New Delhi, July 20: The Dhargyeling Tibetan refugee settlement in Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh state of north-east India now has a brand new Health ambulance vehicle, thanks to Minnesota chapter of Tibetan Women’s Associaion (TWA) who sponsored it to help the residents especially the old and sick people visit big hospitals in case of emergencies.
Transportation has been the biggest problem in this remote and landlocked settlement in the foothills of Himalayas. Residents had to negotiate long distance and rugged mountain roads to get emergency medical treatment. Availing of taxi service was too costly for the residents majority of whom are poor without any perennial source of income. The settlement’s 10-year old community vehicle had outlived its utility. It was then that the Tibetan women in Minnesota got together and raised US$12,000 with which the settlement replaced the old vehicle with a sturdy Mahindra Bolero model.
Tsering Dolma, president of Minnesota TWA said providing financial assistance to Tezu settlement was part of their community service program. The decision to fund community projects in Dhargyeling Tibetan settlement was decided early this year in one of their meetings because the settlement is one of the poorest and least developed among other Tibetan refugee settlements in India; and partly because the Dalai Lama in many of his public speeches had frequently stressed the need to provide help in that settlement, Ms. Dolma added.
There are still a number of projects that needs financial help but the TWA group was unable to finance all of them simultaneously. From the long list of proposals that they received from Mr. Dorjee, they said they selected the most immediate and important one which turned out to be the health ambulance service. The group also sponsors a child from the settlement.
In addition to community service programs, the Minnesota TWA is also involved in organising activities and events targetted towards the preservation of Tibetan culture. They conduct annual essay contest – on topics related to H.H. the Dalai Lama, Tibetan culture, history,religion – and Tibetan handwriting contest among Tibetan children in Minnesota. Children are rewarded for their achievements during Losar(Tibetan New Year). This year’s winner received free subscription of Tibetan World magazine. Mrs. Dolma said the free subscription was intended to support the magazine which is published from India by a group of Tibetan youngsters.
