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Thursday, March 19, 1998

Jetsun Pema comes to UCLA to raise funds for education

PROFILE: Dalai Lama's sister is president

of the Children's Village

By Emi Kojima

Daily Bruin Contributor

She is a soft-spoken woman with a slight British accent, who is called "Ama La" (mother) by thousands of Tibetan children.

Jetsun Pema, a sister of the Dalai Lama, serves as a mother figure to the Tibetan people both in the country and in exile.

Pema's brother, the Dalai Lama, serves as the political and spiritual leader of Tibet. They currently live in exile in India, where she is the president of the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV). Pema recently published her autobiography, "Tibet, My Story," a best-seller in Europe.

TCV currently looks after 27,000 refugees, children and adults. Many of the children are orphans whose parents pay smugglers to bring their children over the Himalayan mountains to India.

Children have been crossing the Himalayas in order to reach TCV and the education, cultural awareness and opportunities that it provides.

"Two years ago, a little boy of five years old arrived," Pema said. "He lost all of his toes."

Pema lectured at UCLA twice this week to raise funds for the education of Tibetan children in exile and for Tibetan rights.

Rinchon Dharlo, president of the Tibet Fund, said the group wanted to promote awareness of Tibetan issues.

"Mrs. Pema is known to six million Tibetan people, not because she is exalted as the Dalai Lama's sister but because of her work and dedication serving children for the last 35 years," Dharlo said.

The problems in Tibet began in 1949 with the Chinese invasion. The Dalai Lama left Tibet in 1959 and went into exile in India after hearing that Chinese troops were preparing to bombard the Dalai Lama's palace.

"There are gross violations of human rights in Tibet," Pema said, "Tibetans are treated as second-class citizens."

The Dalai Lama established a government in exile. Pema later joined the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala.

He founded TCV in 1960 as a nursery for Tibetan children. Pema took charge of the operation when her brother appointed her president, four years later.

Her work with the program has shown tangible results. Now 99 percent of all Tibetan children in exile attend school and the TCV has a 75 percent literacy rate.

"Our top priority was the education of Tibetan children," Pema said. "We felt it was the best thing to do in exile. Future children will be the seed to a future Tibet."

She is touring the United States in order to gather money to expand TCV donations.

Pema has already been to Berkeley, Stanford and UC Santa Barbara. She continues from Los Angeles to San Diego, Orange County, Chicago and Denver.

Pema's first lecture was held during a dinner Tuesday with a requested $100 minimum donation. Wednesday she delivered a free lecture to the public.

The UCLA Department of Psychiatry and the Tibet Fund sponsored the lectures.

The psychiatry department invited Pema to speak at UCLA because psychiatrists have been examining Tibetan medicine in order to cure some psychiatric illnesses.

"Tibetan views are striking in their parallels with some modern science," said Charles Raison, assistant clinical professor and director of emergency psychiatric services.

The Tibet Fund encouraged attendees to sponsor a Tibetan child at TCV by donating $30 a month.

Recently, Tibet has gathered more media attention with the Tibetan Freedom Concert, given by modern rock performers. Pema even played a role in the American film "Seven Years in Tibet" as the Dalai Lama's mother.

International support for Tibet is imperative, Pema said. Already there are 300 support groups in 30 different countries.

She hopes that Tibetan support group can help to "bring about dialogue with the Chinese and Tibetan governments so that the Tibetan problem can be solved through peaceful means."

Pema was the first woman to be elected as a minister on the cabinet of the exiled Tibetan government.

In 1995 she was given the title "Mother of Tibet" by the Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies in exile.

"She is humble and non-assuming," said Hank Turley, the coordinator if the Western Tour for the Tibet Fund.

"Basically no one in the west knows what she has done for 50,000 children," he said.

Because of the strong role she has played in both the TCV and in the government, she has also served as a role model for women.

"In the homes, we (are) the boss, all right," she jokingly said.

She said that women have played an increasingly vocal role in Tibetan politics. Now there are two women on the cabinet and 12 in their parliament of 46.

She traveled back to Tibet in 1980, accompanied by Chinese officials.

"What was most shocking, more than the terrible stories I have heard was the thinking that the Tibetan people should be treated like animals and (that they) had no feelings," she said.

Pema, however, still maintains that the Tibetan government in exile supports non-violent tactics.

"Young people always will feel impatient. There have been over 200 demonstrations against the Chinese government within Tibet that have been clamped down," she said.PATIL ARMENIAN

Jetsun Pema, the sister of the Dalai Lama, is the president of the Tibetan Children's Village which looks after 27,000 refugees.