Venerable Yeshe Togden

Yeshe Togden, founder of the Gu-Chu-Sum Ex-Political Prisoners Association was born around 1965, in the village of Meldro Gongka, near Lhasa City. From the ages of twelve to fourteen he attended the village school just before he was recruited by the Chinese to do socialist reform farm labor which gave him no pay, but was the only way that the villagers were able to avoid starvation. In 1986, he entered Ganden Monastery in Lhasa and on March 5, 1988, during the Great Prayer Festival called Monlam, he took part in the major demonstration at the Jokhang where he was arrested and detained for five and a half months. He was first taken to Gutsa where he stayed about one and a half months. The food consisted of a light rice broth at 5 a.m., two small tingmo for lunch at one, and a few ³vegetables² with broth. The soup contained mostly the roots of cabbage. As the guard poured the soup in the bowl, the prisoners would try with their hands and keep the roots from being pulled out by the ladle, which the guards would then use to hit them over the head. According to Yeshe Togden, this food was ³very good² in comparison to Sangyip where he and several others were next transferred to.

Here, thirst was the most difficult thing for him to deal with. The political prisoners received a handful of tsampa with some black tea in the morning, and some broth with a tiny bit of betsel in the afternoon, in which lots of salt and chilly was purposely added. The hunger was easier to deal with because one could just ³faint and sleep it off,² but thirst was impossible. Many prisoners were driven to drinking their own urine, but in his case, without any water at all there was no urine to drink. He often found himself sticking his tongue between the bars just to feel the cold air outside. At times he would ask for cough syrup which he would drink, and many times he would eat the toothpaste they were given. Several others would also go to the extent of eating their soap. Opposite his cell were the criminals who saw how terrible the situation of the political prisoners was, and they would take pity on them and gather money amongst themselves to buy them powdered milk or extra tingmos. Hunger overrode their fear of the guards, and he and several others would take turns sneaking into the kitchen for extra tingmos or else they would slyly snatch them while the guards were distributing to fellow cellmates.

Yeshe Togden received beatings on countless occasions, and at this time, the officials would hold big metal shields to protect themselves from the thrashing of the prisoners. They often hit the prisoners over the head with these shields, cracking their skull at times, as they did with Topchen, a man presently living at Gu-Chu-Sum. Even though Yeshe Togden was beaten to the point that blood was running from his eyes, and his ears and legs received permanent damage, this was easier to forget and to get used to than the hunger and thirst which was ever-present. He even mentioned how they would return to their cell after the beatings and start cracking jokes about it, saying how they were curious and wanted to know what all the other prisons were like.

After his release and his return to Ganden monastery, a Chinese re-education team had now arrived. It wasn't long before, on March 1-7, 1989, he took part in yet again another demonstration in Lhasa. This was a seven day demonstration which a large part of the city took part in. This was very difficult for the Chinese to control, therefore, they called a state of emergency and no one was allowed to leave the city and troops were camped out around every corner, checking the I.D cards of anyone who walked by. People were forced to stay in their homes for almost a year, because if they were to step outside they would most likely get shot. There were fourteen army tents set up around Ganden Monastery alone. Yeshe Togden was arrested on the seventh day of the demonstration and he was at Seitru for two and a half months without a trial. Forty-two monks were expelled from Ganden, this being the first major expulsion occurring there, which also set off a number of subsequent expulsions at Sera, Drepung and several nunneries in the area. After being taken to district court, Yeshe Togden and eighteen other fellow monks were given the orders to return to their villages, never again to engage in any political activity or ever return to their monastery, to leave their villages only with permission from the authorities and for no more than seven days at a time.

So after becoming very bored with his life in the village, he left for India on July 1, 1990 and reached Dharamsala on October 1. That same year, he and several other former prisoners helped to establish the Gu-Chu-Sum Association, one of the eight NGO's in the community which has since developed extensively and now holds approximately 170 members. Its building is located on Jogibara Road in McCleod Ganj, and it is home to thirty former prisoners of conscience who are given free housing and food, as well as provided job opportunities, medical aid, and computer, English and Tibetan language classes. Gu-Chu-Sum also works to receive information coming in from Tibet in the form of brochures and information booklets. They also try to send money with Tibetans who are returning to Tibet for those prisoners who have been recently released and are struggling financially.

Yeshe Togden is the current president of Gu-Chu-Sum and he spends his days giving and receiving information, working closely with the Tibetan Information Network (TIN), campaigning, setting up peace marches and demonstrations, etc. He does, however, state his frustration and regrets for leaving Tibet, because here it's very difficult to directly affect the Chinese. Everything here is costing money and one is not able to really sacrifice and take risks by setting up freedom posters and taking part in demonstrations; one cannot directly strike at and anger the Chinese. Also, he expresses great frustration with the current situation in exile, the differences between those who were raised in India who tend to be very lazy and to lack motivation, and those who have come from Tibet riled up and ready to work for the Tibetan cause. Things tend to move much slower here than what the Tibetans are accustomed to living under the Communist regime all their lives. He does mention how wonderful it feels, however, to be able to move about freely without always looking over his shoulder and feeling like he is being followed and closely monitored. This has been something that has taken a long time to get used to.

International Tibet Independence Movement
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