Ama Adhe, the voice that remembers

the long version

When Adhe Tapontsang - or Ama Adhe, as she is affectionately known - left Tibet in 1987, she did so on the condition that she never speak to anyone about the atrocities of her twenty-seven years in Chinese prisons. Although she did not want to leave her high mountain homeland in eastern Tibet, where she spent a very happy childhood, she wanted to inform the world of the inhuman conditions she and countless others were forced to endure after the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950. She wanted to tell the world of the destruction of Buddhist monasteries and the implementation of policies that would result in mass starvation. But, more importantly, she wanted to tell the world of the systematic physical torture and imprisonment of thousands and thousands of Tibetans who dared to protest the occupation of their nation. Although Adhe's story is one of suffering, it is also a testimony of great hope for humanity. Throughout nearly three decades of malnutrition, beatings, physical labor, and solitary confinement, Adhe never wavered in her courage or her compassion. Her constant attention to the needs of other prisoners and her steadfast refusal to divulge, even under torture, the names of other Tibetans who shared her patriotic perspective serve to remind us of the immense power of the human will. Certainly, the reader of this astounding narrative will come away with a renewed sense of the injustices that have been inflicted on Tibet and the urgency of the situation there. But just as certainly, the reader will be inspired by the strength, the determination, and the selflessness of this extraordinary Tibetan woman. Having read this book, it will be impossible to forget Adhe Tapontsang, for she is "the voice that remembers."