Tibet, as a country, no longer exists on the map.  It’s people, however, exist still to remind us of a place--tucked high away in the Himalayas--that is high both physically and spiritually.

Leaving Tibet

The Tibetan people still live in Tibet, which is now part of the Peoples' Republic of China.  As fate would have it, China, in 1949,   “imposed its will over Tibet through military force,” as documented by the U.S. Congress.  Prior to that, Tibet was independent with its own government, economy, language, culture and religion. Over 1.2 million Tibetans, about one sixth of the total population, have died in Tibet since 1949 due to political persecution, imprisonment, torture and famine.  Over 6000 of Tibet’s rich religious and other cultural centers have been destroyed.  And these statistics don’t tell the story of the many people have taken a harrowing journey across the Himalayas to the country of Nepal.   Not officially recognized by the Nepalese (who are not in a position to risk alienation from China), the Tibetan people are accepted simply as human beings who have to exist after their arrival in Nepal.  Nepal is a culturally-rich nation, and a favored trading partner of Tibet in ancient times.  Indeed, the Tibetan religion of Buddhism originated in Nepal (the birthplace of the Buddha).

Government in Exile 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Spiritual and Temporal Leader of the Tibetan people, and 85,000 Tibetan refugees were forced to leave Tibet in 1959 to seek refuge primarily in India, Nepal, and Bhutan.  His Holiness established a Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) which for all practical purposes functions as the Tibetan Government in exile.  Although not formally recognized as such by the world or in particular by the host government, the Tibetans both inside and outside occupied Tibet regard the CTA as the sole legitimate Government of Tibet under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. 

Forming settlements

In the immediate years following His Holiness and the Tibetan refugees taking refuge in India, one of the more urgent needs was a long-term rehabilitation program that would serve to bring all the Tibetan refugees into homogenous Tibetan communities large enough to allow them to perpetuate their language, traditions and thus preserve their national identity, and of course where they could secure food, shelter, medical care, education and a means of livelihood to develop economically self-supporting communities during their period in exile.  Most of the Tibetans arriving in  Nepal strive to emigrate to India so that they can be near the Dalai Lama.  They cross over the frozen Himalayas, losing loved ones in the journey.  They suffer frostbite, disease, malnutrition, and exile in order to be free to live as they always have. 

Livelihoods

The Tibetan Refugee Community in South Asia today has grown to over 125,000 from the 85,000 original refugees.  Over 70,000 of these exiled people live in settlements; the remaining live in scattered communities in India and Nepal.  Almost thirty percent of the total working population is dependent on agriculture (including animal husbandry), a proportion that rises to nearly half of the working population in the settlements.  Thirteen percent of the total working population is dependent on the handicrafts, mostly carpet weaving, which also provide a valuable source of secondary income for many more refugees.  The total arable land of the agricultural Settlements in India and Nepal is over 26,000 acres, of which three quarters is under cultivation, although only five percent of the land is irrigated.  Due to the increase in the population the average land holding per household has dropped to about 2.5 acres for a household average of 5.8 people.

Unemployment

Due to a lack of employment opportunities many in the settlements are forced to migrate regularly in search of income.  Nearly a third of the adult population in the settlements migrates out of the settlements every year, a proportion that rises to as much as four out of every five adults in settlements.  Unemployment (defined as having no work for more than six months a year) stands at 18.5 percent among the adult population.

Namgyal is only four years old and, like all Tibetan children in Nepal, learns English as well as the Tibetan and Nepalese languages.

Schools

As a result of the foresight of the Dalai Lama and the then Indian Prime Minister Jawalakhel Nehru, a number of schools financed by the Government of India were established in the settlements.  In addition the CTA, as well as autonomous schools like the Tibetan Children’s Village, run schools in many areas were the Indian sponsored schools do not exist.  It is estimated that 80 percent of Tibetan refugee children are enrolled in Tibetan schools, and a few more children in non-Tibetan schools.

Health care

The CTA has been able to establish Primary Health Care Centers in almost every settlement in Nepal and India with a minimum of one Community Health Worker to look after the preventive and curative health care needs of each community.  Gastro-enteric, diarrheal, skin, and respiratory diseases account for the highest proportion of the disease incidence both inside and outside of the settlements.  Much of this is a result of poor sanitation and hygiene in the settlements and camps on account of inadequate water supply and related facilities.  Additionally, traditional Tibetan medicine clinics operate in many settlements with physicians trained be the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute.

Housing

Houses in the settlements were designed for five member families.  In some settlements overcrowding has now become a serious problem with up to ten members in each household.  Many of the houses, including those built as temporary structures, have not been renovated since they were first constructed in the 1960s.

Democracy

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has on numerous occasions emphasized his wish to further develop the Tibetan Government system into a more ideal democracy for Tibet and the Tibetans, culmination in the establishment of a Tibet Constitution Redrafting Committee in 1990 to formulate a democratic constitution for future Tibet and a charter for the Tibetans while in exile.   After wide discussion within the Committee, the Charter was passed on June 14, 1991. 

Young refugees

The opening of the Tibet-Nepal border in 1980, and changes in China’s policy to allow, after more than 20 years, Tibetans to make pilgrimage and visit their families in exile, have resulted in a steady flow of Tibetans from Tibet into India and Nepal.  During 1990, as many as 2066 new refugees came to India for resettlement.  The number increased to 2725 in 1991, to 2960 in 1992, and to 4477 in 1993.  This has posed a problem particularly acute among the youth and among those fleeing religious persecution.  Between 1989 and 1994, 44 percent of all new refugees coming from Tibet were between 14 and 25 years old.  A further 17 percent were 13 years old and younger, many left behind by their parents so that they can be educated and be near His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  Forty-four percent of all the refugees in those years were monks and nuns fleeing religious persecution.  The sudden and dramatic increase in the number of monks and nuns, which more than doubled the monastic community since 1980, has made it difficult for the already overcrowded monasteries and nunneries to absorb them.

Tibetans in Nepal

Most of the Tibetan refugees arriving in Nepal strive to emigrate to India so that they can be near to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  The Tibetan people who remain in Nepal (and, indeed, the many who have been born and raised there since 1959)  have a special plight.  Not officially recognized, they receive little support—either culturally or monetarily—from the government or the many agencies that realize the injustices wrought upon this moral and gentle people.  They are not in their homeland, nor in the place of the Dalai Lama, so they must work hard to preserve what has been theirs since ancient times.  

Cultural preservation

What has been theirs, is a way of life.  One very foreign to what we know in the West, this way of life can best be expressed in the practice of Tibetan Buddhism.  If you decide to look at the unmatched Tibetan carpets found elsewhere on this website  you’ll gain insight into the culture through the uses of symbols, colors, and form.  Mostly traditional designs are stressed, their meaning explained as you peruse.  Whatever you decide, we hope that you enjoy yourself as much as we enjoy our association with the gracious and capable Tibetan people.

*Statistical data was gathered from the “Tibetan Refugee Community Integrated Development Plan II, 1995-2000.”  Published in 1994, in India, by the Planning Council of the Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,  the material is current to that date.