DHARAMSALA: A year ago, Namkyi left her home in Charo village, Tibet, and walked continuously for 10 days and nights along with her aunt Tsering Kyi before crossing into Nepal and finally reaching India. Now 24, she recalls how she was imprisoned for a year at the age of 15 by Chinese authorities after she and her sister protested over not being allowed to practise their faith.
"I have left my family behind and crossed over to tell the world how difficult life is for us in Tibet. Human rights are violated with impunity and we are always treated with suspicion and looked down upon. I shudder to recall the days I spent in jail when I was barely 15, men in uniform would hit us, leftover food was fed, and we slept in the cold with thin blankets. There was just nobody who could come to our rescue. I was let off after being tried but with threats and warnings," a teary-eyed Namkyi told The New Indian Express.
Namkyi was detained in the Tashi Gyalkaling County along with her sister. The charges levelled against her were 'separatist acts against the nation' and supporting the 'Dalai clique'.
"While in prison, we were made to undertake military training and learn about the Chinese constitution. We also worked in a labour camp making copper wires, cigarette boxes and watches. After completing our prison term, we were kept at a police station in Pema Lhathang in Ngaba County for a week. My family has been kept on a blacklist ever since," she said adding that her family was questioned after she left, and she fears they would be tortured.
After reaching India in June 2023, Namkyi has been in a transit school where she is learning the local language as her dialect isn't similar to what the Tibetans in exile speak in India.
She got an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a few weeks after she reached Dharamsala, which she says helped her heal. "HH said that we should preserve our culture and tradition," she said.
Namkyi has gone through a lot, but her story is not any different from thousands of Tibetan refugees who have braved harsh terrain to escape Tibet. Namkyi says that she hopes to travel across the world and make people aware of the gross human rights violations in China and hopes that someday justice will prevail.
