our work in India years ago.


We have planned a month of teachings, talks
and other opportunities to meet with the
Rinpoche, and will be sending out his schedule
in the next few weeks. For more information
on Chamtrul Rinpoche, visit his website:
www.chamtrul-rinpoche.com .

If you would like more detailed information or
would like to be more closely involved with
this project, please contact susandunlap@hotmail.com
or shelleyom@rediffmail.com, and we will add
you to our specialized email list. We will need
lots of help with his stay and the events, and
have many exciting opportunities, other information
to present,which we will only be emailing to this list.

Let us know, and hopefully see you in September!

Susan and Shelley

Message from Michael Smith in India

Dear Family and Friends,

It is with a heavy heart that I write you from Dharamsala, India. As most of you know, I have spent about half of the past five years in Nepal, India and Tibet with Tibetan people of many different varieties. I returned to Dharamsala in April of this year, at which time the protests and peaceful demonstrations that began in Lhasa on March 10 and spread to every Tibetan settlement in the world had been continuing for almost a month. There was a sense of opportunity and excitement, especially amongst young Tibetans, as well as fear about what the repercussions of the events in their homeland would be.

As the Chinese Communist Party has taken an increasingly heavy hand in its supression of dissent, that atmosphere of excitement has given way to a feeling of hopelessness. Since the last members of the independent press have been evicted from Tibetan areas, reporting on the continued struggle of Tibetans in Tibet for basic human rights has waned. However, we know that the use of deadly force against peaceful demonstrators and mass arrests have only increased (www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=21993&article=Chinese+impose+blackouts+for+new+Tibetan+monk+deaths ), in spite of the fact that anyone thought to be related in any way to any kind of dissent must live in fear of a mid-night abduction by paramilitary police. A previous Tibetan employee of Lha (www.lhasocialwork.org, a social work organization I volunteer with in Dharamsala, India), who now lives in Canada, wrote the following:

"...My brother, who suffers from tuberculosis,
my sister and two uncles, who have never been involved
in any type of demonstration or protest, were detained
without cause... on the grounds of what can only be assumed as
mere suspicion... My parents figure that at least a couple of
thousand innocent Tibetans from Lhasa City alone are
imprisoned, where they are maltreated, neglected and
possibly tortured. They were finally released... My brother and sister
were first taken... beaten with rifles, kicked and thrown
into a truck. They were taken out of the city to
an unknown location, and were put into a small
concrete room with 400 other Tibetans. There were no
washrooms, and they received no food nor water for two
days and nights. Hardly anyone could stand up by
themselves because of the beatings. After two days
they were transferred to another place where there
were about 6000 Tibetans. There they received a bowl
of rice or small steam cooked bread twice per day.
They received water and had a toilet in this location.
After a week in this place, they were transferred
again, where they stayed around two weeks. Here they
got blankets to sleep with, but before they had to
sleep on the concrete floor (with no blankets). At
this final location they also had first aid
assistance, which was needed as many people had broken
bones. When they released my brother and sister, they
kept my brother's watch and his rosary, which
had some semi-precious stones, and all the money they
had (they don't use banks and keep most of their money
on them)..."

Accounts of torture used on political prisoners in all parts of China are well documented, and many are not fortunate to be released so soon. For example, last Friday a Tibetan nomad was sentenced (without trial) to five years imprisonment for merely shouting 'Long Live the Dalai Lama' at an official's meeting (www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=21985&article=Tibetan+nomad+sentenced+to+5+years+imprisonment+for+%E2%80%9Csplittism%E2%80%9D).

I have a close American friend who has been working in eastern Tibet for the last four years, teaching English and working to build schools, clinics and water wells. Although she has never had any trouble extending her visa, in early June a group of officials came to her remote village and gave her ten days to leave China. She worries about why the Chinese government found it necessary to remove her witnessing eyes from a place to which she has dedicated so much. Satellite dishes are now banned there, making it impossible for the locals to get any international (and therefore unbiased) news. She wrote to me:

"The government is also limiting communication in particular areas. Since March they have shut down numerous cellular towers and more recently denied access even on satellite phones...
There may not be any more uprisings: There are troops in every town that has paved roads. The army marches through town streets three times a day, paralyzing the Tibetans with fear. Surveillance cameras were installed in places that don't even have running water. Many monks, nuns and students were forced to return to the area that their ID card was issued, since travel outside of their hometown is officially prohibited right now.

Foreigners are not allowed to stay in areas that have had protests. In Amdo many people remain in prison since the March uprisings- their families unable to come up with bail. Bail can range from $1,000 to $2,000. Private schools have been shut down in Amdo, and teachers and principals face threats of losing their jobs."

I spent June in Kathmandu, Nepal, where peaceful protests are also continuing. On June 19, the father of the Tibetan family I lived with for 3 months in 2003 was arrested with 700 other Tibetans at a demonstration at the Chinese Embassy. Just last Friday, 118 Tibetans were arrested. He said didn't mind the arrest, since international pressure by the UN and the US Ambassador had reduced the violence the Nepalese police were using. However, he was disheartened by the entire situation. There is a growing feeling of hopelessness in the face of the great power of the Chinese Communist government. To my Tibetan friends in Nepal and India that I work with every day, it seems that the all governments, the UN, the media, and especially multinational corporations are ignoring their basic moral obligation to stand up for human rights and democracy in Tibet and everywhere else. Most of them feel like there is little they can do for their relatives and friends back home in Tibet, except maybe pray.

Please dedicate your prayers and aspirations to those suffering in Tibet and China, and also, please make yourself informed!

Peace Love and Light,

Michael D. Smith

Dharamsala, India