Bodhgaya, January 2, 2012: The Tibetan Women's Association (TWA) is organizing a series of initiatives aimed at helping fellow pilgrims and the environment, during the 32nd Kalachakra initiation by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya.
Members of the TWA - which is the second largest Tibetan NGO in exile, boasting 16,000 members worldwide - are holding talks to help improve the lives of women from Tibet, running a hard-hitting environmental awareness and action campaign, and working in security as well as helping to keep the huge campsites clean and pleasant throughout the 10 day teaching.
The talks will include: Women's Reproductive Health, by Dr Konchuk Dorjee from Deleck Hospital, Parenting and Child Care, by Dr Lhadon from the Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute, and Women and HIV/AIDS, by nurse Tsering Paldon and Phuntsok Choemphel, from HIV/AIDS awareness NGO, CHOICE.
The TWA is also distributing books and films documenting the status of women both within and outside Tibet, plastic-free bags and flower seeds blessed by His Holiness to Tibetan pilgrims.
As part of its global climate change campaign, Save Tibet the Third Pole, the TWA is also gathering signatures for a petition, Nomads for Planetary Third Pole, urging the Chinese leadership to halt the forced eviction of nomads from the Tibetan plateau - ensuring environmental balance for Tibet's fragile ecosystem - at its booth at the main Kalachakra venue. The petition will be submitted to the Environment Ministries of the 'Ten Downstream Nations,' expected to experience the worst effects of climate change in Tibet, and to the Environment Ministry of the People's Republic of China. A climate change conference entitled: Tibet the Third Pole and its Impact on Asia's Future, organized by the TWA's Women's Environment and Development Desk, will take place on Monday, January 9. The panel of experts will include travel writer and filmmaker, Michael Buckley, Indian writer and journalist, Vijay Kranti, head of the Central Tibetan Administration's (CTA's) Environment and Development office, Tenzin Norbu, and Tenzin Dorjee, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet.
Seventy five TWA members from 30 regional chapters across India and Nepal have also been recruited by the CTA's Department of Security at the teachings, whilst others are taking part in a cleanliness drive at the Reception Centre and at the make shift camp sites, which are a temporary home to a huge concentration of women and children from Tibet.
On January 10, TWA members will also offer Tenshug prayers for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
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