The path is 32 miles long. The journey n preferably done in a day n is said to give good fortune to the participants.
For Dianne Campbell, who made the journey in 2005, it gave more than that n it gave her new purpose in life.
Campbell, 67, moved to Bozeman in 1989. She had agreed to fly to Tibet for the journey after meeting a Tibetan monk from northern Nepal in a cafeteria in Colorado during a Buddhist seminar.
A friendship blossomed over several meals shared there, as the monk told Campbell about the plight of Tibetans in northern Nepal.
For Dianne Campbell, who made the journey in 2005, it gave more than that n it gave her new purpose in life.
Campbell, 67, moved to Bozeman in 1989. She had agreed to fly to Tibet for the journey after meeting a Tibetan monk from northern Nepal in a cafeteria in Colorado during a Buddhist seminar.
A friendship blossomed over several meals shared there, as the monk told Campbell about the plight of Tibetans in northern Nepal.
By virtue of living in Nepal and not Tibet, the ethnic group avoided the persecution of Chinese when the communist country took the country over in 1950. But it faces its own raft of challenges. By speaking Tibetan and not Nepalese, the people have trouble working with their government. Due to the sheer remoteness of the region n the main trade routes came from Tibet and where shut down by the Chinese n the Tibetans were cut off from both their culture and their grazing economy.
“When the Chinese closed the border and no longer allowed learned monks to cross those borders, they also did not allow villagers to graze on the plateau,” Campbell said. “That is what threw these villages into poverty. They became poorer and poorer and poorer.”
After completing the Kailash kora, Campbell traveled to the villages she would spend the next five years of her life helping.
“The areas I’m working in are extraordinarily remote n a five-day walk from the nearest city with a government office and market where they can buy things,” she said.
“In these villages, there are no stores, there are no roads n no ways to get motorized vehicles in,” she said.
But the biggest challenge facing the area, she said, was the lack of education.
While isolation may seem like the best way to preserve an ancient culture, interaction with the outside world is at the core of Tibetan culture, she said.
“Tibetans have historically, for thousands of years, been traders and merchants,” she said. “They live in their villages during the summer time. Then, in the winter, the men and able-bodied women migrate into other areas to work,” she said.
By the end of 2005, Campbell had founded the Antahkarana Society International. Antahkarana is a Buddhist term for “a realization that all life is interconnected and there arises a new and expanded sense of social responsibility,” according to the group’s Web site.
At first, Antahkarana relied on schools already set up in Kathmandu to educate the Tibetans. The group raised enough money to put 18 kids up in dormitories in the Nepali capital. The aim of their studies, first and foremost, was to learn Nepali so they could represent themselves before the government and English to do better in the world of business.
“Our goal is to send people back to the villages as doctors, nurses, business people,” she said.
But an episode in 2006 showed that the demand for education was far greater than what Antahkarana was providing. Rumor had it in rural Nepal that Campbell was coming back to recruit more kids for Kathmandu. When she didn’t show, several children took matters into their own hand and snuck into Kathmandu via India to report for class.
“That’s when we started to grow,” she said.
Now, the group still houses people receiving advanced educations in Kathmandu, but has opened three schools in the villages to give more rudimentary education to even more kids. More than 90 kids are enrolled in those classes.
Antahkarana claims to be the only group focused on helping the Tibetans of Nepal. That’s important, Campbell says, because of the struggles Tibetans are facing in China.
“A culture can’t survive without education, and so our primary focus is getting schools into these villages that have not had schools for two generations,” she said.
“Very recently, the Dali Lama conceded that Tibetan culture in China, in the autonomous region, is beyond the hope of saving,” she said. “Therefore we must work to preserve and advance Tibetan culture in the Himalayan region.”
“When the Chinese closed the border and no longer allowed learned monks to cross those borders, they also did not allow villagers to graze on the plateau,” Campbell said. “That is what threw these villages into poverty. They became poorer and poorer and poorer.”
After completing the Kailash kora, Campbell traveled to the villages she would spend the next five years of her life helping.
“The areas I’m working in are extraordinarily remote n a five-day walk from the nearest city with a government office and market where they can buy things,” she said.
“In these villages, there are no stores, there are no roads n no ways to get motorized vehicles in,” she said.
But the biggest challenge facing the area, she said, was the lack of education.
While isolation may seem like the best way to preserve an ancient culture, interaction with the outside world is at the core of Tibetan culture, she said.
“Tibetans have historically, for thousands of years, been traders and merchants,” she said. “They live in their villages during the summer time. Then, in the winter, the men and able-bodied women migrate into other areas to work,” she said.
By the end of 2005, Campbell had founded the Antahkarana Society International. Antahkarana is a Buddhist term for “a realization that all life is interconnected and there arises a new and expanded sense of social responsibility,” according to the group’s Web site.
At first, Antahkarana relied on schools already set up in Kathmandu to educate the Tibetans. The group raised enough money to put 18 kids up in dormitories in the Nepali capital. The aim of their studies, first and foremost, was to learn Nepali so they could represent themselves before the government and English to do better in the world of business.
“Our goal is to send people back to the villages as doctors, nurses, business people,” she said.
But an episode in 2006 showed that the demand for education was far greater than what Antahkarana was providing. Rumor had it in rural Nepal that Campbell was coming back to recruit more kids for Kathmandu. When she didn’t show, several children took matters into their own hand and snuck into Kathmandu via India to report for class.
“That’s when we started to grow,” she said.
Now, the group still houses people receiving advanced educations in Kathmandu, but has opened three schools in the villages to give more rudimentary education to even more kids. More than 90 kids are enrolled in those classes.
Antahkarana claims to be the only group focused on helping the Tibetans of Nepal. That’s important, Campbell says, because of the struggles Tibetans are facing in China.
“A culture can’t survive without education, and so our primary focus is getting schools into these villages that have not had schools for two generations,” she said.
“Very recently, the Dali Lama conceded that Tibetan culture in China, in the autonomous region, is beyond the hope of saving,” she said. “Therefore we must work to preserve and advance Tibetan culture in the Himalayan region.”
Thanks for posting this article Hulaki. Our work is just coming into the news. It is important for us to raise awareness of our unique effort preserve and advance indigenous Tibetan culture. While many are aware of Tibetans in exile few are aware of those striving to maintain their culture in the Himalayan regions of Nepal. We need all the help we can get! More information at our website www.savetibetanculture.org
ReplyDeleteDeanna Campbell, Executive Director Antahkarana International