We organised Losar (Tibetan New Year) for the elders in Dharamsala who are alone and have no one else to spend their Losar with.

Losar is an occasion for the Tibetans to celebrate with great joy with their families and close ones. But there are some people in Dharamsala, who have no one else to celebrate the occasion with. We therefore felt that it will be a great thing for them if we invite them for a celebration together with those who are lonely like them. We identified 35 such people in the region including some of the hermits who are on retreat.

Our home nurses picked up these elders from various areas in Dharamsala and brought them to Tibet Charity house in taxis. They were then received at the gate by the Director with traditional Tibetan scarf. Sweet butter rice and butter tea were offered to the elders to start with as per our tradition. After the breakfast, they took part in various fun activities including singing of songs, playing fun games etc.

The Director, while thanking them for coming to the party explained how the first generation of Tibetans toiled hard under most strenuous of circumstances when they first came to exile. Not knowing the language with no house to live in, they started the community in exile from scratch. Almost 90% of them were engaged in manual labour such as road construction works, he said. So he thanked them for what they did for the future generation of Tibetans and he also felt that it is important for the younger generation Tibetans to give them their due and show due respect to them. So the party, he said, was a way of thanking them for what they did.

When they left, thanking Tibet Charity for the memorable day they had, they were all given bags of flour and walking sticks for some.

We thank Debra Chrystal from USA for donating the rations required for the party and we thank Tibet Charity Denmark for supporting every initiative of ours. We are happy that we have made this LOSAR a memorable one for them.