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 The Mandala  Tibetan prayer flags |
ABOUT TIBET In 1959 HH the Dalai Lama fled from Tibet to India with a large number of Tibetans. Refugees from Tibet continue to join this community-in-exile, which today numbers some 150,000 people. About 60-80 new refugees arrive every week, many of them very young children entrusted to couriers by desperate parents. The community has mostly settled in the Indian foothills of the Himalayas, in Nepal, and in southern India, but there are diaspora groups in Switzerland, Canada and the USA. A central administrative body, often referred to as the Government-in-Exile, has been established in McLeod Ganj an old British hill station near Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, India. It is democratically elected; constitutionally all adult Tibetans worldwide are eligible to vote. Over the last 40 years, the exiled Tibetan community has skilfully managed help from the Government of India, other governments, NGO's, charities and individual donors and sponsors to support its educational, religious, and cultural programmes. Amended 7/04 |