Contact is taking a holiday!

Contact is taking a break after 25 years of bringing you news of Tibet and Tibetan issues. We are celebrating our 25 years by bringing you the story of Contact and the people who have made it happen, and our archive is still there for you to access at any time, and below you can read the story of Contact, how it came into being and the wonderful reflections of the people who have made it happen over the years.

When and how Contact will re-emerge and evolve will be determined by those who become involved.

Honouring Tom Barr : An Extraordinary Mind and Unsung TCV Volunteer

By Tenzin Pel-lha  /  December 8, 2022

In 1995, an unassuming American man named Tom Barr moved to Dharamshala. Tom had been practicing Vajrayana Dzogchen Buddhism in the United States since the 1970s and living in Nepal for years. Yet after meeting his guru, Ngakpa Karma Lhundup Rinpoche, it was clear he needed to relocate to India read more →

“It All Depends On Our Mind”

By Tenzin Pel-lha  /  September 30, 2022

We are sitting side-by-side in a local café in McLeod Ganj, holding identical copies of Thich Nhat Hanh’s book How to See, reading along together. Water Reflecting The clear still water of a mountain lake reflects the mountain and the sky with pristine clarity. You can do the same. If read more →

“I Am Vegan For All Sentient Beings”

By Tenzin Pel-lha  /  August 31, 2022

It’s a rainy August afternoon in Dharamsala and Dr Dawa Dolker greets me warmly outside Delek Hospital – the Tibetan hospital. She guides me through a staff entrance, offering a friendly smile to each of her colleagues passing by, to her dental clinic. Within moments of meeting I notice the read more →

“It’s Not Really Meaningful if you are Not able to Help Others”

By Tenzin Pel-lha  /  August 9, 2022

As a young girl in Tibet, Dorji Kyi remembers seeing an image of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on a small pendant, a gift from a relative in India. Like many of her peers in the early 1990s, she arrived in Dharamshala—smuggled in disguised as a Nepali girl at seven read more →

Inspired to Teach

By Tenzin Samten  /  May 20, 2022

Sonam Khando is currently teaching Chinese language classes at Lha Charitable Trust where language classes such as French, English and German are also taught to adult students from Tibet and other Himalayan regions. Sonam has been teaching Chinese for over four years and is well-known among the community for her read more →

Ukraine crisis: Parallels with Tibet

By Tenzin Kunga  /  April 5, 2022

Tenzin Kunga is a former civil servant of the Central Tibetan Administration, currently living in London. He is interested in closely following news about UK-China geopolitics with Tibet as the core. Just as the world was fighting its way out of the pandemic that originated in China’s Wuhan in late read more →

Blessings and Inspiration

By Phurbu Lhamo  /  February 22, 2022

I remember one day when I was about six, my teacher showed us documentary films relevant to the Tibetan situation showing that Tibetans in Tibet don’t have any right to practice religion or the right to freedom of speech and expression nor, in fact, the right to live as humans read more →

Telling Our Stories

By Tenzin Samten  /  January 31, 2022

Jamphel Dorjee of Jamphel Animation is a freelance 3D animator who has been working with the Central Tibetan Administration’s Department of Education for the past eight years, creating a series of short animations for Tibetan children in the diaspora. Contact: Can you introduce yourself for us? Jamphel Dorjee: I came read more →

Choezin’s Story

By Tenzin Choezin  /  December 2, 2021

I pursued my education in English Literature from Madras Christian College and Jawaharlal Nehru University, followed by two internship stints teaching at Tibetan Children’s Village School, Upper in 2014 and 2015. My experiences at the school, although very short, affirmed a sense of purpose in me. It made me curious read more →

Tibet Environmental Author Michael Buckley Speaks to Contact

By Michael Buckley  /  September 22, 2021

Michael Buckley’s many years researching Tibetan issues has led to the publication of three new books. Here he speaks to Contact about his involvement with Tibet. Contact: Tell us briefly about yourself – your background, interests Michael Buckley: I am a very curious person with a wide range of interests. read more →