Week One: Charting New Pathways For Tibet's Future

Hello! My name is Gwyneth Smith, and I will be working as an intern with Machik this summer, a non-profit focused on charting new pathways for the global Tibetan community. Located in Washington D.C., the Machik office is part of Eaton House, a creative co-working space not too far from the White House. However, I will be commuting from Falls Church each day, where I am able to walk to the metro station each morning. While I love my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, living in a walkable city is definitely one thing I am excited about this summer!

Machik began in 2002 when it opened the Chungba Primary school in Lithang Province, which provided numerous educational opportunities for the Tibetan children in attendance. Many of them have since graduated and went off to be successful in a wide variety of fields, and the school remains a model for rural Tibetan education. Since then, Machik has been involved in multiple programs benefiting Tibetans in Tibet, in fields ranging from education to healthcare. 

One initiative Machik carries out every year is Machik Weekend, an opportunity for the community to gather and enjoy lectures, film screenings, and dialogues on Tibet and its future. This year's Machik Weekend won't be happening until November, but I am eager for the chance to help out with its preparations in any way I can!

I will also have the honor of working with Dr. Tashi Rabgey, who has law degrees from Oxford and Cambridge as well as being the founder of the Tibet Governance Lab at George Washington University's Elliott School of Intetnational Affairs. She founded Machik alongside her sister, Dr. Losang Rabgey, who holds a PhD in gender studies and anthropology from the University of London. I am looking forward to working with both of them and carrying out legal research as it relates to Tibet.

I'll see you all next week with another update of the exciting work Machik is doing!