Season 1 Episode 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryo7ms1cQ40
Conversation with Tenzin Zompa
The podcast session with Tenzin Zompa saw her revealing the varying difficulties in
procuring news and reporting from China occupied Tibet, her journey as a journalist and
what it means being a young Tibetan.
It began with her sharing her childhood and how having a twin sister immensely helped her
out. Following this she explained how her schooling in Tibetan Children’s Village has shaped
her character and individual persona. The teachers and staff not only made her and the
Tibetans students remember how they were forced to become refugees but made sure in
imparting them how it was India who heeded our call for asylum hood and continues to help
Tibetan. It was in this very school during her 6 th grade that she realized Journalism was her
true calling. She wanted to share the truth of Tibet to the world and that was what prompted
here to enter this field.
Moving on Tenzin Zompa explained how her time in Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), Delhi
University influenced her greatly. She mentioned “It was difficult at first having to
understand and communicate in English, it was hard to articulate my thoughts in English but
gradually things started to fall in place and the time in LSR was truly magical”. The magical
experience that she emphasizes here, is the plethora of opportunities presented to her that
went beyond the class room lectures and helped in her development.
Touching on her journey in the media world she asserted how it was tough to make a mark in
this field being a Tibetan in the initial periods because of implicit and even explicit
discrimination levied upon her. She felt this on various instances be it during the Covid
Pandemic when she was covering reports in Delhi and also during here coverage of President
Xi and foreign minister of China Wang Yi’s visit to India. However, amidst all this she was
fortunate to come across individuals who would support her in such testing times. She
mentions how one of her editor at ThePrint showed great interest in developments on Tibet
and she remains an inspirational figure for her. Furthermore, she also shed light on how it is
very difficult to report and cover news on Tibet. The reason being that, China intimidates and
even arbitrarily arrests those Tibetan who shares events happening in Tibet to media
personnel. She shared anecdotes that really hit her and made her realize how Tibetans in
Tibet are suppressed and are denied their basic freedom of expression.
Finally, she stresses on how we Tibetans must not rest on our laurels but continue to
overcome obstacles at an accelerated pace and pursue our goals and dreams. On Tibetan
women she is of the opinion that though they have made their mark, more needs to be done in
this space. And her message to Tibetans was “Tibetans need to more consistent in their
efforts to work towards their dream and this is the factor that is most lacking in my Tibetan
brother and sisters”.
