Opinion: There are two struggles for Tibetans living in exile

There are two struggles for Tibetans living in exile. They run side by side, but they are not the same thing. One is the long hope of freedom and of returning one day to the land. That hope is real. It has kept many people going through decades of uncertainty. The other struggle is quieter and, in many ways, heavier. It is the everyday work of remaining a people at all. Staying together when everything pulls apart. Keeping the Tibetan language spoken in ordinary homes and not only on formal occasions. Protecting the religion so that it continues to be practised and lived, not turned into something distant that younger people only hear about. Holding the settlements from slowly emptying. Stopping families scattered across India, Nepal, Europe, America and elsewhere from drifting into separate lives until they no longer feel part of the same story.

This second struggle is talked about far less. Yet without it the first hope begins to lose its substance.

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