After contacting the Himalayan Institute on facebook and having them refer me to a guy, Mr. Abella, the manager of Global Humanitarian projects for the Himalayan Institute, and then he referring me to Mr Damdul, manager or the Organic Research and Training Center in Bylakuppe, I finally made my first Tibetan contact. After writing a brief email explaining that my husband and I are going to Bylakuppe for the summer for me to study agriculture and him music I received the most exciting response, if only I had this response earlier. He kindly explained the need for a Protected Area Permit, which I already knew about, and strongly suggested that the information listed should be for religious purposes in order for the Indian Government to pass it easily. More importantly, Mr. Damdul happily shares that they are more than willing to share information they have learned and experienced with organic farming and that maybe they can learn from me as well. I don't know if I will have much to share as I will be able to use my time to volunteer for them and learn from them. I did send a letter back of gratitude and asking a few more questions about volunteering for them bu I have yet to receive a response.
Having a gatekeeper is comforting. I now know that I will have at least some kind of access to farming information and very important information that is. This organization, the Organic Research and Training Center, is becoming more and more important as I see how much they have helped the community just by teaching the people farming techniques. Once I arrive in Bylakuppe I plan on making contact with Mr. Damdual and going on with my project from there.
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