Child Exodus From Tibet

Every year an average of 1000 Tibetan children risk their lives to escape from a system of education that is almost entirely Chinese. This problem, all too often passed over in silence, forces many parents to send their children to India for a traditional Tibetan education. They pay a guide who accompanies the children in groups, for the journey over the Himalayas which is not without risks. What leads parents to expose their children to these risks? How many flee? What is the journey like? What are the psychological consequences? What is life like for those who arrive in India? Do the parents ever see their children again? ''Child Exodus from Tibet'' is an informative, readable book with moving testimony, richly illustrated with colour photographs. The author, Birgit van de Wijer, has been engaged with Tibetan issues for years. For this book she spent months collecting information in India and Nepal, where she interviewed dozens of Tibetan children. She is outspoken in denouncing the inhuman conditions of these children; there has been silence for too long.