Friday

A very intense day. Arrived at the Centre late morning to find my Tiblets had already arrived. For those of you who may not understand this statement- my 'Tiblets' are a group of children I first met many years ago at the Reception Centres and have kept in touch with since- we meet up every time I come over and we have grown to be like a family. I have even met their family members, those who are now in Kathmandu and those who are still in Tibet, and sometimes I carry messages and photos back and forth. The Tiblets are very special to me and we had managed to get permission for them to come here to Dharamsala for the night so we could spend time together. It is a particularly intense time because they are worried about family back in Tibet but can get no news about them, and I was overwhelmed with sadness when I greeted them, maybe from my own worry about their families or had picked up on their anxiety. Some children in their school heard the other day that some family members in Tibet were killed recently, and now there has been another riot and more Tibetans have been killed. So as you can imagine, the mood in Dharamsala is very somber- the candle lit vigil this evening was attended by many more people than usual and had us in tears as we watched them pass by. Mind you, I have been fighting back the tears all day starting with our first greeting, and then in class this afternoon, one of the Tiblets drew a very poignant picture of the death and destruction in Tibet and it was heartbreaking. Added to this, there are posters and pictures all over Dharamsala of the dead in Tibet, their wounds, blood etc. Very gory and gut wrenching.

You read in the papers back home about there being prayers, candle-lit vigils, protests, etc, but to actually experience it is a completely different matter- it really pierces you to the bone. Our favourite restaurant owner was telling us earlier about the hunger strike here, and how every business has pledged to send one person from their family to join in- it's a relay so each person goes on hunger strike for 24 hours, and she was telling us her son had volunteered as he wanted to do something important to support their people in Tibet. We are now waiting as there is a programme about Tibet on the Indian news tonight and we want to see if there is any more news.

More tomorrow..