The Dream of the Turquoise Bee
Cultural Diplomacy in
Eastern Tibet
Slideshow/Presentation
June
27, 2010
(Sunday)
5:00 PM
Sebastopol
Community Center
at
425 Morris Street,
Sebastopol
Requested Donation:
$10 for Tibetan Political Prisoners and Their
Families
Travel
with Dianne Aigaki to
Tibet
where she does scientific botanical paintings of wildflowers growing between
11,000-18,000 feet elevation
and has an eco-tourism
partnership with Tibetan villagers. The Dream of the Turquoise Bee tours
generate income for poor villagers and support an ancient nunnery, political
prisoners and their families, the Every Child Goes to School Fund and the
Emergency Fund for Frail, Elderly Tibetans.
This presentation will show you
some of the realities of present day
Tibet—its
incredible beauty, its exotic people and the dilemma of a society that has
been under Chinese Occupation for more than 60 years. Yak herding, visits to
sacred lakes, nuns debating, monks imprisoned for seven years for writing
Free Tibet on a sign, searching for the Tibetan blue poppy at 16,000 feet
altitude, delivering gifts from refugees living in exile to their families
still living in the homeland—it’s all part of this show.
Aigaki lives between
India,
Tibet,
and
Mexico.
She is a member of the Society of Women Geographers (the premier
group of women explorers in the world) and WINGS WorldQuest (an
international organization of women explorers) and carried the WINGS flag
into
Tibet
in 2006. She has exhibited at the Royal Horticultural Society in
London,
the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and the International Conference of
Botanical Illustrators in
Thailand.
She speaks internationally on The Current Situation in Tibet,
Women Explorers and Botanical Illustration as a Vehicle for
Cultural Diplomacy.
Blog:
www.dianneaigaki.wordpress.com