Mayors of six different cities and towns holding the plaque of adoption

PARIS: The ongoing ‘adopt a Tibet village campaign’ saw six cities/towns in France’s midi-Pyrénées region coming together to mark a ceremony of adoption in Lavaur in southern France on 29 and 30 September 2012.

The ceremony of adoption was held in the presence of Kasur Jetsun Pema, sister of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Mr Ngodup Dorjee, the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Western Europe, Maghreb and the EU.

The mayors of all the six city and two municipalities were present to show their support to the campaign, that aims to safeguard and preservation of rich and unique Tibetan culture and identity currently facing threat at the hands of Chinese policies in Tibet.

Kasur Jetsun Pema and Representative Ngodup Dorjee with the mayor of Lavaur

The six French cities and towns which have adopted Tibetan places are : (1) Lavelanet-de-Comminges / Narthang (2) Gensac-sur-Garonne /Gadong (3) Bax / Rong (4) Carbonne / Nagartse (5) Latrape/ Riwoche and (6) Mailholas /Dorjeling

Apart from the Mayors of the six muncipalities, Mr Bernard Carayon the mayor of Lavaur and former member of Parliament, Mrs Linda Gourjade, member of Parliament for the district of Lavaur also attended and addressed the ceremony.

The municipality of Lavaur has already adopted Shigatse.

In each of the cities and towns, Kasur Jetsun Pema and Mr Ngodup Dorjee spoke on the current situation inside Tibet and appealed for the active support of the French people and the leaders.

Earlier on 28 September, Kasur Jetsun Pema and Representative of His Holiness Mr Ngodup Dorjee attended a meeting in Lavaur organised by a local NGO ‘Nos petit Boutain’ where they spoke on the Tibetan education system in exile. They also gave an overview of the China’s education policy in Tibet which, they said, not only threatened linguistic and cultural identity of the Tibetan people, but aggravated the assimilation of minority Tibetan people into the majority Han Chinese.

Around 150 local people attended the conference and appreciated the exile Tibetan education initiative and the achievements so far. Some of them expressed their sincere desire to help Tibetan children in their educational pursuit.