The day before His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama arrived in Madison, the UW-Madison Chapter of Students for a Free Tibet invited Tibetan Tenzin Dickyi to speak to students Tuesday in the Humanities Building about the issues Tibet is currently facing.
Tibet is occupied by the People's Republic of China, which claims sovereignty over the nation. Previously the chief political leader of Tibet, the current Dalai Lama is in exile and has said in the past he refuses to be ""reborn"" in a China-controlled region and may choose to be the last Dalai Lama, if the Tibet situation does not change, according to several news sources.
Dickyi described many struggles Tibetans are facing in attempting to maintain their culture.
""I walked out of the train station [in Tibet] and everyone around me was Chinese,"" said Dickyi. ""From what I saw, it looked like they were trying to wipe out Tibetan history.""
Dickyi said although some cannot distinguish between Tibetans and Chinese, there are strong differences between the two. Tibetans have their own writing, language and culture.
""Generally, students go to Chinese schools and learn the Chinese language, so eventually they become Chinese,"" said Dickyi. ""If they grow up speaking Tibetan, their Chinese won't be very good, so they'll have trouble getting jobs.""
Although Dickyi has spent part of her life in the United States, she said she wants to do something to prevent Chinese from wiping out Tibetan culture.
""We grew up with stories of Tibetans,"" said Dickyi. ""All the elders would always say, ‘You're the future of Tibet.' So my generation grew up thinking it was kind of our duty to do something.""
The Dalai Lama will give a teaching at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Alliant Energy Center. He will speek at similar sessions?Thursday at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and Friday at 9:30 a.m. Tickets are still available at the door for these sessions. Also, on ?Friday he will give a sold-out public talk ""Compassion: The Source of Happiness"" at the Kohl Center at 2:30 p.m..
UW-Madison freshman Liesel Wilson said she is planning on attending the Dalai Lama's talk and agreed that seeing Tenzin speak was a unique opportunity to hear about Tibet from someone who has lived there.
