NORTHAMPTON — Tsultrim Dolman fled Tibet as a political prisoner in the late 1980s, leaving her village in the dead of night. Standing in front of the First Churches as fellow Tibetans prayed and fasted Thursday, Dolman, 48, of Amherst, expressed a deep sadness for her people, and said she wished she could have returned to her homeland before her parents died.
Sometimes, she said, she pretends they’re still alive.
Theirs were not the only lives mourned Thursday evening. Around 50 people gathered to commemorate the 57th Tibetan National Uprising Day, a March 1959 revolt in Lhasa spurred by fears of a Chinese plot to kidnap the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who escaped to India.
Prayers echoed from a tent as people of all ages nestled on cushions before a Tibetan Buddhist altar. A string of red, yellow and blue Tibetan flags billowed in the wet breeze as the sound of bells rang out across Northampton, marking the deaths of the more than 140 Tibetans who have self-immolated since 2009 to protest Chinese rule.
Just this month, two young Tibetans died after setting themselves on fire to decry Beijing’s control. Posters featuring the faces of 16-year-old student Dorjee Tsering and 18-year-old monk Kalsang Wangdu adorned the fence around the First Churches.
“This is by far one of the most significant and important days of Tibetan observation,” said Thondup Tsering, who owns Lhasa Café and helped organize the event.
Tibetans from around the Pioneer Valley congregated for a hunger strike that began at 10 a.m.
Jamba Dolkar Sherpa, 47, of Easthampton, works as a nurse at Cooley Dickinson Hospital and asked a coworker to cover her shift so she could attend with her husband and daughter. Despite the lives lost and the oppression Tibet faces, Sherpa said she will continue pray for the country’s freedom and the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet.
“The only thing that they can’t get rid of is the Tibetan heart,” Sherpa said, touching her chest.
At 5 p.m., the group finished the day’s prayers — prayers for those who have died, those who remain in Tibet and the Dalai Lama’s recovery, Tsering said. The crowd sang the Tibetan national anthem, and Tsering led them in a call-and-response cries of “Long live/ the Dalai Lama,” “human rights/ in Tibet” and “free Tibet/ free Tibet now.”
“Tibet is going through one of the darkest periods of its history,” Tsering said.
American group Freedom House rated Tibet the second worst country in the world for civil liberties and political rights in a 2016 report, just beneath Syria.
Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz read a proclamation marking Tibet Day, and cited the Tibetan-American community’s contributions to the city. “Despite China’s best efforts to assimilate and wipe out Tibetan identity and its culture, Tibetan resistance continues non-violently to this day,” Narkewicz said.
Keith Barnicle, district representative for U.S. Rep. James McGovern, of Worcester, read a statement from the congressman that described his November 2015 visit to Lhasa and work to pass a bill that would prevent certain Chinese officials involved in limiting access to Tibet from entering the U.S.
“It is time for all people of good faith to stand with the Tibetan people in solidarity with their struggle to save their culture and religion and to live with dignity and freedom,” the congressman said in the statement. “It is time for China’s brutal repression to end.”
University of Massachusetts graduate student Chime Tsetan, 30, agreed with McGovern’s statement. Tsetan, who was born and raised in India, said Tibetans differ in opinion when it comes to ending Chinese oppression – some call for full independence from China, while others want the region to gain “genuine autonomy.”
But March 10, he said, is a day for people to come together: “The goals are the same, to preserve our culture.”
Amherst also issued a proclamation marking the occasion, and Students for a Free Tibet at UMass hosted a vigil on campus Thursday afternoon.
To Dolman, who said she spent four months in a Chinese prison after participating in a non-violent protest, the day is a sad reminder of the difficulties still facing Tibetans. Though she works nights at the UMass Physical Plant, she said she hopes one day to work in human rights and spread awareness of the limited health care and education available to many Tibetans.
Too shy to address the crowd Thursday, Dolman had planned to speak about the liberties she has gained as an American citizen: the freedom to worship as she pleases, and to speak her mind.
“We want to see this freedom in Tibet,” she said.
Stephanie McFeeters can be reached at smcfeeters@gazettenet.com.