Dharamshala: Around 150 students from the Tibetan Day School in Dharamshala, northern India, held a ceremony in solidarity with the surviving children of a self-immolator in Tibet on March 25.
Kalkyi, a 30-year-old woman, set herself ablaze near Dzamthang Jonang monastery, Ngaba County, Amdho region, at around 3.30pm local time on March 24, and died from her injuries. A resident of Yultso village in Dzamthang county, she is survived by her husband Drupe and four children - daughter Bhumo Chung and sons Denam, Pochung and Sopo - all aged under 15.
At the day school ceremony, students held up photos of the 110 Tibetans who have self-immolated in Tibet since 2009, led by four children carrying a coffin draped in the Tibetan national flag and bearing a photo of Kalkyi with her husband and three of her children.
Yang La, the Tibetan Day School's director, explained that Kalkyi's children were of the same ages as the students gathered, and asked the students how they would feel if they were to lose their mother. She also explained that Kalkyi had self-immolated in protest against Chinese oppression of Tibet, Tibetans and Tibetan culture.
Yang La continued that, having lost their mother, Kalkyi's children would be prevented from being cared for by other Tibetans who might want to show solidarity. She added that the the self-immolators whose photos the students were holding up had sacrificed their lives for all Tibetans.
Yang La concluded that Kalkyi must have realised that her own and other children would remember her self-immolation, and that those children must have hope for the future.
A march then proceeded three times around McLoedganj (Upper Dharamshala) main bazaar, and finished at the martyrs' memorial at the Tsuglagkhang (main temple).
