My wife and I had the pleasure of attending the Ottawa Friends of Tibet 21st gala last night. The OFT raises about $15,000 each year from the event. The money goes to support orphanages, seniors homes, and educational scholarships. These are located in India, Nepal, and Tibet. OFT's main international partner is Child Haven International.
Since this was the 21st annual event, an auspicious number, the evening's theme was thangka paintings of the 21 Taras, lent for the evening from homes within the Ottawa Tibetan community.
Dinner was a buffet of Indian food and Tibetan momos, courtesy of Rinag Foods and the Tibetan community (who whipped up an enormous quantity of momos!).
Ottawa is now home to 97 Tibetan refugees, the most recent of whom just arrived. There is another organization to help them: The Tibetan Resettlement Project Ottawa.
Here are a few pictures, including a selfie of me with Jurme Wangda, founder and president of the OFT. You may recognize him as the person who played the Tibetan Prime Minister in Kundun, Martin Scorsese's film about His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
