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.

Spiritual Riches

By Nick Hawkins  /  August 13, 2015

Volunteer jobs at Lha: Tutoring, teaching English, conversation class, Tibet Fair Trade shop It is late on Good Friday when we arrive in a cool, damp McLeod Ganj. The mountain light is fading as we climb the steep, twisting road to our home for the next six weeks, living and read more →

“Twice is Not Enough”

By Okechukwu N Onwunli  /  August 3, 2015

Volunteer Job at Lha: Web Developer and English Tutor  When I had first volunteered at Lha in 2011 my experiences changed my views on the nature of giving and compassion. Amongst other things, I learned that consistent compassion could be a reliable vein of happiness, benefiting both the giver and read more →

“We Plan to Return as Often as We can”

By Lucy McKormick  /  July 1, 2015

Volunteer Job at Lha: Advanced English teacher, writer for Contact magazine When my husband Arham and I first met, we discovered that we had both lived in the same part of China, and had both spent time in the Tibetan areas of what is now called Sichuan province.We’d been drawn read more →

You Never Stop Learning

By Edward Wilson  /  May 11, 2015

Volunteer Job at Lha: English Tutor and assistant in Lha Tibet Fair Trade Shop In England it is often believed that the best time to learn is as a young child, and that particularly with languages it becomes harder to learn as you get older. This can often lead to read more →

Who Edits the Editor?

By Jenny James  /  April 2, 2015

Editing Contact magazine has brought enormous riches to my life. Nearly every Lha volunteer who tells us their story says they gain so much more than they give and how true this is. I feel that I am at the centre of a wonderful network of people all over the read more →

Home Away From Home

By Sherwin Altarez Mapanoo  /  January 19, 2015

What makes home a home? Since commencing my volunteering stint at Lha last December, I have been thinking a lot about the notion of “home”, both as a spatial and a political concept, and how my experience working and interacting with many Tibetans in exile has profoundly made me re-think read more →

Providing Safe and Clean Drinking Water

By Johanna G  /  January 2, 2015

Volunteer job at Lha: scientific advisor/researcher A meaningful life is what most of us are thriving for. This urge seems to be so important, that even His Holiness the Dalai Lama named a book after it “The Meaning of Life”. Many volunteer stories talk about the search for the meaning read more →

Finding Meaning in my Life

By Christina Herden  /  November 17, 2014

Volunteer job at Lha: Researcher and tutor What is the purpose of my life? Why am I not happy even though I have a great education, a successful career, and an abundant income? These are the questions I asked myself six months ago, just before quitting my job, selling all read more →

Standing in Solidarity

October 7, 2014

Volunteer job at Lha: Writer for Contact and English Tutor One of the toughest decisions I made in my life was to quit my first job. I was a journalist at a well respected English daily for two years and enviable as it may have seemed to people who knew read more →

A Deeper Understanding

By Vanshika Tripathi  /  October 6, 2014

Volunteer job at Lha: Writer for Contact My first visit to Dharamshala took place during a visit to family in India in 2011, the summer before my senior year of high school. A usual trip to India would mean spending around two months shuffling from one relative’s house to another. read more →