Refugee Stories

Revised May 31st, 2012

In the article The stories of Tibetan elders in exile, J.M. Brown writes about the oral history project work by clinical psychologist Marcella Adamski in recording the stories of Tibetan elders in exile. Adamski’s work was spurred directly from a request by the Dalai Lama, whom she met in Dharamsala in 1999. After reading this article I was reminded of some of the stories I have heard from my own “elders in exile” when I was younger. I thought I’d patch together and share some of these stories so that people can read them and then maybe share their own stories as well.

I can remember most clearly my mother’s account of why her family fled from Tibet in late 1959. My mother’s family lived in the  small farming village of Namdha, about a half hour walk from the town of  Khangmar in the district of Gyantse. Her family was the wealthiest of the village and her father was well respected for the kindness he had shown to the poorer villagers, and the loans he gave to those who needed it.