That image, which she saw in 1998, made writer/filmmaker Maria Blumencron ask herself, how could parents send their children away, and over such arduous terrain?
While on her quest for answers in Tibet she met Kelsang Jigme, a brave soul who had assisted the children in their escape.
Ms. Blumencron wanted to make a documentary of the trek across the Himalayan Mountain passes. She and Kelsang Jigme went to Tibet to begin. But the police were notified, arrested her and kept her in custody for one and a half days. Kelsang Jigme was incarcerated for two years.
After that she made her approach from the Nepalese side of the Tibetan border, and came to know some of the people who dared to risk their lives to escape. Among them were youths and children, carried through the snow by adults. The results of her quest led to an impressive documentary and a book.
At the end of March 2008, Maria published her second book: Goodbye, Tibet. As she did in her first work, she describes individual people’s fate and their daring—to confront great danger in Tibet, to dare to escape from Communist rule, and be on their way to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama’s home in India.
Particularly moving are the children’s stories whose parents sent them into exile in the belief they would have a better future in India, across snow-covered 6,000 meter mountain passes. Some never arrived at their destination …
