After walking, the group had a delicious dinner at Gauranga's Vegetarian
Cafe, operated by the Hare Krishna community in Laguna Beach. Guru Seva,
a member of the Orange County Friends of Tibet, was our hostess. Several
other members of OCFoT met the group at the cafe and afterwards at the
church, and we were very graciously welcomed to Orange County. A detailed
planning session took place for the events of the next day -- a large
protest through the downtown and a press conference at the beach.
Over fifty people showed up for the march on Thursday,
and made their voices heard. The leader of OCFoT, Tenzin Chonden, was
the voice at the megaphone and the organizer of the whole event. As the
group passed through this highly populated and touristed area, many people
came out of their shops and restaurants to watch and lend their support.
The press conference at the main beach began with the crowd circling and chanting slogans. Tenzin then introduced Julie Crow, who briefly spoke and indroduced the walkers. Ava Park gave a short speech -- a plea to fellow Orange Countians to look beyond their own territory and recognize that the oppression of living beings anywhere is relevent to everyone. Pema Lhundup then spoke, followed by Tim Wang of the Formosan Association for Human Rights. Ven. Palden Gyatso headed off the grand finale with a condensed version of his powerful talk, torture instruments laid out before him on a Chinese flag. Pema Lhundup then held up the flag and cut out the white star representing Tibet in an emotional symbolic gesture. The eventful day was topped off with a wonderful dinner at Mo Maher's house overlooking the sea.
Friday was a day off, as the walkers packed and moved to the home of Lamu and Mike Stadler in Los Alamitos. A great feast and pool party was held at Tenzin Chonden's house. It was a giant Tibetan family party, with the Lakers/Pacers playoff game as a centerpiece. The ITIM Hoosiers made good rivals for the local LA Tibetans. This weekend promises to be very successful, with many support walkers set to join on their days off.
International
Tibet Independence Movement
PO Box 592 Fishers, Indiana 46038-0592 United States
e-mail: rangzen@aol.com
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