South Korea – Almost one hundred thirty Korean teenage students took part in the first ever two-day “Peace Tibet Camp” in Korea from August 18 to 19. This is unarguably the first time in history that Korean Government helped organise a pro-Tibet camp like this.
The camp was organised by ROGPA Charitable Trust based in Dharamsala, India, and supported by GUNPO volunteer center, KSVA (Korean Students for Volunteer Association), and AVC (Asian Volunteer Center). The camp was sponsored by GVC (Gyongyi State Volunteer Center)
Founder Director of Rogpa Charitable Trust, Mr Tenzing Jamyang joined the camp and spoke to the children about Tibetan children and Tibetan situation in general.
Mrs Pema (Korean name: Nam Hyeon Joo), Rogpa cofounder and head of the Rogpa baby care center in Dharamsala also joined the camp and in her talk to the young Korean teenagers, she shared her experience of being in Tibetan community in exile.
The two-day camp, first of its kind ever held in South Korea, began with documentary video on Tibetans in exile and, the plight of Tibetan people in and outside Tibet with focus to let students understand why Tibet is important for world peace.
The first day concluded with Tibetan Clothing fashion show and the traditional Tibetan dice game Sho-Para, which is more popular among elderly Tibetans.
The second day of the camp began under the hot summer sun with every student bringing their own banners, which they made by themselves, and rallied around in Suwon City for 10 Kilometers telling people on the way about Tibet and Tibetan People’s struggle for freedom.
With two police cars accompanying the rally, the students raised their voice to create awareness about Tibetan problems among Koreans. The hot summer sun did not deter these passionate young Koreans in their effort to support Tibetan children who continue to escape Tibet across high and harsh terrains of Himalaya, very often risking their lives, to reach India to seek better education in Tibetan schools run by their Government-in-Exile.
The most admirable part of the camp was to see every student wore traditional Tibetan shirts, which Mrs Pema brought from Dharamsala. The participants also learned about the Tibetan language and each of them were given a Tibetan name that they will use all during the camp to call each other.
Kharag Penpa, a Tibetan musician and formerly a music teacher at TCV (Tibetan Children’s Village) School, based in Dharamsala, performed traditional Tibetan songs with his dra-ngyen (Tibetan guitar). Mr Penpa also took time to teach Tibetan dance and talk about Tibetan culture to the participants.
During the camp, the students had Tsampa (Tibetan barley flour) for their lunch. The camp members collected donations in street to support Rogpa’s free baby care center. For the Volunteers who supported the camp and the participants alike, these proved the most touching part of the whole programme, doing simple things to help in simple ways. The volunteers took care of the children and helped make children to under the programme better. They prepared every programme and they themselves learned about Tibetan culture and dance before the camp started.
On the second day, Rogpa Korean volunteer gathered in Suwon station with their booth to create awareness about Tibet. The students later reached the station and separated into different areas creating Tibet awareness and collecting donations.
The camp concluded at the Gyongyi State Government building with talks from the programme organisers and officers from Gyongyi state.
After concluding a successful camp, the organisers assured that henceforth the camp would be held every year in Korea for different students from different schools.
Rogpa Trust has also been organising “Save Tibet Festival in Korea” every year since 2004 by holding series of Tibet awareness programmes like 600-Km walk for Tibet.
“This is the most wonderful experience in my life to see that children in every corner of the world can understand and feel the pain of each other” says Kim Jeong, one of the supporters of the Tibet camp.
Based on report by Kim Jeong from South Korea
