New hope for one of my favorite couples.

As some may know, I have very dear friends in Tibet. I met them in May of 1999 when I journeyed to Lhasa Tibet on an assignment to photograph an orphanage that I wanted to support. The images were used to raise awareness and funds for the school. The long and the short of it is that Bangri Rinpoche and Nyima Choedren founded an orphanage in Lhasa for homeless children. They had 60 children that they loved, cared for and educated. Rinpoche and Nyima came to the US to raise support for their work in the summer of 1999. Upon returning to Lhasa they were imprisoned by the Chinese authorities and the orphanage was closed. Read the whole story here. Bangri Rinpoche imprisoned



The good news is that the sentence of Life Imprisonment has been reduced, giving a release date of 2021. You might think that this is not much in the way of "good news", but it is. It means that the Chinese are lessening their stance, however so slightly, towards this Buddhist Monk. It brings hope for further change and even an earlier release than 2021. Read the latest good news here.


See photos of my trip to Lhasa Tibet and read of the jouney.