A Letter from Sarah K. Lukas, President of FOTWA
September 1998 Letter
Greetings Visitors!
It's time for an update. As you may have realized by now, I am Sarah Lukas, president of FOTWA, and mother of the Painting Club. That's me on the left wearing the wings that I am sometimes wont to do, whether it's to cheer myself or someone else up or just go for a laugh.Our book, The Art of Exile: Paintings by Tibetan Children in India, is out and being very well received. We've had book signings on the east and west coasts; sometimes I've been accompanied by photographer Kitty Leaken and, lately, Sonam Chophel, painting teacher from Tibetan Homes Foundation.
In March I received an email from someone named Alix who was coordinating a benefit concert and wanted to know about our organization. I replied with a deluge of information about sponsorships for elders, TB patients, families and children needing an education. I had visions of thousands of teenagers at a rock and roll concert to aid Tibetans. Several emails later, however, Alix wrote, "Help! I've never done this before, I'm only 14!"
I loved the idea of a fourteen-year-old taking on such an enormous project (with the help of her family) was great encouragement for me. What inspires me most with this work is when people come forward like this, doing what they can to help. Our actions reach out like rings of bright water, inspiring others to do their best, as Alix MacLean of Prince Edward Island surely is.
In the same way, our sponsors help others improve the quality of life for themselves and their families. In the Tibetan settlement of Mundgod, in southern India, for example, Jampa is getting his graduate degree in business thanks to a sponsor. Sponsorship programs remain the ongoing and most important commitment of our organization.
This month we begin The Yak Page, a section on our website for the kids at Tibetan Homes Foundation which we hope will evolve into a dynamic exchange of poems, letters and paintings for schoolchildren worldwide. We look ahead now, to traveling the children's paintings to other venues after the Museum of International Folk Art exhibit closes in the spring. And we'd like to take the painting club to refugee children in another country. We welcome suggestions. The Tibetan story is a tale of exile told worldwide, and, as I like to say, we reach out to those young spirits that they may soar!
Tashi Delek!
Sarah K. Lukas
September, 1998