Tsering Lhamo 1986? - 2007

I met Tsering Lhamo when I visited Yachen Gar for the first time in
june 2005. Tsering Lhamo was the best friend of Yeshe Cheutso the nun
I sponsor there. Both were coming from the same village near Rigul.
As she had spent a few years in Lhasa, Tsering Lhamo and I could
communicate very well and she was acting like a translator for me.
She actually stayed with us all the time I was there. She impressed
me with her sense of humor and joy of living.

During my second visit in Yachen Gar in may 2006, I stayed at her
parents place as all her family is living there. My stay was much
longer than the previous year and I learned to know and appreciated
her better. Despite her young age and being a nun for less than two
years, she showed real dedication for her buddhist practice. And it
was a real pleasure to see how much she enjoyed her life there.

Tsering Lhamo became sick in the first months of 2007. I was told
that she was taken to the hospital in Kandze and Manigango but they
couldn't do anything for her.

I know that these things happen all the time and that dying is part
of living but I do feel great sadness. Her death at a young age
reminds me of the buddhist teachings on the uncertainty of the time
of death and how difficult life in remote areas of Tibet can be.

I will probably meet her parents in Yachen Gar next week and I'm
afraid that it will be difficult to stop tears from falling.

Anyway, I feel really lucky that I met her and she'll forever remain
an inspiration for me.