Dharamshala — In an exclusive interview with Tibet Post International (TPI), Tibet Youth Congress (TYC) General Secretary, activist, writer and Tibetan refugee Sonam Tsering spoke about the struggles faced by Tibetans as escapees, refugees and activists. "I had no idea that I was going to leave my parents and family forever, when I escaping to a free country. They knew that if I stayed in Tibet, I would either graze animals or be sent to compulsory Chinese boarding schools run by the Chinese government and return home as a Chinese," he said.
During the exclusive interview with TPI, Sonam Tsering (Sonam) recounts how he escaped from Tibet to India, how he coped with his new situation as a refugee in a new land, how he learned about the history and real situation of Tibet, and how he became a Tibetan activist and fight for a free Tibet.
TPI: When did you escape Tibet, and why escape to a free country like India?
Sonam: I escaped in 2003 when I was around 9 or 10 years old. My parents asked me if I wanted to go to India; before my uncle also fled to India, he must have pushed my parents to send me to India because he must have realised the importance of educating Tibetan students under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They knew if I stayed in Tibet, I would either graze the animals or be sent to the compulsory boarding schools that the Chinese government runs and return home as a Chinese. So they asked me, but I had yet to learn about India; beyond the boundaries of my village, I had no idea what existed. I was curious and accepted the proposal to seek the blessing of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Then, we started our escape journey. I had my nephew with me, and all others were new to me- around 40 members in our group; the escape journey took us over a month. My siblings are back in Tibet; it is too risky to send them, especially after the 2008 protests; it's become difficult for Tibetans to escape.
TPI: How often do you contact your family back in Tibet?
Sonam: For the first 12 years after I escaped from Tibet, we had no contact as there was no developed technology like how we have today. When I was in class 9 or 10, I first contacted them over WeChat, which continued for 3 to 5 years. However, in 2019, when I was elected general secretary of the Tibet Youth Congress (TYC), I cut ties with them, because if the Chinese authorities found out, my family would be in danger and in trouble. My parents have no idea what I am doing here, but I think they will be proud of me what I am doing. I accepted the job at the risk of returning to Tibet and contacting my parents.
TPI: Can you describe your feelings when separating from your home?
Sonam: First of all, I have no idea that I am going to leave them forever, so I am a bit excited and curious to discover the world beyond our village. As the journey begins, I start to miss them, but I cannot go back, as I risk being captured. I have no choice but to move forward. In exile, everything is new, even the food, the people and the places around me, so I get homesick. And that's hard. Little by little, when I understand that all the Tibetan children around me are going through the same situation, I cope with it. When I understand the circumstances under which such actions were taken, why we came here and how we are suffering from the illegal Chinese occupation, I realise the responsibility and privilege of raising the voice of the voiceless Tibetans inside Tibet.
TPI: What was the first cultural shock upon crossing borders?
Sonam: It was the food. When we arrived in Nepal, we were given Dal everywhere we went, which is very different from what we eat in Tibet. It was difficult to eat, but we had to get used to it or we would go hungry. Even in schools, we were served dal. The environment was different, too hot and humid.
TPI: How did you manage the food supplies during your journey?
Sonam: We had enough food for the first two or three weeks, but during the last week of the Himalayan crossing, we almost ran out of food. When we reached the border region, we had to ask and beg for food door-to-door in the villages; that's how we managed.
TPI: What were your family's feelings when you separated?
Sonam: When I started to escape to India, at first I was surprised to see my parents crying for me, but when they gave me the khata (Tibetan scarf) for the first time, I started to get emotional, wondering why they were doing all this, as I had no idea I was going to be away for so many years. When my father explained to me how my journey to Lhasa would work, sadness began to overcome me.
TPI: What difficulty did you encounter during your journey on the mountains?
Sonam: At the time of the escape, I can't remember if we encountered many difficulties, but I do know that it must have been very difficult and that we faced many challenges along the way, such as crossing an icy river and walking through deserts. Even walking in the streets at high altitude is a challenge, so it must have been difficult, but our curiosity and determination kept us going. We had to walk at night, without torches or lights. One day, after a long day's walk, we found an abandoned military camp and, although our elders were concerned about whether it was safe, a local shepherd came and assured us that it was. We trusted him, but later learned that we had been betrayed. He had informed the Chinese police, who were coming to arrest us; it was seconds before the police arrived that we left, otherwise we would have been arrested the same day.
When we reached the other side of the mountain, we realised that one girl was missing; we split into several groups to look for her, but to no avail. After long discussions and much debate, we decided to carry on for the safety of the others. When we reached Nepal, we learned that she had returned to her home town. Many Tibetans have crossed snowy or icy mountains and faced unimaginable difficulties, some Tibetans have been injured in the hands and legs by snow bites; fortunately, I arrived here safe and sound.
TPI: what happens if someone gets caught?
Sonam: When Tibetans escape from Tibet to a free country, they have to cross the mountains and many Chinese army checkpoints, they risk being captured by the Chinese police and dying suddenly by falling off the mountain or in the cold of the snowy or icy mountain. If they are captured, they will be interrogated, tortured and imprisoned, and their families will be questioned and will have difficulties. Some of my friends tried three times, but they were caught and interrogated.
TPI: How did you become a committed activist and what drove you to do it? What do you write about most?
Sonam: When I began to understand the risks we were taking by crossing borders and mountains and leaving our families behind, it helped me to understand the conflict between Tibet and China, how China has occupied Tibet and how the Chinese government is trying to convert Tibet into China. Tibetan activists inspired us, like the Tibetan freedom fighter Tenzin Tsundue, when we attended his protests and other events, it made us want to write and work on the freedom movement. Once you know the strength that people put into freedom, it encourages you to do more. As far as writing was concerned, there was a lot going on when we were at school; there was no better way for a student to express himself than writing, and the teachers also encouraged us to write something about Tibet. Even though we could have written better, all we wanted was to make sure that every word reached the Chinese government. That's why I write mainly about the plight of Tibetans inside Tibet and the challenges faced by Tibetans in exile.
TPI: What is the situation for Tibetan writers in Tibet and do you write what they can't write?
Sonam: In Tibet, Tibetan writers, teachers and students can no longer write freely. But they continue to write, risking their lives in the process. They wrote about the Tibetan uprisings in 2008 and encouraged us to write more. We express ourselves more freely in exile because we don't have that constraint. They can't write the way we do, i.e. they can not express their disagreement with Chinese authorities, because they risk life imprisonment.
TPI: What challenges have you faced as a refugee activist?
Sonam: The saddest thing about the life of a refugee is that there is nothing around you that you can call your own, even your heart chooses from time to time to flee back to your country of origin. I always wanted to go back to our country and see the beautiful nature of Tibet. I want Tibetans born outside Tibet to be able to experience its beauty, and this always encourages us to do more to return to Tibet, to see the vast meadows, the high mountains and the greenery, but when we hear the news about Chinese government's mining activities, which are destroying the environment, it's hard to imagine the beauty of nature. Even if we return to Tibet, I wonder if this beauty will survive. That motivates us to work towards resolving the Sino-Tibetan issue and bring back to His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet, then Tibetans inside Tibet can get the blessings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which is their lifetime wish. With that in mind, we work harder.
Tibetans all over the world are born activists, because we are born with a refugee status that symbolises our resistance to the Chinese government and our struggle for a free Tibet. This is a time when everyone has to be politically active; sometimes our foreign friends do more than Tibetans who have become passive, and that's sad to see. But apart from that, the younger generation in particular is very active in the Tibetan freedom movement and the Tibetan cause.
