Melody in Prison: Ngawang Choephel
	UPDATE 16 September 1998

Sonam Dekyi, Ngawang Choephel's mother, is scheduled to come to the United States in October for a brief tour of the East Coast. Because of her frail health and the ambitious agenda of her tour, Ms. Dekyi will not be able to visit more destinations in the US during this visit. She will arrive with her translator (Tsering Norzom, member of Parliament of the Tibetan Government in Exile) in Washington, DC, the first weekend of October and she is scheduled to depart for Europe three weeks later. Her international tour is being co-sponsored by the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, and Free Tibet Campaign–UK. Locally, Ms. Dekyi will be hosted by community Tibet support groups (TSGs) and long-time friends of Ngawang.

The goals of Ms. Dekyi's tour are:

1. to promote the campaign to free Ngawang;
2. to secure Sonam Dekyi a visa to visit her son in Tibet;
3. to educate the public about the situation in Tibet; and
4. to demonstrate wide-spread support for these issues.

ICT asks that all interested TSGs and other supporters send submissions for a special scrap book that they are compiling for Sonam-la. They encourage you to send letters, photographs, poems, drawings, petitions, press-clips, or anything else that conveys a message to Sonam-la that will easily fit into an 8.5x11-inch three-ring binder. Please make sure that each submission includes your name, affiliation, address, phone, fax, and e-mail address. They will be collecting submissions beginning immediately and ending on October 20th. Items for the scrapbook may be sent to:

Mojgone Azemun
Grassroots Action Coordinator
International Campaign for Tibet
1825 K Street NW, Suite 520
Washington, DC 20006

Below is a tentative agenda of potential events and meetings for Sonam Dekyi's stay that will be confirmed and updated in the coming weeks. Please note that, due to her health, dates or places may also be changed to accomodate her, and therefore all details described below are subject to changes and cancellations. If you are interested in being involved in the tour or would like further information about events, please contact International Campaign for Tibet at (202) 785-1515 so that they may put you in touch with a tour organizer in your area. Finally, please contact them if you would like to order an updated Ngawang Action Kit.

4-10 October - Washington, DC

• Congressional appointments with Vermont delegation and other key members of Congress
  
• Meeting with Human Rights Caucus
  
• Meetings with State Department and office of the US Special Coordinator for Tibet
  
• Program with Greater Washington Students for a Free Tibet
  
• Interviews with Voice of America and Radio Free Asia

7 October
6:00 - 8:00 pm - George Washington University
Joint reception withTseten Norbu, President of Tibetan Youth Congress, hosted by International Campaign for Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet.

6 October
7:00-8:00 pm - Reception hosted by the Capital Area Tibetan Association.

11-15 October - New York, NY

Sonam Dekyi's visit to New York City is organized by a coalition of groups, including the Office of Tibet-New York, Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Association of New York and New Jersey, Students for a Free Tibet, Tibetan Women's Association, U.S.-Tibet Committee, and the International Campaign for Tibet.

Representatives of the United Nations and of non-governmental organizations who wish to arrange meetings should contact the Office of Tibet at (212) 213-5010. Members of the press should contact the U.S.-Tibet Committee at (212) 481-3569.

13 October - Public event at Columbia University

7:00-9:00 pm, Altschul Auditorium, School of International Affairs,
118th Street at Amsterdam Avenue, Room 417
Showing of Missing in Tibet, documentary film on Ngawang that includes excerpts from videos he made in Tibet, and talks by Sonam Dekyi and others.

14 October

8:00-10:30 am - UN Breakfast Briefing
Hosted by the International League for Human Rights. Sonam Dekyi, Dawa Tsering and Reed Brody will speak. UN and NGO representatives may RSVP the Office of Tibet at (212) 213-5010.

8:00-10:00pm - Open mike night at New York University
In the Club Room of the Loeb Building, West Fourth Street at LaGuardia Place.
Sonam Dekyi will speak, and students are invited to read poetry, perform music and do whatever else might inspire or give us strength in the struggle to free Ngawang.

15 October - Rally at the United Nations

6:00-8:00 pm, Ralph Bunche Park, First Avenue at 43rd Street.
For further information, please contact the Tibetan Youth Congress at (718) 205-1245.

16 October - Amherst, MA

7:00 pm, Hampshire College, Franklin Patterson Hall (West Lecture Hall)
Sonam Dekyi will speak, and Missing in Tibet, the documentary film about Ngawang Choephel, will be screened before a panel discussion ensues. All are welcome to a reception and letter-writing campaign on Ngawang Choephel's behalf.

Directions: Get to I-91 (Mass), take exit 19. This is Route 9E. Ignore all signs to Hampshire College. Proceed on 9E until you reach Route 116 downtown Amherst. Turn right (116 S). Go for about three miles. Pass sign saying "Hampshire Admissions." Turn up steep incline which says "Main Entrance." Stop at crossroads with huge campus map on right. Turn left, then first right to parking. Franklin Patterson Hall is to your right as you approach the parking lot.

17-21 October - Boston, MA

17 October
6:30 pm - Swedenbourgh Chapel (corner of Quincy and Kirkland Streets)
Dinner at hosted by the Tibetan Association of Boston.

18 October
7:30-10:30 pm - 63-8 Commercial Wharf
Fundraiser dinner and performance. Tickets are $50 per person. (Student discount available.) Contact Phuntsok Meston at (617) 964-8230).

19 October
5:30-6:30 pm - 104 Harvard Hall
Public talk followed by candlelight vigil at Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square.

20 October
Public talk at Brandeis University. (Details not available at this time.)

16-23 October - Middlebury, VT

22 October
4:30 pm - Warner Hemicycle on College Street (Route 125)
Screening of Missing in Tibet followed by a meditation led by Andrea Olsen, a dance professor and friend of Ngawang.

7:00 pm - Mead Chapel on Hepburn Road off College Street (Route 125)
Sonam Dekyi will be the keynote speaker, joined by Vermont Congressmember Bernie Sanders, representatives from Vermont Senator James Jeffords' office, and Jon Barlow ('96), a friend and fellow student of Ngawang now working with International Campaign for Tibet to win his freedom.

23 October - Arrive in Washington, DC

24 October - Depart for UK (visits to London, Vienna, Norway, and Sweden)

15 December - Depart for Delhi