Suffolk...

Well, actually the day before the trip to the Suffolk seaside...Ama-la had been invited to the Office of Tibet in London. The Representative of HHDL’s office, Mrs Taklha, was due to have left a few days before, and there had been a great reception in her honour on the previous Friday. When we turned up on Monday we discovered to our delight that she was still there, tidying things up before handing over to Tsering Tashi, the new Rep. And of coure, Jampa, the previous assistant director of the Centre in Dharamsala was there as well, having been posted there a few months ago, so it was a lovely reunion for him, Ama-la and Tsering. I think they chatted a lot about Art Refuge from the few Tibetan words I was able to understand- it sounded like Ama la was explaining why she’d been brought to London and what we do exactly for the children. I now feel we have been formally introduced to the Office here, which may help in the future.

Following this was a trip to the Houses of Parliament, organised by our wonderful David, one of the seciurity guards there. Ama-la had taken a shine to him so when he produced a wheelchair so she didn't have to walk too far, and proceeded to be her companion and escort all the way, she was thrilled. I was beginning to worry about what her husband Rinchen would say! David is a great tour guide, and kept Ama enthralled by Britsh history and stories of past misdeeds done on that site (in particular the Gunpowder Plot). She said by the end of the visit that it was a highlight and she'd have lots of stories about our Government to take home.

And on Tuesday there was a trip to the seaside. I’d been hoping that I could bring Ama-la and Tsering up to Suffolk to meet my mother and to see the sea. It’s a particularly beautiful part of England that I live in so naturally I wanted to share it. Thankfully, Ama-la agreed, so early that morning I met her, Tsering and Alyssa, our fab ex-volunteer from the US who had flown over specialy to be with us, at the station and we set of for our adventure. Within minutes we had left the business and buildings of London and emerged into fields galore which thrilled Ama-la who couldn’t get over how green it all was, then yellow (fields of rapeseed), then light blue (flax?) and the woods, and the cows, and sheep, and also some llamas (which confused her as when she heard the word mentioned started looking for signs of maroon robes in the fields!)
When we arrived at my home, mum was waiting outside to greet them, and Ama-la gave her a great hug, and clung on to her hand, yapping away in Tibetan without waiting for Tsering to translate, while mum looked very baffled by the whole thing. It was so sweet!

After a wonderful lunch from mum with strawberries for dessert, we disappeared down to the beach for a walk. I wasn't sure how Ama-la would fare on the shingle which can be murder on the legs, especially with a walking stick which tends to sink into the stones never to be seen again. But she loved it! And Tsering and Alyssa were so happy to be by the sea that they went for a paddle!

Back home, mum had prepared a traditional cream tea- using the left over strawberries to make some last minute strawberry jam when she found none in the cupboard! Ama-la couldn't get over that when she heard- guess they don;t make jam that much in Dharamsala. We had a cople of friends come over to join us who were delighted to meet Ama-la and Tsering, and we only just managed to get the party away in time to catch the train back to London, tired but full!

Sunday afternoon

Sunday was the first of Ama-la's talks, held in London in the same building as the Comic Relief offices, and scheduled to start at 3:00pm. Joe had set up the room beautifully, and even made us all some tea before things kicked off, bless him.

Hitendra who had organised the talk and who had set up the room beautifully, gave a thorough, clear intro to Ama-la and the Tibetan situation, backlit by the cover picture of Ama-la's book projected on the wall behind him (courtesy of Tom) which made him look rather star-like. Ama-la talked for about 40 minutes before answering questions and there was some fine translating by Tsering who looked very smart and official. Ama was as graceful and dignified as ever, keen to share her story and update events in Dharamsala. She'd been dropped off by the wonderful care hire company Karma Kabs whose cars are amazing! (http://www.karmakabs.com/) They certainly draw attention and you can hear them coming from miles away :)


The event was filmed by Tim, our fantastic media person with the hope that one day we’ll make a film for Art Refuge. Not sure what format it will take yet, but let’s wait and see...

Thanks Hitendra for arranging this!

The Launch

A very busy day, starting off with some very serious shopping for a launch outfit! Well, ok, it wasn't that serious; it was fun, and not something I do that often in such high speed. Accompanied by my big sis, Su, we sped round assorted shops in Angel, Islington, and much to my amazement found 2 tops and a fab pair of sandals in about 5 mins! Exaggerating? Me? Hmm, ok, maybe it was more like 30 mins, but seeing as it usually takes me 30 mins in a shoe shop before walking out emptyhanded, this was a miracle. And the final top I purchased was incredible!!! Purple sequins on a stretchy tank top- ab fab or what!

OK, I know, this is supposed to be about the launch...

Had lunch with Trinley, the mad monk, our tame printer who'd come down from Scotland just to help out. Little did he know, but after lunch I was going to drag him round Sainsbury's then lock him in the kitchen so he could prepare the food. Well, it's his fault for being an ex-chef!

And to his credit, he didn't complain, and he did in fact turn out some gorgeous grub, which assorted trustees and helpers trotted round to all the guests who arrived. I think about 100 people came to support us, friends, family and odd people off the street too. Ama-la came and was duly treated with the respect, importance and adoration given a celebrity these days, and it was lovely to see a good turnout from the Tibetan community too. I suspect that a good few of them were there to chat to Tsering, as a couple of times I had to run off to find him for translating duties when a guest wanted to talk to Ama-la, and he'd wandered off to chat. Ama-la brought with her the elder of the family she is staying with, so we had 2 Ama-la's to entertain, and Ama Rinzin was wonderful- such a great twinkly smile- she is so adorable!

And there was the hilarious offering of kata to all the important people. Slight misunderstanding as I wanted to give them to Ama-la & Tsering for coming over, as well as Gonkar for letting us have his gallery, but Ama-la wanted to give them to all the trustees and helpers! So it was a slightly chaotic ceremony, with lots of laughter, and kata being thrown around necks galore. Ama-la also gave a short speech thanking everyone for showing up and supporting Art Refuge, saying that she wouldn't talk about her story because she would be doing that the following day.

And that was it. By the time we'd cleared up, it was time for a late dinner across the road, where we found many other people from the launch already digging in. What a tiring day, but a big success :)

Settling in

Well, the first couple of days have been quite gentle. We took Ama-la and Tsering to the gallery the day after they arrived so they could see the exhibition. I think they were very impressed. Especially with the drawing that we'd had framed which depicted Ama-la being tortured- she remembered the class where the teenager had made that picture- it made quite an impression on her! They also sat and watched Sergei's video of the Nangpa Pass shooting which he had made for us- it was very moving! He is a great cameraman and film maker and if you ever get a chance to see his work, do so.


See how many Ama Adhe's you can spot in this photo!









We also went for lunch with Gonkar in Bethnal Green, to a wonferful archetypal English cafe which sold meat, meat and more meat! Oh and mashed potatoes, and lots of gravy! Not much good for a veggie like me, but surprisingly they did an all-day veggie breakfast! And there were some very intersting characters there...it was like mingling with the cast of Eastenders!

On Friday, after meeting up with Hitendra (who was organising the venue for the Sunday talk) and the delightful Joe (the building manager of said venue), we took Ama-la and Tsering out for a meal...a great Southern Indian restaurant. We were very concerned that Ama-la was comfy so brought with us the entire stock of blankets that Hitendra had in his car/people carrier- she was well padded!

It was good to meet Joe earlier- he has a permanent twinkle in his eyes, and who made you feel that he would do anything you asked, with a smile and a skip in his step, and his enticing soft Irish brogue! He's gorgeous! Hitendra is a poppet too, and is very fond of Ama-la, having interviewed her a few years ago for a book he's writing. In fact, I first met him in Dharamsala while he was waiting to meet with her, and was observing the Art Refuge class. He was very touched by the artwork the kids were producing and we got talking and kept in touch afterwards. When he heard Ama-la was coming over to the UK, he was delighted, and offered to help...and may regret that offer by the end of the 2 weeks!