Contact is taking a holiday!

It was on my first solo trip ever that I found myself in Dharamshala, volunteering an hour every evening to teach English to the Tibetan monks and nuns living there. While I was there, I also started learning about Tibet – about its history, culture, geopolitics, and the harsh realities faced by these gentle people back home in Tibet. So many of the people I met had been refugees in Dharamshala for years, having only painted a picture of “home” through stories passed down over time. I was deeply moved, and wanted to prod further, which led me to becoming a writer for Contact, Lha’s imprint edited at the time by Jenny James. Over the next few years, I kept writing for the grassroots magazine, which focused on news around Tibetan issues. While the stories I wrote about were hardboiled truths that aren’t easy to digest, writing them gave me a sense of purpose. A means of showing up and expressing my solidarity for the Tibetan community. It’s been a while since I wrote for Contact, but the work I did there feels important to me as a human being and journalist. It breaks my heart that it’s shutting down, but I commend everybody who has been involved for the amazing effort and legacy you have created. The publishing may stop, but we will never stop fighting for human rights and a free Tibet.