HIROSHIMA DIARY

Pema Yangchin speaking to the exile Tibetan media at Daishoin Temple in Japan.

She can sing both Tibetan and Japanese songs. And she has a powerful voice that demands attention and awe even from the most uninterested listener. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the language; her songs pull you with their sheer depth and range of emotions. She reminded me of a song I heard last from a caged bird. Of course, she is free because she lives a relatively comfortable life in Japan and yet she is not free.

So, Pema Yangchin sings and sells her self-composed albums in Japan to raise money for the schools she helped to build in Tibet, her homeland. So far, she has set up 10 schools, all of them in Tibet’s remote areas where education is still a luxury for many children. Some 3,000 Tibetan children are now enrolled in these schools located in villages in Amdo, Ngari and Nagchu.

Born in Ngaba in Tibet’s Amdo province, Pema came to Japan 12 years ago. She married a Japanese man who is "very supportive" of her work in Tibet.

Yesterday, at Daishoin Temple in Miyajima Island, she experienced the "greatest moment" in her life when she sang in front of the Dalai Lama. Overwhelmed with emotions, she could barely speak when I approached her for an interview after the performance. But she did a great job on stage!

"I am a Tibetan first. Tibet is in my heart and I speak to you as a Tibetan daughter-in-law in Japan," she spoke in flawless Japanese to a huge crowd gathered there to attend consecration ceremony of a Maitreya Buddha statue.

And she liked talking to me because it’s been quite long since she last spoke in Tibetan and was "dying to speak to someone in Tibetan."

Compassion in Action

I met them at Ryuzoin Buddhist Temple waiting for the Dalai Lama’s blessings. A silver-haired man in his sixties accompanied by his wife. They showed me colorful hand-made keychains and armbands with traditional Tibetan designs that they sell to raise funds for the education of Tibetan children who negotiate treacherous Himalayan Mountains to escape into exile.

As members of Tibet Support Group-KIKU, they undertake social service activities in the exile Tibetan community in India. Over 50 members of the group are actively involved in providing education, food, shelter and clothing for hundreds of newly-arrived Tibetan refugees in India. The group raised 1.5 million yen so far for the Tibetan Reception center in Dharamsala that provides shelter for new arrivals from Tibet. It also supports the Tibetan Model School in Dehradun in northern India.

The man said it was the Dalai Lama’s teachings on compassion that stirred him into action to contribute something for the less fortunate. He shared with me the tremendous emotions he and his friends felt after watching Escape Over the Himalayas, a documentary that traces the dangerous journeys of Tibetan children escaping into exile.

The next day, he ran up to me excitedly and said he had just finished an interview with NHK TV (Japan’s leading national TV channel) about Tibetan Children’s Village school and the Tibetan refugees in India. "Watch it! It’s on Nov. 6! Will you be here until then?"

There was no reason to disbelieve him when he said he was doing this for Tibetan children because "it’s a spiritual exercise."

May their tribe grow!

  (www.tibet.net is the official website of the Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.)

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