Yogis and SOT

Dharamsala is feeling more and more like home everyday....what can I say, I welcome change and adapt quickly. Perhaps it’s also the fact that this place is quite similar to home. Last night after dinner (which only included vegetables and NO starches :), the family and I were watching a televised program about His Holiness when ta-da, the weekly blackout arrived. At that moment I was thankful for the handful of times my mom and I became creative with puppet-shows and candles when the lights went out-- because now Dharamsala blackouts don't phase me. Tenzin-La and Pa-La got in a heated conversation about Tibetan politics in the candlelight, while Ama-La tended to her Buddhist beads. I just sat in the dark and smiled at the moment. It was absolutely beautiful and entertaining to see such passion arise from a typically jolly family. Pa-La had done some activist work when he was younger but now devotes a majority of his time to the Buddhist temple (which is common in the Tibetan culture as one grows older). However, this man could silence Tenzin-La with his knowledge and powerful voice-- which is saying A LOT! I should also note that Tenzin-La's older brother works for the Tibetan Exile Government.

This morning I woke up at 7am and went to my first yoga studio here in Dharamsala, it was called Om yoga. Imagine what a yoga studio in India would look like and Om yoga fulfilled that stereotype plus more. When you walk through an alley that looks quite sketchy and past two coffee shops with early-bird/eccentric tourists, you start to think....umm should I really be here? I continued to follow the signs labeled "Om Yoga" until it led me to a door that was closed. When I opened it there was an Indian yogi at the back of the room in deep thought, sitting Indian-sytle, and fingers pinched together in an "o" shape. His studio was filled with windows EVERYWHERE, overlooking the Himalayans and beautiful sunshine. There was colorful tapestry and rugs, light Hindi music playing in the background, and yoga mats already nicely laid on the floor. The yoga class consisted of four students (including myself) and the Yogi with the heavy Indian accent (I sometimes thought he would butcher English words on purpose to make us laugh). He continuously said, "be the feeling, love the feeling, know the feeling" when asking us to do ridiculous poses such as bringing our toes to our ears while wrapping one leg around our head. WTH? This was certainly different from Yoga to the People in Berkeley, but it was enjoyable..i think. ha. This entire week I think I will yoga studio hop and update everyone on my progress.

Today Dhardon-La gave me my BIG assignment for TWA, which is to help with expanding its microfinance sector and specifically its campaign called Stitches of Tibet (SOT). Microfinance is the new remedy for poverty alleviation around the world and it specifically targets women as its recipients (since women are “the poorest of the poor” in developing nations). Through microfinance women are able to receive small loans to purchase whatever can generate an income (i.e. cows for selling milk or sewing machine for textiles). Women are also taught new skills, given health education courses, and sometimes housing. Since 1995, SOT has provided an 18month intensive Tibetan embroidery program for newly arrived exile Tibetan women. This program gives these women a skill that can generate a livelihood for themselves and their families while also practicing a cultural activity. TWA also includes English, math, and health education courses within SOT. My assignment is to think of ways that SOT can expand and become more sustainable in the future (broad I know). Hopefully in the near future SOT can become an actual job for these women rather than a 18month program, so this is where my experience and current research of microfinance comes into play…