Fiona Birt, Living in Exile (PEOPLE 2022)

Tenpa served 5 years as a political prisoner in Tibet for the “crime” of possessing a photo of his spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalia Lama. From a nomadic family in Amdo province, Tenpa spent his childhood herding cattle and tending to stock, before joining a monastery where he became a monk and received an education. The harsh prison conditions he endured and the extreme lack of freedoms in Chinese-occupied Tibet, motivated Tenpa to escape the oppression by making the treacherous crossing of the Himalayas into Nepal and onto India. Tenpa has vowed to wear his ‘Save Tibet’ headband every day of his life until Tibet is once again a free country. He is committed to a life of activism in pursuit of this cause.

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