Every magazine has a story to tell and this is ours. We share
with you today on the occasion of the annual issue of our magazine
—our story, our little secret.
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We have been frequently asked of how and why Migyul started.
So far we avoided answering them since we felt that the
‘Objective’ of Migyul was more important than
the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of its formation.
Now we realize that ‘The Story Behind Migyul’
has to be told. |
We have been frequently asked of how and why Migyul started.
So far we avoided answering them since we felt that the ‘Objective’
of Migyul was more important than the ‘how’ and
‘why’ of its formation. Now we realize that ‘The
Story Behind Migyul’ has to be told. The decision comes
from persuasion from many members who have joined us along Migyul’s
journey. We hope that by telling the story of Migyul, which
until now were only anecdotal references, helps you understand
and appreciate our humble start in bringing the Himalayan communities
together.
During His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to New York
in 2003, we witnessed many people gathered outside St. John
the Divine to get a glimpse of his Holiness and to hear his
teachings. It was evident that despite the ethnic diversity,
everyone present there that day had come for the same reason
— to receive teachings from our Dharma Guru. An interesting
representation of not many but one community — the Himalayan
community and incidentally, among other things, His Holiness
asked the young Himalayan population to unite and to use their
education in helping their community.
For many of us gathered there, these words had a deep impact.
Till then a huge number of us had only thought of the Himalayan
region being divided — divided into nations and into ethnic
communities and we wondered how we would be able to translate
profound thoughts of His Holiness into actions which each community
within us could embrace.
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Although we did not realize it, that particular day, turned
out to be a turning point in our lives. . . We tried to
think of ways by which we could bring the community together
and failed to think of an appropriate way in which to do
it. |
Although we did not realize it, that particular day, turned
out to be a turning point in our lives. After that while life
in the Himalayan Community in New York continued uninterrupted,
ours took on a different mode: we had to achieve a goal, a goal
of carrying out His Holiness's teachings and advice which went
beyond our personal and individual aims and aspirations. We
tried to think of ways by which we could bring the community
together and failed to think of an appropriate way in which
to do it.
We continued to go to Jackson Heights in Queens, the hub of
all Himalayan community activity, meet people in the tea shop-
the now famous meeting place for people of all Himalayan communities-
a place where Bhutanese, Tibetan, Sherpa or Yolmo or any race
for that matter come, sit down, sip a cup of tea and meet other
people. As we went there every weekend and ticked off our attendance
— we still laugh about it — it seems like going
there is like attending a school or a class or doing something
important- an activity which completes our week.
In the course of several months, we met so many people from
various communities there who by virtue of seeing each other
at the tea shop have now become friends — as humans each
one of us have that need of making acquaintances, of familiarity
of solidarity and here in Jackson Heights in a small tea shop
— over a couple of teas we did find ourselves making bonds
with familiar people.
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One thing was common: these were problems that every new
immigrant community in New York faces and we saw an opportunity
to help out our communities — new immigrants with
life here in the US and New York. |
Our discussions with our people made us realize that a lot
of us faced problems with job knowledge, paper problems, schools
and more. One thing was common: these were problems that every
new immigrant community in New York faces and we saw an opportunity
to help out our communities — new immigrants with life
here in the US and New York. We knew what we wanted to do -
the how was still being figured out. One of our biggest moments
was when a Himalayan immigrant was detained in Buffalo; we were
able to locate free legal help for him- which made us realize
that we can make a difference if we make the effort.
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Migyul was thus formed. We decided that for a forum to cater
to such a wide and diverse community, the issues that we
should take on should encompass the community and address
to the needs of our people socially. |
Ideas started rolling but none seemed doable or seemed off
the top for a small starting out group like ours. On one such
occasion, one of our friends picked up a free Indian magazine.
Every community no matter how big or small has some forum here
in the US save ours. We felt that one of the reasons that there
was a disparity between our communities was because of this
lack of forum for people from various communities to share their
thoughts and opinions. We felt that since the Himalayan community
was scattered in the three boroughs, the best way to reach and
help most would be through a publication — a free platform
where we could discuss issues of common interests; an outlet
where we could share ideas, learn, educate and make us better
individuals within our surroundings. Migyul was thus formed.
We decided that for a forum to cater to such a wide and diverse
community, the issues that we should take on should encompass
the community and address to the needs of our people socially.
We were initially torn between the idea of a magazine and a
newsletter. While some felt that a newsletter would be more
effective as a newsletter which came out every two weeks —
others felt that a magazine — a quarterly journal would
get a better response.
We were clear in our minds that to "bring the community
together" we would have to steer away from cultural and
political barriers that segregate communal harmony.
We asked for advice from some of our community leaders who
though pleased with our efforts, warned us of its outcome. They
told us that in our community if there is something good being
done by our people within the community; there are twenty people
who are there to pull you down. Ours is a closed community which
relies on the "the word of mouth" for media and many
good ventures for the community have been brought down by malicious
gossip.
Starting something of this magnitude was daunting so we requested
some organizations take our ideas forward. While they were supportive
of the idea, they were reluctant and unwilling to take it up.
We had offered our voluntary services to them if they took this
effort up but their answers were the same: Community leaders
and boards were volunteers for a year or two and running a magazine
was a continuous effort which went beyond their tenure was something
that they were not willing to take up.
We met with Tibetan community organizations and shared
our views with them. There were individuals like the then
President of the Tibetan Community, Karma Khedup (or Agu Khedup
as we fondly call him) who supported us wholeheartedly and let
us believe that we could achieve whatever we put our hearts
into. This was a major boost to our confidence.
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Now, here we were with lofty plans to come out with a magazine
for the community and none of us had any experience in this
field and we did not even have a name for the magazine.
We had to build up a team — |
Now, here we were with lofty plans to come out with a magazine
for the community and none of us had any experience in this
field and we did not even have a name for the magazine. We had
to build up a team — a team of volunteers who would handle
the magazine, raise money, write and edit articles, take charge
of distribution and so on.
We would continue to meet at the teashop and on certain occasions
meet in the garage of one of our friends. We debated on what
name we should keep for the magazine — Himalaya in the
Big Apple, Tashi Delek, and so on but none seemed to captivate
us. Migyul was suggested by one and somehow Migyul, meaning
aims and aspirations, seemed to touch the right chords with
all of us and we unanimously decided on the name.
Now lay the task of finding an editorial board which would
give credence to our efforts. We had till then only done the
ground work for the administrative part but had not figured
out the magazine itself. We looked in our community for candidates
that could take this up and the candidate we felt would be good
refrained from joining the magazine but relented to writing
an article for the first issue. So we invited him to our first
magazine meeting with ten or eleven of us — where we convinced
him to be a part of the magazine team and had an election and
voted him the chief editor. Another member Babu dai ( Tenzing
Gurung) was actually a gym partner of one of the Migyul volunteers
who was so angry at his partner for disturbing their gym schedule
that he came to yank his gym partner out of his house where
we were having a meeting. He was so taken by the whole concept
that he jumped in and joined Migyul.
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Starting a magazine is not easy and we had to do everything
from scratch. |
Starting a magazine is not easy and we had to do everything
from scratch. This was the first magazine in the community and
there was no one from whom we could take any form of advice.
All the founding members contributed money as a membership fee
to jumpstart the process. These founding members are not rich
citizens but struggling students, construction workers and recent
graduates and every penny that they put in pinched their pockets
and pinched it big time and that is also probably the reason
that all of us feel so much for the magazine. It is our baby.
We then planned for a fundraising party at Kasturi Hall for
the Valentines Day. We distributed flyers, made in our respective
work places, in Jackson Heights to ask for help from all the
people within our community. We didn’t want to spend money
— so each one of us printed a few copies at work —
the interest and motivation that each one had was inspiring.
We asked donations to Himalayan people we met on the street
and surprisingly everyone we asked contributed something and
felt that we were doing something worthwhile.
So now, we had a responsibility to all these people and there
was no way we could let them down. Every week there was a meeting
either at Jackson Heights or in the garage, and sometimes for
no reason at all. At this juncture, we were lucky to come by
Philip, our friend who took in the idea of the magazine and
helped shape the future path of Migyul. Slowly and steadily,
we approached the V-day and naturally we were all worried. We
had to get things rolling. All the members and supporters bought
their own groceries and cooked a dish at home. Everyone from
the DJ’s (who took a huge cut on their fees) to the supporters
were enthusiastic about the party. The party was a huge success
with a very young and diverse crowd. Due to this large turnout
we had enough money, to last us this far.
In the first issue a lot of help came through someone who was
not even a New Yorker. To add to that she was the youngest of
us. A very talented girl, Pema Yoko, who designed the cover
for our first issue, took most of the pictures and even wrote
an article about discrimination they faces first hand for not
being a "full Tibetan" that touched everyone’s
heart. She still holds a very close place in all the Migyul
members’ hearts.
The first issue was a good start but had a lot of drawbacks.
We were still trying to get more articles and involve more communities.
The reason we hadn’t done that with the first issue was
because we weren’t sure how the magazine would turn out.
Sonam Sherpa, who has served on the board of the Tibetan Association,
the Tibetan Youth Congress, Sherpa Kyidug and also the Nepal
Center was someone we felt represented the diversity of the
Himalayan Community and profiled him for our second issue. This
was the beginning and Migyul is now as much a part of him as
it is for us.
Other members started joined the Migyul family from other communities
Mamta Gurung, was one such member. A college grad from Cornell
University, Mamta brought her experiences from the WAVE magazine
in Nepal showed us flaws with ours. Through her work on
the second issue and the issues that have followed Mamta has
been a guiding force in shaping professionalism in the magazine.
Rinchen Sherpa, a law school grad from USF, came on board to
take on the legal challenges which our communities face and
Tenzin Jamyang (Dr) took on the medical challenges. Phintso
Tuladhar tried to deal with women's issues in our community-
domestic violence and the challenges of being a single mother.
Migyul was reaching out to a larger community. More and more
talented people showed interest towards the community.
By our third issue, we had on board Jigme Dadul who felt that
the layouts were not up to the standard and in order to do justice
to our hard work and services to the community he took up the
entire layout responsibility of our magazine. We had enlisted
on our board the likes of the most prominent writers in our
community, Jamyang Norbu, Robbie Barnett and Sonam Sherpa. On
one such event, Tsewang Sherpa Lama, read our issue. By this
time, we had already started to circulate all our magazines
in most of the Himalayan events. He wanted to contribute to
the growth of Migyul as he saw it as a binding force. A very
humble man that contributed his work, The CD " A Simple
Monk," a tribute to His Holiness, to Migyul so that we
could raise funds.
We were very short on funds and we needed to raise funds soon
— We had planned to do a fundraising party but did not
know how to go about it. Sonam Sherpa took up the responsibility
for the fundraising cultural show. A lot of hard work has been
put in by him and all the volunteers to showcase the talents
within our Himalayan community and make this party a success.
That was before Khandola took on the charge of handling sale
of advertisements for Migyul . She was a board member of the
Tibetan Womens Association and was dividing her time between
two voluntary positions. With the completion of her tenure with
the TWA, Khando went about with selling advertisements for the
magazine — a job she does with dedication and this issue
of Migyul has been made with her efforts.
People often wonder where does Migyul get all this money. We
have so far come out with four issues of the magazine, and a
CD. For the CD, the entire money was loaned to us by one of
our member, Yangchen Bhutia, and for the party, the hall advance
and other expenses, the money was loaned by Sonam Sherpa.
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Migyul is not a money-making venture — and members
are not interested in collecting and stocking up community
funds. The money we make is spent back into the community
in the form of free magazines or events such as our Himalayan
Losar party where we gave a platform to the talent in our
Himalayan communities in New York — if we don’t
appreciate our talent , who will? |
Migyul is not a money-making venture — and members are
not interested in collecting and stocking up community funds.
The money we make is spent back into the community in the form
of free magazines or events such as our Himalayan Losar party
where we gave a platform to the talent in our Himalayan communities
in New York — if we don’t appreciate our talent
, who will?
As we work on the next turning, preparing for the Losar Party
, Lakpa calls from his upstate construction work to know what
is needed of him (he came down taking a three-day vacation to
make sure arrangements were done); Gonpo is busy at work trying
to buy frames for Migyul; Khando is busy calling all the advertisement
people during her lunch hours; Jangchup is busy dealing with
the banners; posters and T-shirt; Lobsang, Rinchen, Jamyang,
Kesang, Sonamla, Jigme and Mamta are busy with the next issue
— an issue which is being completed in less than two months.
Philip is busy updating the Web site with all the latest information.
Tsering submits her latest looks for the magazine and Tsundue,
Rabten and Phutshok are busy keeping themselves updated between
their work, school and Migyul. Karma, and Lakpa are busy with
the circulation of the magazine and Jamyang Norbula, Robbie
Barnett, Tenzin Keyzom and Lou Costa have handed in their latest
articles. Babu negotiates with his manager a day off before
the party to help with arrangements. Meanwhile Yangchen and
Gonpo try their best to rejuvenate our depleted accounts and
the new Migyul Youth is busy with their issues.
All in all, a regular day in the Migyul family to bring our
various communities together.
