Profile of a Tibetan Refugee Family in Ladakh; Part One

The following story was written by Sonam Gangsang, a Tibetan born in exile in Ladakh. It is the history of how her parents came from Tibet to India, and the difficulties they faced from the time they departed Tibet until present.

Modifications were made for spelling and grammar.

"My name is Sonam Gangsang. I was born in Ladakh, India in November 1985, so I am 25 years old.

My parents were born in Tibet but fled from Tibet when they were children because of Chinese oppression. My father was 13 and my mother was 15 when they came to India with their parents.

They told me that in 1960, they started their journey from Tibet to India, walking day and night with their goats and sheep. They had around 400 animals with them when set out. They traveled mostly at night so the Chinese army would not see them. During the day they stayed in low-lying quiet areas where there were no Chinese army posts. They reached the Tibet - India border that same year but faced immense problems because of heavy snowfall. Many of the sheep and goats died on the way because of extreme cold and no grass.

My parents still emotionally describe how they suffered from 1960 – 61, which were very bad/unlucky years for them. Out of 400 animals, only about 40 survived.
They stayed in the extreme northern part of Ladakh called Jangthang but unfortunately they faced lots of problems and had to shift to another place in 1962 due to Indo - China war.

It may seem unbelievable, but they traveled all the way from Tibet to India on foot. They didn't travel by vehicle even once during their journey.

For nearly three years, from 1960 through 1962, they didn't have a single piece of vegetable or fruit because of poor conditions, especially weather. Their staple foods were animal products (milk, curd, butter, Cheese), tsampa and meat. Though Tibetans are animal loving and very sympathetic, they do not have much choice when it comes to eating meat.

They finally reached Ladakh in 1963 and settled by sharing tent among many other families. That year, they got rashant (rice & flour) from India government which
my parents still say they are very grateful for.

Slowly, between 1968 - 70, Indian government and Tibetan gov't provided houses to stay in according to the number of families. They were also granted land (shared by many families) to plant grass. There was no electricity and they had to go very far to fetch water. There were no schools.

My parents married in 1972. My eldest sister was born the same year. She helped my parents look after the animals, and look after her younger sisters. There is hardly a 2-3 years gap between all the children.

The Tibetan Settlement in Ladakh in the 70's was the most remote and least developed of all Tibetan communities in exile. Nomadic refugee camps were scattered along the Indo-Tibet border, where communication and physical contacts were almost entirely cut off from the rest of Tibetans in India. His Holiness was deeply concerned about their future, particularly the fate of the children. In order to alleviate their poor condition, a plan was implemented to provide education and introduce sustainable development programs in that region.

With initial seed money donated by His Holiness and land donated by the local Indian government, S.O. S T.C. V (Save Our Soul, Tibetan Children's Village) school set out to build a children's village near Leh, Ladakh. The combined SOS Primary and Secondary School at Leh-Ladakh opened in 1975.

My parents told me that overall they gave birth to 12 children, of which 3 died. Now we have 9 daughters in our family and no sons. All of us were given free education. The 2nd and 4^th eldest child chose to quit school although our dad always stressed a good Education. They sent us to school while they were busy working our farm, which is quire far from the residential area.

My dad is a good carpenter despite lacking any formal training and has slowly managed to collect all the necessary equipment. He made many tables, chair, cup-board, shelves, and beds for sale to others.

I am proud to say that 90% of our home furniture was made by him. He is one of the few people who can do proper construction work, which he has been doing for many years. He normally opts for construction work as he gets more pay. He has to feed a big family and is the only bread earner of the family.

My mom looked after us and also took care of cows and sold milk. My dad often traveled to Jangthang for construction work and to do a small business. He buys biscuits, sweat, cooking oil from the shop in Ladakh and sells those in Jangthang area where he gets a profit of Rs. 5 - 10 from each packet.

In the late 1990's dad stopped going to Jangthang for small business. He realized that there is more loss than profit. People in Jangthang need many things but they do not have money to pay, so they exchanged the things with wool, meat (barter system). Most of the time people take loans when they do not have money, as they trust each other and return the money later (sometimes after several years). From the late 1990's till today, he is going to Jangthang only for construction work as he gets better pay in Jangthan than in Ladakh.

My dad also set up small shop to find the alternative ways to earn money to feed us.We sell sweets, biscuits, soap which we can easily afford to buy from Indian wholesale market. While he was in shop, he also repairs radio, watches to earn extra. My sisters and I had an experience of being shopkeeper while my parent were busy working in their field."

Sonam's Parents in Their Home in Ladakh

Next time I will post Sonam's personal experience of growing up in India as a refugee.