Tibet Oral History Project: Interview with Kalsang Lhamo on 4/3/2017

The interpreter's English translation provided during this interview is potentially incomplete and/or inaccurate. If you are not fluent in Tibetan, please refer to the interview transcript for the complete and correct English translation. Read the interview transcript in English at tibetoralhistor...
** This interview about life in Tibet was conducted by the Tibet Oral History Project. This non-profit organization aims to preserve the history and culture of the Tibetan people by interviewing elderly Tibetan refugees about life in Tibet before and after the Chinese invasion. Learn more at www.TibetOralHi....
** Interview Summary: Kalsang Lhamo was born in 1935 in Dhiwu, Kham Province. In that region crops were harvested once or twice each year, depending on where they were grown. Handmade tools and animals were used in the cultivation process and the families took turns helping each other. Kalsang Lhamo describes the types of barley and products made from it. Water was channeled from the mountains and distributed into the fields by canals. Her family owned three huge copper pots for storing water to use in the house, but they had to carry the water to the pots on their backs. Kalsang Lhamo recalls the local death rituals-the rich were cremated and the poor were disposed of in the river. In her region there were no schools, but boys could receive an education at the monasteries. There was even a shortage of men because so many became monks. Despite the shortage, it was common for a family to bring home one bride for two or more sons. This resulted in an abundance of unwed women, but there was no stigma for these women to have illegitimate children. Kalsang Lhamo ran away from home to Lhasa as young woman, working as a laborer along the way to earn food. Because she came from a small village, she was not prepared to survive in a big city and she decided to live with a man so he could take care of her. He brought her to India, where she eventually reunited with her family. Kalsang Lhamo later made two visits back to her hometown in Tibet.