KATHMANDU – Fingering prayer beads and silently reciting mantras, 36-year-old Namdhak from Chinese-controlled Tibet offers thanks for her safe arrival in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu after travelling nearly a month.
“I knew that the journey would not be easy and I knew about the dangers, but I had desires to be fulfilled and so the risks were worth taking,” said Namdhak, looking tired but elated following her journey.
In September, a young nun was killed as she tried to cross the Nang Pa La Pass between Tibet and Nepal.
China acknowledged the incident and said the soldiers fired in self-defence after they were attacked by the refugees, an account contradicted by foreign witnesses who said the soldiers took aim as the refugees were running away.
“I felt very sad when I heard the news (about the nun’s death),” said Namdhak, who learnt about the killing when she arrived in Kathmandu last Thursday.
She is one of around 2,500 Tibetans who continue to make the dangerous trip from Chinese-controlled Tibet to Nepal every year.
“There’s no religious freedom and no rights at all in China,” Namdhak said. She left because Chinese government restrictions meant she was unable to join a nunnery in Tibet.
Fleeing Tibetans like her face Chinese informants, malnutrition, hypothermia, border patrols, frostbite, gastric problems and exhaustion.
Her one-month trip included an arduous 10-day walk through mountains and snow fields.
Namdhak’s money, which she had saved for the trip, was stolen by an unscrupulous trader on the Tibetan border, compounding her difficulties.
“I gave my money to a local on the border to change into Nepali rupees, but he never came back, so I had no money,” she said.
Under a “gentleman’s agreement” between Nepal and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Tibetans arriving in Kathmandu are supposed to be permitted to transit safely through Nepal.
Most refugees are then transferred to the government-in-exile set up by the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in Dharamsala in northern India.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.
China, a major development donor to Nepal, has put pressure on the impoverished Himalayan country to stem the flow of refugees coming through, but the system continues.
Last year, King Gyanendra’s government closed the office of the representative of the Dalai Lama in Kathmandu, with activists suggesting that Chinese pressure was the reason behind the closure.
The new government, reinstated after Gyanendra was forced to relinquish his direct rule, has reiterated its policy of respecting Beijing’s “One China” policy, which deems Taiwan and Tibet to be intrinsic parts of China.
Many Tibetans prefer to make the trip in winter as they believe there are fewer border guards in the snowy high peaks.
But despite the cold temperatures, Tibetans often travel with insufficient clothing and food, hoping they will not appear to be fleeing if they take the bare minimum.
Some, like Namdhak, escape for religious purposes, while others do so for economic reasons. Many children are sent on the journey so that they can receive a Tibetan education either in Nepal or India.
There are numerous routes. The shortest takes a matter of days and involves little walking, but others can take up to a month through arduous high-altitude terrain.
Brothers Decher and Tashi, aged six and four respectively, made the trip so they could go to school in Dharamsala.
“The guide told us to be careful, that we shouldn’t raise our heads and that we should pretend to be asleep if we got stopped,” said the elder brother.
“We were happy to get here because now we are in a safe place,” he added.
