MEDIA RELEASE
Simon Bradshaw <simoncbradshaw@gmail.com>
August 2, 2010

On 8 August a team of Tibetans and Tibet
supporters will be among the 75,000 runners in
Sydney’s iconic City2Surf. In a first for
Sydney’s Tibetans, the team of fifteen will be
running to promote awareness of the enduring
situation in Tibet and to raise money for the Australia Tibet Council.

Sydney is home to around 500 Tibetans. The fast
growing community has become a major centre of
the global Tibetan diaspora. Team organizer Tenpa
Dugdak explained the team’s motivation:

"For our fellow Tibetans in Tibet life remains a
daily struggle against fear and oppression. In
Australia we can do what they can’t – we can
speak out without risk of imprisonment and
torture. We are blessed to live in a democracy
and have a responsibility to use that freedom to help others."

In a stark reminder of the denial of such basic
freedoms in Tibet, the week of the City2Surf will
mark three years since a Tibetan nomad, Runggye
Adak, was arrested at Tibet’s famous Lithang
Horse Festival after publicly calling for the
Dalai Lama's return to Tibet. Tibet’s nomads, who
are being forcibly removed from their lands and
resettled in purpose-built towns, are facing the
decimation of their traditional culture and livelihoods.

The team has been eagerly preparing for the event
and on Saturday hosted a traditional Tibetan
feast as part of their fundraising efforts.

Ani Phuntsok, a Tibetan nun and former political
prisoner, is among the eight Tibetans and seven
Australian supporters in the “I Walk 4 Tibet” team:

"I now enjoy freedom and am happy living in
Australia, however I am always conscious of the
ongoing suffering of my fellow Tibetans under the
Chinese rule, so as a Tibetan person, I feel it
is my duty to represent my people who have no
voice. Secondly, The last time I walked in my
robes on the streets of Lhasa, as a 14 yr old nun
to stand up for my beliefs and my devotion to His
Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Chinese imprisoned
me. After my release from prison I was no longer
allowed to live as a nun and because of this I
made the treacherous journey to India. I like all
other people want freedom and Democracy.”

A special webpage has been set up at
www.atc.org.au/iwalk4tibet where people can read
more quotes from team members and make an online donation.

The team has so far raised $4,000 for the
Australia Tibet Council (ATC). ATC is Australia’s
national Tibet support group and works to promote
the human rights and democratic freedoms of the Tibetan people: www.atc.org.au.

For more information:
Tenpa Dugdak 0434 322 449
Simon Bradshaw 0404 859 806