Published by: World Tibet Network News, Tuesday, Apr 16, 1996

Julie Chao

San Francisco, Mon, April 8, 1996 (San Francisco Examiner) -- Small group of immigrants forges ties in adopted country as families begin to arrive.

Seventh-grader Tenzin Tseyang finds that she often has to give her new classmates and even her teachers at Longfellow Elementary School a geography lesson in where Tibet is located.

"I tell them it's near India, but it's not on a world map because it's occupied by communist China," she said in lightly accented English.

Tseyang was at Fort Mason Sunday helping her mother sell Tibetan silver jewelry and other handicrafts. They were among many vendors displaying multicolored scarves and Buddhist icons for the 12th Annual Tibet Day sponsored by the Bay Area Friends of Tibet.

The Berkeley-based nonprofit group, which has been instrumental in finding homes and jobs for new Tibetan immigrants, usually raises about $5,000 at the event, according to treasurer Ralph Davies.

Although a large banner reading "China Out of Tibet" hung over the proceedings, political content was largely overshadowed by the arts and crafts, a traditional dance performance and a lecture by a Tibetan medicine man. Tibetan kids fooled around with a soccer ball under the bright sun while adults chatted with visitors.

The fair attracted a number of people curious about Himalayan cultures. "It's a dream of mine to go to Tibet," said Carolyn Goldhush, who is visiting from New York. "I've been a dilettante in Eastern cultures for several years."

Reminding the new generation

But Thepo Tulku, director of the Tibetan Cultural Society of California, said the event had a second purpose - to remind the younger generation of Tibetans of their language and history. "It's not easy because we're not a large community," he said. "But we're like a big family."

Tulku says the mountains, fresh air and multiculturalism of California remind him of home. Sixty men and women chose to immigrate here in 1992 under the U.S. Tibetan Resettlement Program, in which 1,000 Tibetans and their families were selected to come to the U.S.

About 250 Tibetans now live in the Bay Area, but there is an influx of new immigrants and the community is undergoing enormous change. After a two-year delay, the families of the original 60 immigrants started arriving last year and another 250 are expected within the next year, according to Tulku.

Tseyang and her mother are among the recent arrivals. Four months ago, she said goodbye to three younger siblings, left in the care of grandparents in Dharamsala, India, and arrived at her new school to find that some of her fellow pupils didn't know much about the homeland she has never seen.

"Sometimes if I say the Dalai Lama they know that," she said, referring to the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Fair isn't enough

However, Tulku knows an annual fair is not enough to educate children about their culture. That's why he sent his two sons, who were both born in the U.S., back to India for grammar school. He sees them once a year and plans to bring them back for high school and college.

"You can't teach culture," he said. "You have to grow up in it."

For Samten Chodon, a cook at The City's Stars restaurant who came to the U.S. in 1992 as part of the resettlement program, Tibet Day at Fort Mason is another opportunity for spreading her message.

"In the U.S. we can speak out, give people the message that Tibet is not a part of China," she said. "We can't fight China, but we can make many friends."