Final day in Dharamsala, for now!

Hey friends,
So today is our last day in Dharamsala, in fact, we leave tonight at 5:00pm to take taxis to the train station (3 hours away) then an overnight train to Dheli that arrives at 5:00am. Yesterday we took our language finals, both oral and written. I did pretty well. I know so much more Tibetan than I did a month a half ago, in fact 100% more Tibetan! Its pretty exciting. Tibetan is a very difficult language but you have to start somewhere. Last night we had our big final party to honor all the homestay families and to also celebrate the 20th anniversary of the SIT Tibetan Studies program. It was a lot of fun, we all dressed in semi-traditional clothing and danced! I didn't take any pictures but my friend has a bunch and I'll get some from him.

Today is a weird/good day. We've been hanging out and trying to relax for the first time after a month of crazy busy-ness. It's really sad to leave our homestays where we're just starting to get really comfortable with them. Its also sad to leave Dharamsala. Though I know I will be back for ISP, which I'm excited about.

So this past wednesday I was invited to a really important and interesting discussion between 5 British MPs and SFT/other Tibetan youth that support independence over autonomy. It was really cool and an awesome opportunity for Tibetan youth to convey their frustration with the state of the dialogue and also express the urgency of finding a solution that grants independence to Tibet. The need for independence is so great and so important and time is running out.

The biggest problem facing Tibet is population transfer from China. Period. Chinese now outnumber Tibetans in Tibet. This is a problem that is disastrous for Tibet. Tibetans are becoming marginalized in their own country. Recently the Chinese government forced 100,000 Tibetan nomads to move into cities because they claimed that the nomads were polluting the source of several major rivers that originate in Tibet but flow down into China. This is an absurd assertion because it is China that is clearcutting oldgrowth forests, strip mining the hills, and dumping nuclear waste on the Tibetan plateau!!! The nomads have been living in Tibet for thousands of years without any of the environmental problems facing China today from their policies in Tibet. Tibet must have independence. If you think it is still not going on today, right now China has 6 Tibetan teenagers (14 years old) in prison that they arrested 2 weeks ago for allegedly writing pro-Tibet slogans on the side of a building. Reports are that all of the boys have been tortured and severely beaten while in custody. If you think China does not rule by force, think again.

Now we head to Nepal...
Love, Sam