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Sonam Dolma was thrilled to come to Lhasa, where she had been accepted as the newest member of a small convent. At age 18, she looked forward to her new life working and studying in Tibet’s capital city. Sonam had grown up in a small farming village southeast of Lhasa where Tibetan cultural traditions remain strong and where exposure to the outside – even to other parts of Tibet – is minimal. She had been in Lhasa only a few months when her world changed forever. A delegation of Chinese officials came to the convent one afternoon in April and accused the nuns of participating in recent street demonstrations. The Abbess of the convent, an elderly woman nearly 80 years old, was taken away. The officials, all men, installed themselves in the convent to begin the work of “patriotic re-education”. |
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Re-education targets the young and Sonam was no exception. For hours each day, she was subjected to political indoctrination and forced to denounce her spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, as a liar and traitor to the motherland. She resisted, not understanding what was wanted of her.
Sonam had it easier than monks living in the centuries-old monasteries surrounding Lhasa – the renowned Drepung, Sera and Ganden. Instead of indoctrination, they were under lockdown, denied food and fresh water. Some died of hunger. Still they resisted. So did Sonam.
On July 8, one month before China’s Olympics, Sonam and her friends at the convent were taken away by authorities. They were placed on a train with 1,000 others and taken to an unknown destination. According to some reports they are now imprisoned in the distant cities of Gormo (Golmud in Chinese) or Siling (Xining in Chinese). Official media says they will be held incommunicado until after the Olympics are over. They will never be allowed to return to their religious institutions.
Sonam’s distraught mother has managed to communicate with friends in India. “How can my daughter be a threat to China?” she cries. “The Olympics are supposed to bring happiness, but instead they bring only sorrow.”
This story is based on the testimonies of people living in Tibet.
