India: Introducing Falun Dafa in Ladakh

Ladakh is a remote area in the Himalayas, at the northern tip of India. Every summer, Falun Gong practitioners in other areas of India visit here to introduce local residents and foreign tourists to Falun Gong, teach them the execises, and inform them about the persecution. Sometimes, practitioners from other countries also came to help.

In the summer and autumn this year, practitioners held many activities to promote Falun Dafa in Ladakh

Choglamsar was hit by serious flooding in August this year. Residents lost their homes and had to live in tents. Many people lost their loved ones, and they were traumatised by the disaster. Falun Gong practitioners spent ten days teaching the exercises at the local rescue camp. Those who learned the exercises included the elderly and the young, teenagers and adults of different age groups. Rescue committee members expressed their gratitude to practitioners on the final day of the exercise instruction. They invited the practitioners to come again next year to their newly established homes to teach them the exercises.

Practitioners held a truth clarification exhibition and exercise teaching activity at a hall of a school in Choglamsar, 8 km away from Leh. Hundreds of students and their teachers were pleased to learn about Falun Dafa. Some teachers spent a lot of time explaining to their students about the exhibition. A teenage student enthusiastically helped put up posters. He told the practitioners that he had a Falun Dafa informational VCD, and had watched it many times. He could sing a song from it quite well. He thanked the practitioners for coming to his school to hold activities.

Children showed great interest in learning the exercises. Many asked their PE teachers to allow them to continue doing the exercises ast school in the future. All of the teachers are Tibetans in this school, and many of the students are Tibetan. They are very familiar with the Chinese Communist Party's trampling upon human rights.

Many teachers received truth clarification materials years ago, and helped their students learn about Falun Gong and the persecution. There are many Dafa books and informational materials in the school's library.

A practitioner displayed many posters, calendars and informational materials in Leh. During the 2009 book fair held in Dehli, a young Indian woman came to the Falun Gong booth, and said that she came because she had seen Falun Dafa information everywhere in Leh.

Falun Dafa related books, magazines, flyers and VCDs have been delivered to all households, libraries, school principals, police bureaus, military camps, judges, lawyers, hospitals, religious leaders, Tibetan markets, restaurants, Internet bars, tourist agencies and hotels.

A local television station in Ladakh brodcast a 20-minute Falun Dafa program. In the programme, two practitioners demonstrated the five sets of the exercises and gave a background explanation about Falun Gong.