[Following articles appeared in MSNBC on August 26, 1997 covering the recent trip made by Dan Haig and the company to Dharamsala to set up the Gangkyi (LAN) local area network. TS]

by Ali Hossaini August 26, 1997

No matter where you live, Tibet is far away. Called "the world's rooftop," Tibet covers vast expanses of the Himalayas, including Mt. Everest, locally known as Chomo Langma. Before its absorption into China, Tibet was a theocracy, home to thousands of orange-robed priests whose ancient art and rituals captured the imagination of travelers. Tibetans consider their traditional leader, the Dalai Lama, the incarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, or Buddha, a near divinity ordained at birth by oracles and dreams.

The mystical reverie of Tibet ended after the Chinese invasion of 1949, which resulted in full colonial occupation. The Dalai Lama and his government had to leave, and India granted them asylum. Setting up camp near Dharamsala in northern India, they have continued their struggle, mainly by alerting the international community to the brutal nature of the Chinese occupation. Acting in the name of modernization and progress, China's policies threaten the destruction of Tibetan identity.

Tibet is not in a unique situation. Many peoples have lost their ancestral lands and identities to invaders, and history belongs to the victors. But, unlike the Ainu of Japan, the Native Americans and many others, the Tibetans live in an age where compassion and mass media have melted the barriers of the past. Though its mountains are far away, Tibet's memory is easy to reach online. Many Tibetan exiles, including the Dalai Lama's officers, maintain websites and information servers, often with the help of volunteers.

Two sympathizers are systems engineers Dan Haig and Richard Schneider. On a recent visit to Dharamsala, they installed a new computer network in the Tibetan government compound, speeding internal communications and opening it to the Internet. During an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, they discussed Tibet's ongoing crisis and other issues, and now they've joined us to talk about their experiences. If you have any questions for Dan or Richard after reading Soledad's interview, send them to us. We'll post selected answers in the Eview section.