His Holiness’ London Representative gives the Nanette Godfrey Memorial Lecture at Tudor Hall school, England[Tuesday, 10 May 2011, 5:02 p.m.]
LONDON: Mr
Thubten Samdup, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the
Office of Tibet, London, gave the Nanette Godfrey Memorial Lecture at
Tudor Hall school on Thursday 5 May. Tudor Hall is a small, highly
successful independent girls’ boarding and day school west of Banbury,
some 25 miles north of Oxford, England. Miss Nanette Godfrey was
Headmistress of the school from 1984 until her untimely death in 2003,
and was a great supporter of Tibet. The visit to Tudor Hall
took place at the invitation of Diana Hughes, a teacher at the school,
to the Representative to speak to the pupils at Tudor Hall and from
neighbouring visiting schools about the Tibetan situation. Diana
Hughes’ personal interest in Tibet stems from the fact that her father,
Harry Staunton, was the young doctor on the British Mission to Lhasa in
1940, where he was a witness to the Installation of His Holiness the
14th Dalai Lama. Mr Samdup was accompanied on the visit by
Tenzin Rangdol, General Secretary of the Tibetan Community in Britain,
who had been requested by Diana Hughes to chant the Prayer of Truth
(den-tsig-monlam) after the Representative’s talk. The
Representative began by describing to the audience how matters stand at
present in Tibet and with Tibetans in exile all over the world. The
film ‘Leaving Fear Behind’ was shown; there was then a question and
answer session, followed by Mr Rangdol’s chanting of the Prayer of
Truth. Mr Samdup sent out a clear warning as to the next phase
in Tibetan history, and how the next generation must not grow impatient
with the non-violent approach His Holiness has taught the world to
listen to. He expressed sadness at the reluctance of Western
governments to come out more openly in favour of the Tibetan cause, and
he reiterated the reasonableness of the Dalai Lama’s plea that Tibetan
culture and rights should be respected in an autonomous region within
China. He said that awareness would inevitably grow within Chinese
society, and that this would hopefully lead to a recognition of the
human rights of Tibetans, and his young audience was particularly
impressed by the fact that the onus was to be on the next generation to
work towards a positive future for Tibet. Diana Hughes speaking
after the lecture said: “We are extremely grateful to Mr Samdup and
Tenzin Rangdol for giving us this unique and privileged insight into
their country’s struggle, and I am sure that many young people there
that evening will have been inspired to learn more about Tibet and
hopefully, to do something positive to aid Tibetans”.
