By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent
Kathmandu, December 8 – A video speech of His Holiness the Dalai Lama especially given to Tibetans of Samdupling Tibetan Refugee Camp was shown at the Jwalakhel Handicraft Center of the camp in Jwalakhel area of Lalitpur District in Kathmandu Valley today after the presentation of annual report of the camp and the handicraft center.
The message was specially requested for Tibetans of Jwalakhel by the head of the camp Mr. Tsering Dhondup La. Following is the transcript of the of the message of His Holiness, "I would like to thank you all for your hard work, we are refugee living away from our homeland, so we need to work hard and not just pray to get any result, so it is important for all to continue their endeavor, along with that don’t lose heart, we are refugees and not residents here, we all hope to unite with our homeland and we will prevail in the pursuit of our fight for truth, all Tibetans until now have been preserving their identity and it is very good and you should all continue your enthusiasm and never forget the common cause of all Tibetans, along with maintaining your condition of livelihood, you should also accumulate prayers like mani and bendzaguru and tamdrin that would help the cause of Tibetan struggle, Tibetans are considered humble and well mannered all over the world, it is an invaluable quality of Tibetans and it is very important not to lose that quality, so elders should teach that to youngster and set an example, you should get modern education and give importance to Tibetan, and it is important not just to be Buddhist but also study Buddhism, keep that in mind; in Nepal there are many political changes but Tibetans are doing well, Jwalakhel camp has good conditions and I would like to extend my greetings to all of you".
There are over 20,000 Tibetans and many Buddhist of Himalayan Regions living in Nepal but His Holiness has been so far able to visit only once in 1980’s due to difficult political situation in Nepal; people hope that there would be time when He would be able to visit Nepal. Until now all the Buddhist religious activities have been carried out in Nepal by important Tibetan lamas like His Eminence Sakya Daktri Rinpoche, Dema Lochoe Rinpoche, Penor Rinpoche, Trulshik Rinpoche etc.
The Samdupling (Jwalakhel) Tibetan Refugee Camp is one of the oldest Tibetan refugee settlement in Nepal established in 1960 under the aid of Red Cross Society. To create a source of livelihood for Tibetans, the Jwalakhel Handicraft Center was established in 1962, the center has been producing hand knotted Tibetan carpets for the past 46 years, at present there are 228 people working at the center and there are over 1500 Tibetans living in the Jwalakhel area. Those who have family members working at the center are benefited with housing, Losar gift and bonus. Tibetans living in Jwalakhel camp have some source of livelihood whereas other Tibetans living in Kathmandu have to find their own livelihood and there is no particular government manufacturing or business unit left after the change in the economic policy of the Tibetan Government in Exile. We need to see how the Government would create job opportunities to rising number of unemployed graduates and it is coincidental or pretty weird to see that similar unemployment problem is also rising for Tibetans in Tibet.
