Penelope Gan | Photo Blog » Women

The Tibetan Diaspora – 50 years on

ganpenelope — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:18:23 +0000

In the wake of the failure of the Lhasa Uprising, Khampas (Eastern Tibetans) who did not take to the hills to join the Chushi Kangdruk guerrillas left for exile in India in 1959. Amongst the eighty thousand Tibetans that left their homeland in exodus between 1959-1960, were the 14th Dalai Lama himself, a large part of the Lhasa government, the abbots and many monks from the great Lhasa and provincial gompas, land-owners of Central Tibet, and the faithful from all walks of life who headed the Dalai Lama’s warning of dire times ahead, under the heel of the Chinese Communists.

Continued flights, estimated in the numbers of 1,000 to 2,500 a year (with survival rates that ranges from 10-40% depending on the time of the year, where many died from starvation, disease and the vagaries of climate and landscape), and a second exodus of 25,000 between 1986-1996, have resulted in small but flourishing Tibetan communities totaling to 220,000 Tibetans dispersed in most large cities of America, Europe and East Asia. With hundreds of Tibetan gompas and temples being built, Tibetan Buddhism has been dubbed as one of the fastest growing religions in the world.

The success of the Tibetan diaspora and establishment in both the Indian sub-continent and the West has much to do with being blessed by the right spiritual leader of that era:

The 16th Karmapa (the spiritual leader of the Kagyu order) through his foresight had prepared a sanctuary and a cache of treasure in Sikkim way before the 14th Dalai Lama’s flight. A wealthy and powerful order, his pre-planning and influence had enabled the Kagyu order to establish an independent foothold in exile.

Similarly, Dudjom Rimpoche (head of the Nyingma order), had the support of the natives of the border community who were Nyingma devotees in Darjeeling during the exodus, and has remained independent to date.

The 14th Dalai Lama on the other hand has won himself the repute of being a politician and spiritual man of rare integrity, acceptance and openness. Capitalising on his Tibetan devotees that provided the structure and a conduit for Western devotees, the 14th Dalai Lama had assumed a high media profile to further his crusade for the survival of Tibetan culture and the oppression of Tibetans in Tibet.

Non-Tibetan devotees in the heydays were diverse in personality, nationality, motive and intent; popular ones includes a French film-maker, an Indian Parsee grande dame, a Canadian ambassador, American and Scottish anthropologists and old-style hippie travelers who later established Tibetan Buddhist centres of their own in the West; all of which efforts have contributed towards the popular support for Tibetan Buddhism, the 14th Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government in exile’s political agenda and private promotion of numerous lamas who would continue to travel to the West.

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50 years on, there is a new generation of lamas educated in India, Nepal and the West, who never knew the rigours of Tibet and has been surrounded by a contemporary materialistic social environment.

50 years on, funds have poured into the lama’s coffers from across the world, extending to the new raising economies of North East and South East Asia whose practices and demands varies; giving rise to psycho-magical rites for devotees longevity, wealth, health and success – a concept where conspicuous consumption and Buddhism in one is loath by Tibetans, Indian sub-continent and post-Christian West.

50 years on, accusations of charlatanism, commercialism, power-politicking, exploitation of the naive (and weak – psycho-sexual training methods with female disciples by unscrupulous gurus), primitive shamanic practices, immoral behaviour and radically different teachings has crept in *.

Despite all of this and the evolution of the religion, Tibetan Buddhism in ‘borrowed lands’ has culminated in more followers than the population of Tibet.

But more heart retching is: despite all of the media attention, global acceptance and international endorsement of the Tibetan government in exile (with 10 Central Tibetan Administration offices in the world: New Delhi, India; New York, USA; Geneva, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan; London, UK; Canberra, Australia; Paris, France; Moscow, Russia; Pretoria, South Africa; and Taipei, Taiwan) the disproportionately high numbers of women (lamas aside) who had survived the first exodus and had spent half a century or so in secluded refugee centres in the Himalayan plains knows only of one Tibetan culture and one spiritual leader whom they rest their hopes on for a better Tibet and a return trip to Tibet, their homeland.

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* ‘Dance of 17 Lives’ by Mick Brown – a good, light read that provides a broad overview of Tibetan Buddhism and in-depth account of the Kagyu school, the 16th and 17th Karmapa, and a colourful in-sights of the charlatanism, commercialism, power-politicking, exploitation, primitive shamanic practices, immoral behaviour (drugs and sex) and radically different teachings.

The 4 Schools of Tibetan Buddhism : (1) The Nyingma School – the ‘old school’ (2) The Kagyu School - ‘teaching lineage’ (3) The Sakya School – ‘gray earth’ (4) The Gelugpa School – ‘virtuous school’. The 14th Dalai Lama is from the Gelugpa school.

Click HERE for a summary of the differences in the 4 Schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Cancer Is A Bitch

ganpenelope — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:18:41 +0000

I write this not because I want to, but because I have to. It’s good to know before it is too late.

Cancer Is A Bitch!

Skin cancer – whilst is the most common form of cancer with more than one million skin cancers being diagnosed annually, it is generally one of the better cancers to get (if one actually has a choice in this matter). And I am saying this not because I am a cynic by nature, but because 3 out of 4 people will suffer from cancer. 4 out of 5 people will die of cancer.

However, only 3% of skin cancer cases are melanoma, which causes more than 75% of skin cancer deaths. This means that only 2% of people diagnosed with skin cancer dies of melanoma. Yes, melanoma kills. Basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma is rarely fatal but can be highly disfiguring.

Melanomas in Asians have a greater tendency than Caucasians to present with advanced disease at time of diagnosis. This is primarily due to the fact that they tend to occur on non-exposed skin with less pigment, with up to 60-75% of tumors arising on the palms, soles, mucous membranes and nail regions, that goes undetectable for a long time unlike other skin cancers that is visible to the naked eye – didn’t I say Cancer Is A Bitch!

Melanoma that occurs on the nail bed is called subungual melanoma. The only good thing about subungual melanoma is, it is a relatively rare cancer with reported incidence between 0.7 to 3.5% of all melanoma cases.

When mom first took serious noticed of her discoloured toe nail with a peculiar dark brown colour stripe that runs along the length of her nail plate, she had by that time lived with it for more than 3 months, dismissing it as a blood clout resulting from a knock, which she admits to not remembering.

Had it not been for her concern as a primary day care giver to my severely brain injured nephew, paranoia with increasing numbers of friends dropping like flies due to cancer, and her deep seated desire to match make (!) me to her doctor, she would not have insisted on a biopsy.

Today, we urge everyone to pay closer attention to their bodies. To exercise extreme paranoia. To be a hypochondriac.

After all, Cancer Is A Bitch! Early detection save lives.

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Happy 60th Birthday Mommy … and many more to come.

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Subungual melanoma is a specific type of melanoma that occurs under the nail bed more commonly in dark-skinned people. Subungual melanoma causes a dark colored stripe that runs along the length of the nail plate , not across the nail. Just having a dark nail stripe is not necessarily melanoma. The following Signs make it more likely that a dark stripe is a subungual melanoma and should be evaluated by a dermatologist:

Hutchinson’s Sign – Spread of pigmentation into the nail folds
Pigmentation in a single digit
Occurs at age 50 or older
Occurs in the thumb, index finger, or great toe
Blurred borders
History of melanoma

I am HIV+

ganpenelope — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:18:53 +0000

I am HIV positive.

It’s not an easy phrase to say. Yet in April 2009, six brave people stood tall and proud and uttered these simple but profound words that would change their world.

In a country where HIV/AIDS cases were only publicly acknowledged and reported for the last 23 years, and where more importantly discrimination remains the main ‘killer’ for people living with HIV+, the notion of recording uncensored testaments by people living with HIV+ was unheard off.

Yet, through faith, perseverance, sensitivity, respect, responsibility and belief this project evolved from a few scratchy lines of far and between emails dating back to October 2008 between myself and the Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) to one that has to date helped raised MYR 6 million in 5 months.

From an independent third party standpoint, the HIV/AIDS issue is no more than statistics which ironically is read far less than GDP figures, unemployment rates, road death tolls and even the latest EPL scores and winning lottery numbers.

Since the first HIV/AIDS cases were publicly reported in 1986 by the Ministry of Health, 84,630 HIV infections have been reported in this country and 11,384 people have AIDS as at December 31, 2008. The majority of new HIV infections are found in adults aged between 20 to 39 years, with transmission from intravenous drug usage (IDU) being the number one cause followed by infections via heterosexual intercourse. Although those with HIV/AIDS are predominantly male, the number of HIV+ infections amongst women has been increasing.

Being a woman myself, never has these words rung truer and deeper …

“Due to gender norms and inequalities, many women and girls lack the social and economic power to control key aspects of their lives, particularly sexual matters. As a result, women are in a difficult, and often impossible, situation when it comes to negotiating with their partners over abstinence, fidelity, or condom use.”

(Excerpt from: UNAIDS, 2006. Increase Women’s Control over HIV Prevention, Issue 4)

… as I sat in their bare and dimly lit kitchens and homes, documenting their lives.

Of the two women who welcomed me into their homes, lives, intimate secrets and dreams… both were ‘victims’ of circumstances – contracting HIV+ from life partners that were IDUs. When I walked into this photo-project, I had imagined the women to be bitter, resentful and possibly wallowing in self-pity but I was repeatedly proven wrong. Far from my own personal cynic outlook of things, these women living with HIV+ were spirited, positive and full of zest. What surprises me most was that although they live on to shoulder the burden of raising their children single-handedly with little means, balancing their health related issues and faced with societal unforgiving discrimination and stigma, they showed no remorse or anger having contracted the infections through irresponsible husband and has coined the term “love disease”.

Their ‘hopes and dreams’ which includes witnessing the graduation and marriage of their children, to me, does not have a tinge of far fetched ambition, but I soon realised that while it relates to matters we take for granted, time is an essence with these brave women and though they may possess will power that could move mountains, their spirits are constantly dampen by their physical inability and unnecessary hurdles posed by us who do not and/or refuses to understand.

By standing tall and speaking from their hearts, these women hopes to spread the message of awareness and to inspire others that are living of HIV+ that it is still a life worth fighting for.

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The multimedia photoessays of “Voices of People Living with HIV+” was released for selective viewing for fundraising purposes in May 2009 and will be made available only on the Malaysian AIDS Council website in due course. I would like to thank a personal friend of mine, Jimin Lai for having the faith in me and MAC to volunteer his time and photographic skills in this project as well.

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useful HIV/AIDS resources

The BODY | WHO

Women Weavers: Kully Valley

ganpenelope — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:33 +0000

What appears to be distinctively distracting as you drive down the lovely and pristine road connecting Kullu and Manali with the roaring Beas river flowing pass and alpine landscape soaring way way above the skyline, are countless of shops selling mufflers, stoles and shawls, and in your face “Traditional Kully Shawls” signboards posted above or beside what appears to approximate the size of the shop itself!

Interestingly 20,000 to 22,000 people are said to be engaged in weaving around this valley and many of which are women.

During my trip to Manali, I was fortunate to be invited into 3 homes of weavers, two of which were part of a women weaving cooperative society. I was informed that 90% of the weavers in the Kullu Valley work with or is in some way affiliated to the many well-organised weaving cooperative societies, most of which are operated by women for women. Not only does these cooperative societies assist in organising the weavers, procuring bulk raw material and marketing the finished product, the societies have provided employment across the entire value-add chain in the weaving industry to women in this valley which has made them self reliant both from an economic stand point but more importantly in terms of acquiring new skills and experiences that they would otherwise never have had the opportunity and exposure.

Being an integral part of the lives of people in the Kullu Valley, every home has at least one loom; be it being used for commercial reasons or for their own consumption. Not surprising then the Pattus is their traditional attire – a characterless 18-22″ wide blanket like piece woven in the natural colours of wool – black, grey and white (and occasionally dyed with vegetable dyes) that serves the bare necessity of covering their bodies and protecting themselves from severe cold. Worn as a single piece wrapped around their bodies, the Pattu is held in place with a piece of cloth that serves as a belt and fastened at the top with a delicate chain with two clips at its ends.

Today, 70 years after the weavers from Bushehar (Shimla) handed down their weaving knowledge that includes hand looms, geometric designs and synthetic threads (all of which was possibly from the influence and transfer of know-hows by the British) the Kullu Valley now offers an impressive array of woolens for sale in many exotic designs and from the subdued colours of apricot, olive, ocher …et cetera achieved by the natural vegetable dyes to the vogue and fashionable synthetic dyes.

Handicapped by language and under tight time constraint, I regret that I was not able to better understand this art form and the people creating them. I remain curious about the real economic value in these delicate time consuming pieces they create and the actual portions of the economic cake the weavers are entitled too.

Interestingly, I am yet to see any of these hand looms pieces for sale under those blinding “Traditional Kullu Shawls” signage that dots the Kullu Valley and chocks their mainstreet malls. What I’ve seen seems to me to be over-priced machine woven shawls that are widely available all over India – a far cry from the traditional shawls spunned and weaved from natural fibres by hand looms in almost every veranda, garden shed or room in a Kullu home.

So, where do the real Traditional Kullu Shawls go to?

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More shots and behind the scene story HERE {warning: just rants by me}