Tibetan Foothold by Dervla Murphy

Author:Dervla Murphy [Dervla Murphy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781906011765
Publisher: Eland Publishing
Published: 2011-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

7

Politics and Parents

12 NOVEMBER

Within the past few weeks I’ve been analysing more closely the part this camp plays in the Tibetan refugee tragedy and my conclusions have made me a little uneasy about the gay abandon with which agencies devote money to the project. One wonders if they are aware of the exact nature of the operation they have chosen to subsidise.

On my arrival in July, I took the situation at its face-value; Dharamsala Nursery was a refuge for children whose parents were unable to care for them and who would probably die of neglect if they couldn’t come here. Undoubtedly this is partly true. Some of these children could not survive outside a camp, and it must be admitted that when the Nursery was opened in 1960 the need for such a centre was urgent. But now things are changing; parents are obtaining employment and finding their bearings – yet more and more children have been coming to a camp where, until very recently, ‘conditions were worse than in any European refugee camp immediately after World War II’, to quote the comment of an experienced observer. After living here for some time a strange element in the atmosphere seeps into one’s consciousness and gradually one begins to suspect that philanthropy is not the sole raison d’être of the Dharamsala Tibetan Refugee Nursery.

My doubts on this matter first crystallised about a month ago, when I observed how strongly Mrs Tsiring Dolma resented influential visitors being told that the numbers of children were lessening slightly – an item of news which we passed on joyfully as an indication of some improvement in the general situation. However, the Nursery Principal was very quick to intervene in these conversations and to impress on visitors the fact that soon our numbers would be higher than ever and that more and more funds would be needed to maintain the camp. This ‘prophecy’ has in fact been fulfilled during the past week; many of the hundreds of Tibetans who recently came here from the road-camps on a pilgrimage have now left their children at the Nursery.

The motives behind these parental decisions are disturbing. Soon after Mrs Tsiring Dolma’s show of displeasure at the reduction in our numbers a very reliable source informed me that Lamas are regularly despatched from Dharamsala to the road camps with instructions to encourage parents to bring their children here – and at this stage I began to smell a large and unpleasant rat. I then decided to collect a few statistics, with the aid of a dependable interpreter. To date I’ve questioned seventy-three parents, asking them why they brought their children here, what they wished their children to do when they leave and what their own financial position is at the moment. In 100% of cases the reply to the first question was that they brought the children here to be educated – and the majority added that they also wished them to be near His Holiness. In reply to the

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