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Friends
of Tibetan Settlements in India (FOTSI)
315
Skylark Way
Boulder,
CO 80303-4635
May 8, 2009
Dear Pat and Elizabeth,
Greetings and Tashi Delek! I hope you and your whole family
are all feeling healthy and everything is going fine for you,
in spite of the truly scary problems in our world and economy.
Lily, I know this must be so tough for you right now with so
many financial challenges for businesses these days. I am sorry
it has taken me so long to get back to you since I returned
from India, but my trip there brought up many projects and many
emergencies in which FOTSI is trying to help.
I'll be, as usual, sharing a lot about our general work and current
projects when I send out our newsletter later in the year.
My trip was very rewarding, productive, interesting, fun, hard and
tiring... all of the above! I got to see some of our graduate FOTSI-
sponsored nurses in action and they actually helped me (a lot) aid a
monk and a nun who had confusing medical issues. That was a thrill,
as it seemed our programs were coming full circle in a great way.
I felt happy about the health issues I worked on. I met with monks
who help other monks with health problems and taught some of them (the
newer ones) how to read a little of the medical reports they get in
English and more about the human body, diseases, etc. It was
challenging, as I mostly had to use the Tibetan language to do that.
So nothing extremely brilliant, technical or profound got
communicated, but I think some useful basic things were learned by all
of us, and it was interesting and fun.
New patients arose, like an abandoned lay boy (Kelsang Gyatso), taken
in and aided by one of the monks. Kelsang had somehow fallen and hit
his head (very similar to Natasha Richardson), broke his skull, and
had epidural bleeding under his skill (hematoma). Fortunately they
got him to the camp hospital, which immediately sent him to a hospital
in Hubli. He stayed there for a while, they drained the blood putting
pressure on his brain, and he seemed to be recovering well. The boy
has been going to school (the lay children's school in camp 3) and is
always in the top 3 in his 3rd grade class even though he has never
attended school before. He is so hungry for it that, besides kicking
a ball around, that is mostly what he does, study all the time.
I got really sick about 4 days before I was to to return home. That
scared me as I was afraid I'd have to change my tickets (not easy),
but I recovered and was well cared for by the Tibetans. I made the
trip home on schedule and am fine these days.
I am enclosing a collage I made of your sponsored people. I took all
but one of the photos in that collage when I was in India this year
in February. As usual, Kelsang Dorjee had gone north to take care of
his grandparents, so I included a photo of him I took in January, 2008.
He is 33 now and still has a limp but gets around well. The photos I
took this year of his mother, Tsering Dolma, who brought a kattag
scarf and a letter, are in the upper and lower right corners of the
collage. The photo of Kelsang is diagonally left from his mother's
photo. I'm enclosing the letter Tsering sent. Tsering Dolma said that
Kelsang is well and has a lot on his plate helping the grandparents,
who are living in the Dekyiling Tibetan area in the north. The
grandparents are both 88 years old (if I got this right); the
grandmother broke her arm recently and the grandfather is suffering
from high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. Currently,
in Tsering Dolma's home there are 6 people herself and her husband,
Konchok Gyaltsen, and 2 daughters and two sons who all live together.
When Kelsang is not with his grandparents, there are 7 of them. She
sends her gratitude and love to you.
In the upper left corner of the collage and also just diagonally down
to the right of that are two photos of your sponsored older lady,
Tenzin Lhakey. She has not been well lately and has been frustrated
by the lack of doctors in the settlement. (One young Tibetan woman
doctor who was technically okay but bed-side-manner extremely bad
was let go recently and her replacement had not yet arrived. The cheapest
place to get to see a doctor, at Gaden Shartse monastery hospital,
had also been without a doctor for 2 months. These days Tenzin Lhakey
has been suffering from knee problems, stomach problems, heart, and
lung problems. She thinks it is because of all the hard farm labor
she engaged in most of her life. As we've mentioned in the past, Tenzin
Lhakey lives with her daughter, Yangchen Dolkar. We are hoping that
the newly arrived doctor will help and also that they get a doctor
at Gaden Shartse soon. She continues to say prayers for you. As she
has a lot of problems I gave $50.00 of the extra $100 Lily sent in
January to help Tenzin Lhakey when I was in India in February. She
had not yet received that money because when I arrived there, I heard
that the banks had not yet cashed our check and given Indian Rupees
to the Office of the Representative. They had slowed everything down
while they checked out the state of the various American banks. Our
check was a JPMorgan Chase check, so it eventually did get cashed.
So when I saw Tenzin Lhakey she did not yet have those funds but I
know she will be very grateful to have that extra help. The effects
of our banking problems reach far and wide. The Indian banks used
to send funds out even before they had the dollars (this from New
Delhi, those in Mundgod have to deal through New Delhi). Now the Indian
banks are being more cautious.
Tsering Choephel is now 82! He is still working on the grounds of the
Home for the Elderly where he lives and he enjoys that very much.
His hearing is a bit bad but it is not clear whether or not a hearing
aid could help him. We urged him to see a doctor and get that checked
out. He could be helped by a hearing aid, our Emergency Fund for our
sponsored people could help him and we told him that. He remains
grateful for the help he has received from you for so long and sends
his love and his smile. At the lower right corner of the collage,
there is a group photo of Chela and some of the elderly residents
and workers (plus a monk helping Chela) at the Home for the elderly.
Chela is standing next to Tsering Choephel.
Tenzin Norzin is 16 years old, in 11th grade, and still liveing in
Camp #6, House #51. She is studying geography, history, English, and
Tibetan and studies at the local Central Tibetan high school. She
has 4 sisters. Two are younger and attend school. Two are older.
One is 20 and is studying hotel management; the other, Jampa Lhamo,
and is in her first year of nursing school at the K.L.E. Hospital
in Belgaum, about 5 hours from Mundgod (the same hospital I visited,
where several of our graduated nurses are working and another is
in her first year there). Tenzin Norzin's mother is named Kelsang.
She is 49 years old and has been suffering from an unpleasant sore
throat for a long time. Her father is Tsewang Namgyal, 59. He is
well, but not educated, and has gone out to sell sweaters on Indian
city streets. Tenzin is hoping to go to college, and is interested
in going to a nursing college if possible. This will require aid.
We want to try to raise money to help her go to nursing school. If
you or any friends are interested in helping with that, that would
help a lot. Tenzin won't need this until next year, but this will
be a squeeze (would be nice if we could give her $800 or $900 per
year for 3 years). I'm enclosing a copy of our 20-08-9 FOTSI Scholarship
report so you can see what we are doing in that regard. Of course
we will understand if you can't help with that. Her photo is in
the top row of the collage, just right of the upper left photo of
Tenzin Lhakey and left of Tsering Choephel. Diagonally to the right
of that is a photo of her with me (Chela). Tenzin is grateful for
the extra $25 (from the $100 extra) that we gave her.
Penpa Dolma is shown in the lower left corner and again, with Chela,
in a photo just to the right. Penpa is now in 10th grade. Her
mother, Tsering Dolkar, told me that Penpa wanted to be a doctor, but
when I spoke with Penpa, she said that she wanted to be a math
teacher. She is in the Science stream at the Cenral Tibetan high
school. She is usually the top girl in her classes and also does well
at sports besides doing family work at home. Her mother, Tsering
Dolkar is now 49, and her father, Tashi Dhondup is 50. Her younger
brothers are Phurbu Tsering, 13, and Tenzin Gelek, 15. She is a much
better student than either of them. It was Phurbu Tsering whom we
helped last year with a tonsillectomy. He has recovered well and
all family members are now well. Mother Tsering Dolkar is well this
year, but was grieving about the loss of a relative, Sonam Gyalpo,
43, who had just died. He had died of AIDS, most likely due to a
bad blood transfusion 11 years ago. He had a daughter, who is attending
the Tibetan Children's Village School in Bylakuppe, and a 16 year
old son. This year I learned that Tsering Dolkar had been married
before to someone named Sopa, a Tibetan who had been born in Mundgod.
She had two children by Sopa. They all live in the Bylakuppe Settlement.
The boy's name is Tenzin Youten and he is 19. The girl is 25 years
old and is named Dawa Lhamo. She sells sweaters. The boy has been
attending the TCV School in Bylakuppe. He wants to go to a nursing
college to be a male nurse. He is just beginning 12th grade. She
came to see me with both Tenzin Youten and Dawa Lhamo to see if
FOTSI could help with a scholarship for Tenzin Youten. I regretfully
had to say "No" because we are really struggling to continue the
scholarships we have already begun and to try to help our sponsored
young people. We may, when Penpa Dolma is ready for college, try
to help her in our scholarship program. Penpa is grateful for the
extra $25 (from the $100 extra) that we gave her.
Thank you all for your continuing and extremely kind help for the
Tibetans.
With warmest wishes and deep gratitude,
Chela Kunasz chelak@comcast.net 303-494-4130
Now the Scholarship Collage:
With love and deepest gratitude for everything your family does,
Chela Kunasz
Friends of Tibetan Settlements in India (FOTSI)
315 Skylark Way
Boulder, CO 80303
303-494-4130
chelak@comcast.net
303-455-4194
1-800-333-LILY (5459)
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