Well well well, it turns out that the reason Ama-la wasn't eating anythig sweet was because she was having tooth trouble. Don't know why she didnt tell us before- maybe she was too shy. So Dolma, from the host family, arranged a visit to her local dentist, a man who was used to Tibetans as he'd been treating her whole family for years, and was more than happy to see Ama-la too. But it was a very funny visit as Dolma couldn't go, so I took Ama-la along with Rinzin, Dolma's mum who speaks only a few words of English (but understands far more than you realise). So we had lots of translating processes going on- the dentist would ask or expain something, I translated to Rinzin who translated to Ama-la who then nodded her understanding. Apparently she had an inflamed root, so the dentist took care of it, but cound't do the proper canal work as it would take another appointment to do that, so he wrote a letter explaing what he had done so that she could get part 2 done back in India. But she was so happy- no more pain!! she kept grabbing my arm, pointing to her tooth and exclaiming happily: 'good, good!' We went home for tea, and happy chatter, then Karma Kabs again, this time to Tibet Foundation, where Riga and the other lovely ladies from Tibet Women's Association and those from Tibet Youth Foundation were organising a talk for the Tibetan Community in London. We arrived earlier than expected so took Ama-la off for a walk through Leicester square, accompanied by the lovely David again, and Dhala. It was cold out though so we repaired to a coffee shop for soem warmth.
The talk later was fantastic, well attended by (mainly) Tibetans, and according to later reports, several tears were shed after hearing her story and the sad history of Tibet from a survivor. Lots of people wanted to talk to her afterwards and have their photos taken with her- she was the real star of the night! The organisers had arranged dinner for her afterward too so I left them to it and got a lift home from the lovely Hitendra again, who had turned up to support us. Like I said before, he's a poppet, and I'm getting quite used to having my own chauffeur ;)
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