Posted by Chamb (63.65.242.38) on June 03, 2001 at 21:44:06:
In Reply to: Just exactly what do you propose that we do, Chamb? nt posted by Donna on June 03, 2001 at 21:32:07:
Being as I just posted that message I am hopeful to receive more messages like yours. What I have been involved with back in Dharamsala for the past two years is developing a venue for Tibetans to speak out for themselves. Far too often I see westerners who have good intentions but fall short of doing justice to the Tibetans, in that I mean that many westerners speak out about Tibet and it's situation but it's westerners speaking out, not Tibetans. Tibetans are fully capable of speaking for themselves, however, they just don't have a way of doing it. That's why I developed a relationship with TYC Centrex there in Dharmasala and then raised money to re-design their old, ( dinosaur, if you will ) computer center. I was able to get the center itself completely re-furbished as far as the room itself. I also raised enough money to buy 6 new computers, 4 of which are for public use, mostly by westerners traveling through DS. This created a revenue generating source for TYC and the other two computers are used for multi-media and office work. We have been able to create some l hour documentaries on events that have taken place in the exiled Tibetan community. I was able to train the Tibetans working in the computer center on how to maintain the network and the everyday needs of the center. I also created a new internet connection for the center that is much more reliable and faster too. I was able to do all of this on donations from westerners that appeared in DS who wanted to help in some way. The total bill for the entire center only came to about $4500. With such a small amount of money we got something real done and it's a working center that will generate money for the executives to use in anyway they deem necessary. It's also where TYC's website is maintain from now, rather than from outside India. It's given TYC the ability to speak out for themselves, cover their own activities, and be able to receive and send messages to the 70 RTYC's ( Regional Tibetan Youth Congress ) that are maintained by 50% Tibetans and 50% westerners. Yes, it's a small accomplishment but for the people that it helps it's a big deal and they are taking full advantage of it.
My next project which will begin in Sept. when I return to DS will be bringing the executive offices into the new millennium, technically that is. The executive offices are broken down and the computers are old and not even connected to the internet. I plan to get new computers for all the executives and tie them into the computer sections network. All of this is very simple and I would consider myself a veteran at buying computers and configuring the network there in India now. However, what I need to complete all of this is funding. What I’d love to see happen is for the new executive offices to be funded partially if not totally by Clusterheads. It would be a great achievement that would give the executives the power to speak the truths of the horrors happening in Tibet presently and give the history of the past 50 years of oppression. I just want them to be able to say what they want and for this info to reach the masses via the internet, look at what the net has done for us Clusterheads…
So, what I am hoping to do is to raise enough money to pull this project off, the money would be sent directly to TYC executive offices. TYC being an acknowledged non-profit organization by the states would allow any donations to be put your taxes. In August there will be new elections for the TYC executive offices and with that I’d love to furbish these new executive with a clean and functional office to work from. I will be there through May of 2002 and will be dedicating my time to updating and assuring the success of both TYC’s computer section and hopefully their new Executive offices as far as technical support. At the same time I will be training the Tibetan office people to do this on their own. There are some very bright folks working there and most of them have some type of computer education from the Indian universities they’ve studied at, so it’s not like they are completely in the dark regarding computers.
All in all, what can you do as an individual, well that’s the point, not very much. But if we were able to get a group of us together, we’d be able to do a lot. Of course the one thing you can do, as futile as it may sound is to write a nasty letter to you congressman and other political officials. I hope to keep in contact with you and if you know of others in the Clusterhead or outside of the Clusterhead community that are interested in getting involved, please let me know. Hope to be speaking with you more over this summer. Thanks again for your interest…
Chamb