July 30
The overcast sky greeted us as we enjoyed our 6am breakfast at the Kurukulla Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies in Medford, MA. Incredibly, our group of core walkers, (comprised mostly of Tibetans under the age of 19), was not running on Tibetan time and arrived at the Massachusetts State House an entire half-hour early. Here we joined members of the Tibet Association of Boston and local Bostonians who came out early on a Saturday morning to show their support. We were also joined by leaders of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress of New York/New Jersey, the local Taiwanese community, the Taiwanese American Association-Boston Chapter, and the World United Formosans for Independence-USA.
Venerable Palden Gyatso and Venerable Sonam Wangdu began the walk kickoff rally with prayers of compassion. Then, Larry Gerstein and Jigme Norbu briefly spoke about the mission of the walk and the history of ITIM's previous walks and bike rides. Mr. Liu of WUFI gave a passionate speech about the necessity of Tibet being independent and the collaborative and warm relationship between the Tibetan and Taiwanese freedom fighters. Following a long standing tradition, on behalf of WUFI-USA, Mr. Liu presented the Tibetan walkers with a large banner stating, "China Out of Tibet."
About 60 people began the walk, with Jigme Norbu and Venerable Palden Gyatso leading the group of mostly local Tibetans and Taiwanese supporters. More specifically, there were 19 core walkers along with 20 local Boston Tibetans, 10 Westerners, 20 members of the Taiwanese American Association-Boston Chapter and WUFI, and two journalists (one from Japan & one from New York) doing a documentary on the Venerable Palden Gyatso. The core walkers are from Washington, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois, Indiana, New York, and India.
Together we chanted "Free Tibet" slogans until our throats hurt more than our feet! A few hours later, our strength was replenished by a delicious, lunch meal graciously donated by the Rangzen Restaurant of Cambridge. At the end of 12 miles, our feet were sore but our spirits were soaring!
There was no time to rest, however, as we went straight to the Swedenborg Chapel in Cambridge for a presentation and potluck dinner courtesy of the Boston Tibet community. Venerable Palden Gyatso gave an inspiring talk to a packed room, Jigme called upon the Tibetan youth to carry the torch for freedom into the future, and Larry recounted tales of previous walks, in particular the Toronto-NYC walk with Taktser Rinpoche.
After a nourishing dinner (and delicious dessert!), we returned to the Kurukulla Center weary but content at 11:30pm, only to catch a few hours sleep before the pre-6am wake-up call. 12 miles down, 200 to go!
