Saturday 8 Oct: Casa del Tibet
After my brief explanation of the #cyclingfortibet campaign I asked the 86-year-old Kalsang Dolma to tell us how Her flight over the Himalayas had expired in 1959.
In the spring of that year, Tibetans revolted against the Chinese. What started as a peaceful protest against repressive Chinese policies soon degenerated into violence and thousands of Tibetans were killed. It is estimated that around 100,000 Tibetans fled their country at the time, including the Dalai Lama. Kalsang Dolma was also one of them.
She had not participated in the protests. She was just at home when the Chinese invaded her home and started shooting around. She received seven bullets in the back. She lived close to the Nepali border and in the early autumn of 1959, she crossed the Himalayas on foot into Nepal along with her husband, her child and two friends.
That arduous crossing lasted about five days. Along the way, they suffered from hunger and thirst. The hardest part was getting water. To feed themselves, they had brought a large piece of dried meat from which they very sparingly cut thin slices.
Until 12 years ago, the Kalsang Dolma in Tibet. Since then, she has been living in Spain. She did not elaborate on the reason for that second move. But she seemed to be enjoying herself in Barcelona.
During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese demolished thousands of monasteries in Tibet. Possession of a picture of the Dalai Lama carries a prison sentence of up to seven years. They ban education in and of Tibetan. They forcibly take Tibetan toddlers away from their parents and send them far away to Chinese schools, completely alienating them from their culture and family. Some parents drive hundreds of kilometres and sleep in their cars to be able to see their child again.
16 September: Opening the door at Diamondway Buddhist Centre in Tallinn The centre's meditation sessions are open
