News Archive

Twelve years ago, a group of young Tibetans walking to freedom over the Himalaya were caught in a snowstorm on the 19,000' pass that separates Tibet and Nepal. Some of the children from the group couldn’t keep up in the deep snow and one young man stayed behind to help them. In the rescue attempt, his legs became severely frostbitten. His friend Chimi carried him for three days on her back into Nepal, and he made it, finally, to the safety of the Reception Center.

His name was Taga, and he lost both legs above the knee to frostbite. But he cried only about the children he couldn't save, saying, "Why couldn't I be only one to suffer?" His courage in the face of all that had happened made him a quiet symbol for us of the unquenchable spirit of Tibetans. We helped him get medical care – Dr. Banskota did his surgeries - and, when he was finally well enough to go to Dharamsala, we asked him what he wanted to do. His answer, to become a thangka painter. So we enrolled him in the Norbulingka Institute thangka painting school on a special AHF stipend and Taga started his life over.

He married the girl who had carried him into Nepal and they went to Dharamsala together. They had hard times at the beginning, Taga learning to walk on artificial legs, Chimi with her own health problems, and both of them facing the challenge of beginning anew as exiles. We helped as much as we could and they sent letters and pictures.

But I hadn't actually seen them in several years, so we had a sweet and poignant meeting in Dharamsala a few weeks ago. Taga has finished with his studies and makes lovely thangkas. He said he likes best to paint the gentle deities; he’s had enough of fierceness in his life. They have a tiny tea shop and Chimi took a tailoring course and now sews for a nunnery. Their children, ten and six, go to a Tibetan Children’s Village school. The two of them look happy, healthy, and ordinary, the scars of their flight to freedom smoothed out with time. Chimi cried when I told her they would always be part of the AHF family. So did I. This family is a small miracle.

Erica Stone, AHF President

Taga is just one of the tens of thousands of Tibetan Refugees who have been forced from their homeland in the last 50 years.  You can help make life better for them.  Click here to see how.