I’ve just arrived in the tiny Himalayan village of Dharamsala, India, the official headquarters of the Tibetan government in exile. I’ve spent the last thirteen hours on an overcrowded bus, I haven’t even unpacked my bag, but I’m counting my blessings and stretching out my cramped legs, enjoying the crisp mountain air along a winding little path dotted with prayer stones.

I’m exhausted so I’m walking downhill. But every few paces I come face-to-face with a smiling, red-robed monk, one after another – beautiful, welcoming faces, each one pointing me uphill with such a glimmer in their eyes that I finally give in and turn around.

What I don’t know is that His Holiness, the Dalai Llama, whose been gone one full year on a worldwide tour, will be returning on the very day of my arrival.

The sun is falling and I’m freezing and really thinking of turning back, when the little path widens into a mountain courtyard packed with monks and villagers in native dress, burning incense and waving their prayer wheels. I try my best to figure out what’s up, but all I get is sweet, expectant smiles, and after an hour or so I’m shivering and thinking whatever it is, I’m not gonna make it.

Just then, a sweet young monk with the look of a wide-eyed infant pulls me close as a tiny motorcade literally brushes past with the Dalai Llama himself beaming at me and my new friend as we wave like school children at a parade.

It’s the first of so many life lessons I’m going to learn during my stay here – unexpected treasures waiting just around the bend if we act on faith, accept good guidance, and turn around and walk the other way.

Human Rights Advocacy:
Torture, cruel, degrading and inhuman treatments

As legal counsel to the Tibetan Government in Exile, traveling to the remote mountain village of Dharamsala, India, Ndoema received a personal audience with his Holiness the Dalai Lama and subsequently authored highly sensitive legal documentation substantiating the harrowing testimonies of Tibetan torture victims, presented before the United Nations Human Rights Committee on behalf of the Tibetan government.