Thursday, March 19, 1998
Jetsun Pema comes to UCLA to raise funds for education
PROFILE: Dalai Lama’s sister is president
of the Children’s Village
By Emi Kojima
Daily Bruin Contributor
She is a soft-spoken woman with a slight British accent, who is
called "Ama La" (mother) by thousands of Tibetan children.
Jetsun Pema, a sister of the Dalai Lama, serves as a mother
figure to the Tibetan people both in the country and in exile.
Pema’s brother, the Dalai Lama, serves as the political and
spiritual leader of Tibet. They currently live in exile in India,
where she is the president of the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV).
Pema recently published her autobiography, "Tibet, My Story," a
best-seller in Europe.
TCV currently looks after 27,000 refugees, children and adults.
Many of the children are orphans whose parents pay smugglers to
bring their children over the Himalayan mountains to India.
Children have been crossing the Himalayas in order to reach TCV
and the education, cultural awareness and opportunities that it
provides.
"Two years ago, a little boy of five years old arrived," Pema
said. "He lost all of his toes."
Pema lectured at UCLA twice this week to raise funds for the
education of Tibetan children in exile and for Tibetan rights.
Rinchon Dharlo, president of the Tibet Fund, said the group
wanted to promote awareness of Tibetan issues.
"Mrs. Pema is known to six million Tibetan people, not because
she is exalted as the Dalai Lama’s sister but because of her work
and dedication serving children for the last 35 years," Dharlo
said.
The problems in Tibet began in 1949 with the Chinese invasion.
The Dalai Lama left Tibet in 1959 and went into exile in India
after hearing that Chinese troops were preparing to bombard the
Dalai Lama’s palace.
"There are gross violations of human rights in Tibet," Pema
said, "Tibetans are treated as second-class citizens."
The Dalai Lama established a government in exile. Pema later
joined the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala.
He founded TCV in 1960 as a nursery for Tibetan children. Pema
took charge of the operation when her brother appointed her
president, four years later.
Her work with the program has shown tangible results. Now 99
percent of all Tibetan children in exile attend school and the TCV
has a 75 percent literacy rate.
"Our top priority was the education of Tibetan children," Pema
said. "We felt it was the best thing to do in exile. Future
children will be the seed to a future Tibet."
She is touring the United States in order to gather money to
expand TCV donations.
Pema has already been to Berkeley, Stanford and UC Santa
Barbara. She continues from Los Angeles to San Diego, Orange
County, Chicago and Denver.
Pema’s first lecture was held during a dinner Tuesday with a
requested $100 minimum donation. Wednesday she delivered a free
lecture to the public.
The UCLA Department of Psychiatry and the Tibet Fund sponsored
the lectures.
The psychiatry department invited Pema to speak at UCLA because
psychiatrists have been examining Tibetan medicine in order to cure
some psychiatric illnesses.
"Tibetan views are striking in their parallels with some modern
science," said Charles Raison, assistant clinical professor and
director of emergency psychiatric services.
The Tibet Fund encouraged attendees to sponsor a Tibetan child
at TCV by donating $30 a month.
Recently, Tibet has gathered more media attention with the
Tibetan Freedom Concert, given by modern rock performers. Pema even
played a role in the American film "Seven Years in Tibet" as the
Dalai Lama’s mother.
International support for Tibet is imperative, Pema said.
Already there are 300 support groups in 30 different countries.
She hopes that Tibetan support group can help to "bring about
dialogue with the Chinese and Tibetan governments so that the
Tibetan problem can be solved through peaceful means."
Pema was the first woman to be elected as a minister on the
cabinet of the exiled Tibetan government.
In 1995 she was given the title "Mother of Tibet" by the
Assembly of the Tibetan People’s Deputies in exile.
"She is humble and non-assuming," said Hank Turley, the
coordinator if the Western Tour for the Tibet Fund.
"Basically no one in the west knows what she has done for 50,000
children," he said.
Because of the strong role she has played in both the TCV and in
the government, she has also served as a role model for women.
"In the homes, we (are) the boss, all right," she jokingly
said.
She said that women have played an increasingly vocal role in
Tibetan politics. Now there are two women on the cabinet and 12 in
their parliament of 46.
She traveled back to Tibet in 1980, accompanied by Chinese
officials.
"What was most shocking, more than the terrible stories I have
heard was the thinking that the Tibetan people should be treated
like animals and (that they) had no feelings," she said.
Pema, however, still maintains that the Tibetan government in
exile supports non-violent tactics.
"Young people always will feel impatient. There have been over
200 demonstrations against the Chinese government within Tibet that
have been clamped down," she said.PATIL ARMENIAN
Jetsun Pema, the sister of the Dalai Lama, is the president of
the Tibetan Children’s Village which looks after 27,000
refugees.