Tibetan Jewish Youth Exchange

2005-07-11T11:53:00.000+01:00

Hello! Andrew and I have been in Dharamasala about 2 weeks now and having a fab time although didnt expect so many cows, dogs and monkeys in the streets! Last week was the Dalai Lama's birthday so there were 3 days of celebrations; dancing, chanting and praying. We started running a few sesions before the big birthday but have now had a little break. We did a review of Longsho in the SWOT and had 12 leaders attend - which was really great. The main concern currently is the lack of money - Longsho have no money to even plan the smallest event or mailshot really.
We have also looked at structure and giving leaders roles and how the regional chapters would work. Today we are going to look at marketing and raising the awareness of Longsho since there are so many Israelis around which is a great opportunity.
Wishing all the best to Richard and Charlotte - keep in touch. And hope everyone is well especially after the dreadful london events a few days ago. Lots of love Anna xx

2005-07-06T21:28:00.000+01:00

Hello there, it's Rich. It's the day before me and Char go off to Kalimpong and i'm just trying to figure out how to use this blog thing! Sorry for submitting this but thought it would be good to know what we are doing before we go. Preparations are going well...can't wait to get out there!

2004-07-03T17:34:00.000+01:00

My giardia is gone and I too have left Dharamshala. Now that my volunteer work is finished, I have a month to travel. So I'm in Manali, staying in a gorgeous guesthouse among apple orchards, pine trees and fragrant but (I'm told) barely potent marijuana bushes. I had a very relaxing day today, straying out only for a shabbat walk along the river in the nearby forest. The main street is best avoided, truly a North Indian Costa del Sol for Israelis. It's not the Israeliness I have a problem with, but rather the synthetic atmosphere. My friend Jay has a theory that it's easier to perceive God/Being/Now in the country than the city because modern urban life is designed to cater for our desires. So too with tourism. It's obsevers' paradox. We come looking for authenticity and our very presence prevents it. All the restaurant and shop signs are in Hebrew and trance music blares from every interior. I just ate dinner in the Third Eye Cafe - Ayin HaShlishit if you prefer - watching an Indian waiter dance exactly like an Israeli and listening to another speaking Hebrew better than mine. There was to be a trance party tonight, started yesterday and continuing on into tomorrow. But someone forgot to pay off the police and they shut it down about 5 this afternoon. For me, Manali is a stop-off, en route to the deserted, desertivied Spiti Valley. I'll be travelling with four very nice, very chilled Israelis, exploring the villages, walking in the mountains and moving on to the equally remote region of Ladakh.

On a different note, on Sunday 11 July (also my birthday) you can catch the UK debut of Tibetan film We're No Monks, showing at Screen on the Hill in Belsize Park. It's about the Tibetan community in McLeod Ganj, where I've been volunteering the last two months. The director will be giving a Q&A session afterwards. Funds from ticket sales go to the Tibetan Jewish Youth Exchange (the project I've been working with) and the Tibet Relief Fund. Email mekella@broomberg.co.uk if you're interested in going.

2004-06-27T16:44:00.000+01:00

Tuesday 22 June - I was well enough to come in and lead the day's session. Phantok says the one he ran on time management and a typical day in the office went well. So today we did communications skills, using the WUJS programme. We did exercises to show the communicative importance of voice, movement, eye contact, use of hands, confidence and behaviour. It was games all the way through, so attention or interest wasn't a problem. Some of the leaders had trouble with maintaining an open posture, saying they felt more comfortable with crossed arms or legs. I told them it's important to feel natural, but if they can get over that discomfort it's a good thing. After the session I went to see an American girl I'd met, Stephanie, who is a professional campus organisation coordinator and trainer and who's volunteering with the Tibetan Woman's Association. We arranged that she would run Wednesday's session on Effective Meetings while I went to the hospital to get my mystery illness checked out. So I spent early afternoon briefing her.

Wednesday 23 June - Doctor told me I have Giardia and gave me antibiotics, saying it will get better withing 48 hours. When I got into the Longsho offices at the end of the morning, Stephanie was finishing off her session. I could tell as I walked in that it had gone extremely well. She's very professional, doing this sort of thing so naturally. Everyone's attention was perfectly focused. She gave me her notes afterwards and summarised what she'd done: types of meetings, process versus content, planning and agenda, discussion sequence, facilitator role, how to cope with difficult people and conflict, how to bring introverts out of their shell, what to do with points if you're running out of time... She said she's got a huge amount of resources and passed me and Longsho business cards. Anyway, a real success. Cheryl Sklan told me before I flew out here, that my role was to organise the best seminar possible and to know that it might mean networking and bringing in outside facilitators.

Thursday 24 June - Final proper day of seminar. I ran a morning session on budgeting which finished with an exercise in financial planning for an imaginary project. There was some misunderstanding about some of the techniques - such as planning fundraising to build on current resources and doing accounts in the middle of the project to allow you to replan the remainder - but by the end everyone had understood. I'd organised an afternoon computer skills session at the LHA (Louisiana Himalaya Association), where a trained instructor worked with the participants on Word and Excel. They drew up some financial spreadsheets, so it was reinforcement of some of the stuff they'd done in the morning.

Friday 25 June - Review and evaluation. Played some games, gave a memory refresher on each of the seminar sessions and handed out evaluation forms. The final question on the forms was "What are the first 3 things the new office workers should do when they take over?" Here are the answers I got:

- Recruit new leaders / members (x3)
- Be punctual (x3)
- Fundraising (x2)
- Be committed (x2)
- Be true to yourself
- Be active most of the time, especially during camps
- Use effective methods from seminar
- Don't be lazy
- Know Longsho structure, aims and objectives and work towards them
- Be effective in communicating and understanding
- Show initiative
- Meet expectations of fellow members
- Be flexible
- Update Longsho plan

I've got the rest of the evaluation forms to bring back. We should go over them to help us with future volunteers.

One of the new initiatives that has come from this seminar is the board of trustees, close friends of Longsho in a position to see the bigger, longer term picture and offer advice. Longsho are thinking of 4 specific people who will be invited when the new office workers take over, later in the summer. I said I would speak to those I could when I get back.

Monday I will be going to the leaders' meeting to say goodbye to everyone and to speak to Phantok about getting the report finished and sent off. Then I'm off to Manali and Ladakh.

2004-06-21T18:14:00.000+01:00

Thursday and Friday went so much better. Sessions were on the idea of setting up a Longsho board of trustees, what funders want and how to approach them, and writing reports. The board of trustees session led to another constructive discussion. But the feel of the sessions themselves were really positive. I used some more typical youth movement approaches: more games & more interaction, and trying to draw conclusions out via questions and personal examples, rather than imposing the answers on them myself.

I was supposed to meet all the participants on Sunday for a trip together to a swimming pool, but I've got a bit ill, flu and a dodgy stomach so I told Phantok I wasn't coming. I took him through the plans for today's session on time management - quite a strong programme, taken mainly from the World Union of Jewish Students website - in case I was too ill to run it. Afraid I did need the extra day to recover, so trusting all went well. Am hoping I'm going to be well enough for tomorrow and the rest of the week.

2004-06-16T13:21:00.000+01:00

The good news is we just finished the second day of seminar - covering the quite substantial rootkeeper method of analysing organisations and looking at the future of Longsho's steering group - and both today and yesterday ended in quite involved discussions in Tibetan, something I could leave the participants to get on with, knowing they're dealing with the issues and addressing questions that are facing Longsho.

The bad news is I got some feedback passed on via Phantok, that so far the sessions have been really useful in terms of content but that presentation has been quite dry. OK, it's not really bad news as such: of course I'm glad the participants mentioned it to Phantok and he mentioned it to me, because now I know and it gives me the opportunity to put things right. At the same time, it's natural that I'm a bit disheartened and wondering how I can improve. I think the subject matter itself has been dry (but important), but that is not a valid excuse. It is up to me to inject a bit of life into the sessions and to set the tone for everybody else. Phantok suggested getting a bit more animated. Tomorrow is more games based, and as good a time to start as any.

2004-06-15T08:29:00.000+01:00

All the Longsho leaders are back from camp, which was very successful, and we started seminar today. Phantok and I are running it for more people than I expected. The guy from Darjeeling couldn't make it, but there are two Dickyiling leaders here and four or five from Dharamshala. As far as I'm concerned, it's a good thing. It means more trained people around the office and ensures the knowledge isn't concentrated in the hands of a few on whom everyone else has to depend. Sessions today were on hopes, fears and expectations and getting an overview of the regions. They're going to give short presentations on their respective regions in just an hour from now.

The last few days I've also edited the first few pages of the report Phantok's started. Just checking the English and expression really - it's still his work.

2004-06-04T12:10:00.000+01:00

Just got back from a two day visit to Longsho summer camp. 45 Tibetan teenagers and 10 leaders in an idyllic school venue, bordered by tea fields at the bottom of the Himalayas. Bit like Jewish camp, only the weather's more consistent and even the harder looking boys are better behaved. They don't have the confidence we do yet. Most of them came over from Tibet when they were 7 or 8. Now they're learning about being a Longsho leader themselves. Some of that Youth Movement mythology, that's so vital, is starting to get more entrenched. That's a good thing. Funny to see the stuff that's made it over via the exchange. 'Father Abraham' in Tibetan. Ladders. Duck-duck-goose. Everything going well. Longsho more than capable of putting on a good camp.

2004-06-01T17:53:00.000+01:00

Back into the world of Longsho and TJYE. Slowly though. Last night I sat in on a final leaders' meeting before summer camp. I was asked to take a small session on personal example and leaders' behaviour on camp. We played a couple games to illustrate how one person's behaviour can impact on everyone else and then we thought about figures who've influenced us in the past. Finally we brought the issues together in discussion and drew up a list of qualities to aim for as leaders on Longsho summer camp.

Everyone left for the camp site today. I was left in the office to get on with finalising the post-camp seminar programme. The kids arrive on camp tomorrow. I'll also visit and stay overnight, to see the real purpose of the youth movement.

2004-05-16T08:26:00.000+01:00

We finished the first week of seminar. Thursday Phantok and I did a SWOT analysis of Longsho. That's identifying the movement's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. At the top of the strengths list were the commitment and ideas of the youth leaders, the enthusiasm of the kids the movement's reaching and the likely expansion into Darjeeling and Deckyiling. Included as weaknesses were the uncertainty surrounding funding, the authority of the schools who are able to decide whether kids go on Longsho camps or not and the inexperience of the leadership.

Friday we reassessed our plans for this seminar. Organisation of camp is getting tight - the leaders are meeting every day to finish writing their programmes on this summer's theme, 'Leadership', and Namsay and Phantok still need to confirm a campsite and find out which kids are coming. So the new plan is this: the three of us work together to write a complete & final 'Running a Movement Seminar' to run with all the new workers & regional reps in June, after camp is finished. Effectively, the seminar serves as Namsay's and Phantok's handover. It shares the load, allowing them to get on with camp logistics and me to take a breather and avoid burnout.

As soon as we decided all this, we set about planning the basics for the new seminar. We've designed a programme of 20 sessions, running mainly in the mornings, from Monday 14 June to Monday 25 June. I'll post the programme up some time over the next week or two. We've already defined the aims of each of the sessions, and 5 of the 20 are written in full.

Also spent the morning drawing up a vital 'to do' list - the urgent tasks and deadlines coming up for the Longsho office. It was a good opportunity to review the long term plan that was made in October last year. I was able to email the new document to TJYE UK members.

Best thing now is to let Namsay and Phantok get on with what they need to do. I'll be going treking for a few days before a meditation retreat at the end of this week / beginning of next.

Meanwhile, thanks to Anna Langleben, Dan Jackson and RSY-Netzer, who responded to my email and sent me the 'one-one-seven', a list of 117 youth movement programming ideas. It's going straight to Namsay, Phantok and the Longsho leaders, to incorporate into camp to their hearts' content.

2004-05-12T12:01:00.000+01:00

Phantok and I did a session on how to write a report: defining target audience, thinking about what we want to happen as a result of the report, defining areas of coverage, structuring... Did a few role-plays to show the link between target audience and aims.

In the afternoon I left Phantok to start the Longsho report, to go to funders and TJYE. He's working on it today as well. Last I saw he was a couple pages in, saying this was all necessary. I'll go over it at the end, working mainly on the quality of the English. Then I'll give him some feedback and we can think about distribution.

Dropped in yesterday on a local organisation, Volunteer Tibet. If we want, we can get Longsho on their database. Travellers passing through can be matched to the movement's needs. At the very least, they could help with the English on Longsho documents.

2004-05-10T16:30:00.000+01:00

Started seminar today with two sessions for Phantok and Namsay. First went through hopes, fears and expectations on the roof, in Nick's Kitchen (sounds familiar, Ruth and Clare?). Some main themes were recurring: attendance, relevance, hand-over to the new workers, possible burn-out and boredom. So we made a list of things we can do to make it work - like keeping each other in touch about absence and aiming to participate fully in every session. I also came up with the idea of 'game vouchers'. N & P get three each and can use one any time to request an emergency game.

Second session I told them to imagine I was the new Longsho president who nevertheless knew absolutely nothing about Longsho or Tibetan society. I gave them 45 minutes to prepare a presentation on all issues: history, purpose, stakeholders, structure, achievements, resources and issues. Longsho in a nutshell - very useful for me and hopefully for Phantok too as he prepares to write a Longsho report for various stakeholders. My questions and our discussions went on a bit long. Both N and P complained it had dragged.

Namsay can't make tomorrow or the next day as he's attempting to get his motorcycle back from the police station. Don't ask. So Phantok and I are looking at how to write a report. Ideally, we'll have something to show for it all by close of Wednesday. Optimistic, I know, but I think we can produce it, certainly before the end of the week. It's an absolute priority - I know the funders would really like to see something.

2004-05-09T15:00:00.000+01:00

I've added a comments feature. We can get a dialogue going.

2004-05-09T14:40:00.000+01:00

Thursday - Phantok and Namsay went by themselves to the school... there was a long delay leaving until it clashed with another commitment. They reported back that the school principal would be meeting with his executive committee to discuss the issue of kids going on camp.

Friday and today - As Longsho representatives from Darjeeling and Deckyiling are not available until camp (first week of June) I agreed to run a trial 'Running a Movement Office' seminar for Namsay and Phantok over the next three weeks. All three of us can then run it for the new workers and the regional representatives once camp is over. Drew up the schedule and planned Monday's sessions in full. We'll be working every day, mostly in the afternoons but some full days as well. Have split the seminar into three sections:

1. Who we are, where we're going and why?
2. Making it work - an introduction to office skills; and
3. Movement work

I've split it evenly, one week per section. We start tomorrow with an introduction to the seminar and a session on 'what is Longsho?'.

2004-05-05T19:14:00.000+01:00

Yesterday: Hiked to Triund with Phantok. The day itself wasn't really TJYE-related, but he did explain to me that Longsho say that in order to be a leader you have to have passed your final high school exams. He also taught me a Tibetan song, decent to hike to, but I forgot it. Determined to learn it while I'm here.

Today: Induction to Dhasa community life continued. Got take for an audience with the Karmapa, the second most revered Tibetan Buddhist figure in this area. Had no time to ask him any questions or speak with him at all - it was straight in, get your sash, and straight out!

In the afternoon I went to the office with Phantok. He wrote a proposal to a Deradun-area school principal in order to request use of their grounds for camp. I checked over the letter and worked with Phantok on its wording. Also got my hands on new TJYE/Longsho t-shirt.

Tomorrow I should be going with Phantok and Namsay to see them approach another principal regarding kids' possible attendance at camp. Plan is we can feed back on stuff like body-language and communication at a future date.

2004-05-03T17:35:00.000+01:00

Friday: Pema, a Longsho leader who works at the Tibetan Welfare Office (the municipal authority) took me to various appointments in the area around the library, where the offices of the government in exile are. I met with someone from the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, who told me about all their research; someone working at the Environment and Development desk in the government, so I saw what a govenment in exile actually do (by necessity, not much - mainly monitoring and pressuring); and a public relations guy from the Tibetan Medicine and Astrology Institute. Also saw the monastery and the library. The whole morning felt quite official and well-organised and again I got a bit of insight into the Tibetan community's life via their institutions.

Saturday: Phantok took me to the local Tibetan Children's Village (TCV). Hannah Freedman, who is about to start as a teacher in England, came along. We sat in on a class, gave food out and played with some incredibly cute 2-4 year olds and kicked a football around with some of the older ones on the sandy pitch. At the nursery we were told some of the children's stories by the head 'foster mother'. One example: a teenage mother's arrest in Nepal, by policemen scared of the neighbouring Chinese authorities; a subsequent prison birth; a bribery to get both mother and child out; and now here is the kid, in front of us, playing by the stairs; meanwhile the mother is getting closer to the child and is making more frequent visits.

Today: In the morning Phantok took me to the Norbulingka crafts village. It was set up by the Dalai Lama as a 'diaspora'-based centre for Tibetan arts and heritage. Longsho is very much in line with its mission to promote and preserve Tibetan culture in exile. This evening I experienced my first Longsho leaders' meeting. There were about a dozen leaders, for whom I ran a programme on programme-writing. Used the TAMAR (Target group; Aims; Methods; Arrangement; Review & results) model many of them had learnt before. Gave them time at the end to work on the sessions they're writing for summer camp. Noticed some overlap among a couple of the sessions and alerted Phantok and Namsay, who are going to take a look and coordinate. We might sit down and talk about it in the next couple of days. Tomorrow Phantok, Hannah, Rob and I are hiking.

2004-04-29T13:36:00.000+01:00

I am in Dharamshala. The Longsho workers, Namsay and Phantok, are helping me to settle in before I sit down with them to plan the 'Running a Movement Office' seminar. My induction into Dharamshala life started today. Namsay and Phantok took me and Hannah Freedman (the sister of a close friend of mine, someone I just happened to bump into here) to the museum and the Tibetan Youth Congress. The museum gave me some background on the Tibetan exile. There was a good quote there, perhaps something we could use, from a member of the Tibetan government. In order for Tibet to survive in the face of Chinese attempts on its culture, he calls for a Tibetan cultural revival, in the communities both inside and outside occupied Tibet.

Tomorrow, Pema, who works at the Tibetan Welfare Office, is going to show me round the library and human rights organisations. Monday I lead a session at the leaders' meeting, helping all the lobtuk leaders to write programmes for camp, which begins in June.

2004-04-21T13:21:00.000+01:00

The following is Becca Kay's account of her volunteer placement, set up as part of TJYE's work with Longsho in India:

In the summer of 2001 I was the Rosh (head) of an RSY-Netzer camp. There were many special people on my team of leaders, but one person in particular was to affect my life.

Keldor, a Tibetan volunteer, came over to learn how to be a leader as part of the Tibetan-Jewish Youth Exchange (TJYE). At the time I thought that this was a long-established organisation, although I later learnt that the movement had not yet been set up, and this was the first stage in the process.

Keldor explained that he had met Kalela Lancaster, a graduate of the Bnei Akiva youth movement and had been inspired about her description of Zionist youth movements. He and 4 of his friends had come to the UK to spend the summer in various youth movement summer camps to learn how to be leaders. He told us all that many Tibetan people were living in exile in India, and that those who remained in Tibet were suffering from extreme prejudice and struggling to practice their culture or religion. It was the first time that I had heard about the problems of the Tibetan people, and I was shocked that this was happening.

I remember one moment very clearly; all the leaders were having a meeting when a wasp flew in. One leader stood up and started trying to kill the wasp. Keldor gently intervened, cupping his hands around the wasp before releasing the wasp out of the window. His belief in the importance of the wasp’s life had a profound impact on me.

On his return from Shemesh, Keldor worked with his friends to set up ‘Longsho’ the Tibetan youth movement. They did this with the full support of the Dalai Lama, who having met with a group of American Rabbis declared that he wanted to promote working together with Jews ‘sharing the secrets of exile’. He felt that the two communities had much to teach each other.

Whilst Keldor was working with Longsho, I became an RSY-Netzer movement worker. One of RSY-Netzer’s core values is Tikkun Olam (repair of the world). This is a value that I am personally very passionate about, I felt that as a movement worker it was very important that I uphold this value, and do something to repair the wider world. I became part of the core committee of TJYE, and became increasingly involved.

Following two years of movement work, I had itchy feet and wanted to go somewhere in the world. I had wanted to uphold the mitzvah (commandment, practice) of giving 10% of your salary to tzedakah (charity), but had not been in a financially viable position to do this. I felt that I could give my time instead. I wanted to go away but as I really value being part of a community, I knew that travelling around was not for me. I felt increasingly compelled to go to work with the Tibetans. Together with an ex-Habonim movement worker, Lissa, we made plans to work in India with the exiled Tibetan youth.

It was only when Lissa and I arrived that we realised what an immense task we had. The Tibetans, like the Jews, are facing the problem of assimilation.

Those Tibetans born in India into exile had never even been to Tibet. They struggled to keep their language, culture and identity alive. This was particularly difficult in Dharamasala, the main Tibetan settlement, as the area is something of a tourist attraction and Westerners constantly visit.

There was another group that we worked with: Tibetans born in China. In China they suffer such prejudice and racial discrimination that they struggle to receive education, learn about the Tibetan culture or speak in the Tibetan language, so they too are losing their identity. The children are smuggled across the border, often by trekking over the snow-covered Himalayas, walking in the night without food or sleep. These children are placed in huge boarding schools where they are given an education. The schools become their homes, and their housemates, families.

Longsho brings these two groups together, helping to create a community, giving the boarding school pupils a holiday, and educating all the young people about their education and culture. The participants speak pure Tibetan on camp (apart from when speaking to the English volunteers, luckily!). Longsho has been up and running now for three years having run summer and winter camps and regular activities in the Dharamasala area.

Our job was to set up a second base in a place that looked very close on the map but turned out to be a 14 hour bus journey away (on a local bus!). We were told that the name Dickyling meant ‘happy place’ so we had high hopes.

We got to put our movement experience to good use, running a leadership course for new leaders. I basically adapted the RSY-Netzer leadership course that I had developed during my time in the movement. Having done this, we worked together to plan and run activities in 5 new schools. Once we had proven that we could do it, we hosted a joint winter camp together with the Dharamasala community.

I did find it challenging to live in a different society with different social norms, but once the local residents had got over their initial shock that we were women who did not just stay at home, and got to know us, we were made to feel at home and part of their community.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama regularly invites everyone who wants to meet him to come and be blessed. I went along and took a Quata which is a Tibetan prayer scarf as a gift to him to bless him. He gave me a red piece of string that he had blessed to ward off evil spirits – like the red string of the kabbalists (Jewish mystics). I was struck once again by the similarities between our two communities. On meeting him, I went to bow and greeted him in Tibetan. Somehow this made him laugh!

Going to the Tibetan museum, looking at the photos and videos and hearing people’s biographies, made me realise how pleased I was that I was able to do something to help. This was strengthened by the gratitude of the young people. They were constantly thanking us and the Tibetan leaders for our contribution and so valued the education that they receive.

The last week that we were in Dickyling was Chanukah, the festival marking the Jews' cultural independence and freedom from Greek rule almost 2000 years ago. We wanted to share Chanukah with the community and we also wanted to thank them, so we held a Chanukah party, playing dreidles (traditional game with spinning tops) and eating doughnuts. We told them the Chanukah story. For me it had always felt like an old story. However, the Tibetans were really moved by this story. For them this was a story relevant to them right now, and it really affected them. It just highlighted how very special our connection is as Jews to the Tibetan people. We share common stories with common problems. Perhaps now we need to work together to find solutions.

Now that I am back in the UK, I feel very privileged to have had such an incredible experience and to have learnt so much. Whilst I was there I was so passionate about this issue, and the responsibility that I had as a Jew to support this community with whom we have so much in common. I worry that as I get a job and settle into my new home I will forget the commitment that I made. I have decided to sponsor a child from Tibet to receive a Tibetan education in India. It is only a small contribution, but one that feels very important to me.

Becca Kay

2004-04-21T13:00:00.000+01:00

So what is the Tibetan Jewish Youth Exchange?

It's mission is to enhance the cultural identity of both Jewish and Tibetan youth through the use of informal education.

Its aims (over the next 5 years) are:

- To organise activities, including social action events, for young people to discuss their values and to draw on common themes of heritage.

- To explore and share leadership techniques.

- To help Longsho (the Tibetan youth movement) achieve self-sustainability.

- To fundraise for Longsho and exchange programmes.

- To continue to support youth movements across the Tibetan community through both human and financial resources.

- To affiliate TJYE with other organisations which encourage interfait dialogue.

- To foster links with the Tibetan community in Britain.

- To become more established within Jewish Youth Movements and the Jewish community.

2004-04-20T13:26:00.000+01:00

Testing this page.

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