An Activist, a Lawyer, a Minister of Parliament, and two NGO Directors

What do all these people have in common? They’re all willing to help me with my film!

Things have really taken off since my meeting with Tenzin Tsundue last week. Right away I started looking up the references he gave me, and so far everyone I have talked to has been very kind and willing to help me with the film. Tenzin is “the activist” I refer to in the title. Here are the other people I have talked to so far:

Vinayak, the lawyer

An Indian lawyer who takes 99% Tibetan cases. He’s learned the Tibetan language and dedicated himself to helping these people. He explained to me that because of Tibetans’ exiled state, they often believe they do not have the same rights as Indians, but they do, and this is most of his work, just helping the Tibetans to understand their rights and privileges in India. He shows true compassion in his dedication through his time and effort to the Tibetan people, and often charges little or nothing at all, based on the person’s ability to pay.

Dowa, Minister of Parliament

Minister of Parliament is just one of this man’s many positions. He is also the director of an elementary school, a member of the Inter-Tibetan-Friendship, owner of a bead factory, has helped organize the Dharamsala clean-up project, has helped to build and establish many other schools, and used to run the Tibetan welfare program. When I talked to him about my project he seemed most passionate about his work with the school. In his school there are both Tibetan and Indian students. He says it is his philosophy that it is more important to establish interaction and understanding between the children than it is with the adults.

Sonam, Co-director of the Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution

Sonam is a Tibetan woman, born in India, who has co-founded, and helps to run the Tibetan Centre for Conflict Resolution (TCCR). Yesterday I was blessed with the ability to film a workshop Sonam ran for several Indian volunteer students. In person she is very calm and easy-going, but once she starts her workshop, you can see her passion for the subject. The workshops are meant to help people understand that conflict does not have to be a “bad” thing, and teach people skills for peacefully resolving conflict.

Jamyang, director of Tong-Len

Today I will be going to do some filming with Jamyang. He is a Tibetan Buddhist monk who runs the Tong-Len organization which is dedicated to giving back to the Indian community, focusing on the poorer communities.

As I have been working with these people, it has struck me: These are important, powerful, and even famous people. It just amazes me, first that I have the opportunity to meet such important people, and second that they are so willing to work with me, a college film student, in making this short little film. I’m not sure if they are helping me just because they’re so incredibly nice, or because they like the idea of the film, or maybe they just like the idea of being in a film. But I’m pretty sure that for most of them it’s just because they’re nice people and helping others is what they like doing most.

I’m so incredibly grateful for all the help I’ve had in getting to this point. I still have so much further to go, but the future looks very bright indeed.