Everyday Exile

Imagine going on a long hike in winter, as a child, not knowing if you will ever go home. Being separated from your family, in a land where you barely speak the language, able to communicate with home only by phone, and only in code because your calls are being monitored. Imagine going to prison for expressing your desire for human rights. These are among the issues facing Tibetans leaving occupied Tibet. Most of them end up, at least temporarily, in a village in the Himalayan foothills called Dharamsala. McleodGanj, Upper Dharamsala, is a hill station in north India, seat of the Tibetan government in exile since 196o, and residence of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet and an estimated 60,000 Tibetan exiles. This book aims to present material anyone from school child to adult can learn and benefit from, aimed at those with little or no knowledge of Tibetan issues. It is the book the author wishes someone had handed her when she first arrived in the Tibetan community.