Tony Lofaro
OTTAWA, October 28: When the Dalai Lama visits Ottawa today, Barbara Doesburg will be among the more than 8,000 people at the ceremony to hear the spiritual leader.
But what Ms. Doesburg really would like to do is personally present the leader with a symbolic Tibetan prayer flag that she had specially made for him.
Unfortunately, she will not be able to hand it to him, and instead, that task will be done by a member of the Canada Tibet Committee, which is hosting his visit to Ottawa.
“I was told the flag will be presented to him but they can’t guarantee he will be bringing it back to Tibet,” said Ms. Doesburg, a resort owner northwest of Ottawa.
The Dalai Lama will speak on “Global Citizenship Through Universal Responsibility” at an afternoon ceremony in the city’s centre.
Ms. Doesburg, who is a member of a global interfaith community, decided she wanted to make something for the Dalai Lama to mark his visit to Ottawa. She said she started making the flag – made of 20 small fabric squares – only a few weeks ago and had it finished in time for the visit.
It has the colours of the original Tibetan flag, which are white, blue, red, green and yellow, she said.
“The blue/white are symbolic of sky and space, white/blue symbolizes water, red symbolizes fire, green is wind and air, and yellow is earth,” she said. “The flag is supposed to be hung outside so that the prayers will be taken by the wind, it’s really symbolic.”
She said she has high praise for the Dalai Lama who fled Tibet to India in 1959 after the collapse of the Tibetan resistance movement. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, a honourary Canadian citizenship in 2006, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal about a week ago.
“The Dalai Lama is a person who accepts people of all religions, that’s why I was really excited he is coming and wanted to do this,” she said.
