05 May 2015

His Holiness the Dalai Lama celebrated his 80th Birthday at the Tibetan Children’s Village school on April 23, 2015, a few months in advance. Joining him in the celebrations was his beloved friend Reverend Archbishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa.  The air was filled with joy and color as hundreds of students joined together in conveying him their best wishes. The Dalai Lama and Reverend Tutu took their seats amidst the throng of cute Tibetan children, beautifully clad in green and white. The Dalai Lama initiated the proceedings by delivering a message about the need for love and compassion among humans. He chose to speak in Tibetan because his friend Reverend Tutu believed that his command over English wasn’t good. After receiving a rapturous applause from the crowd for his messages, the Dalai Lama passed the mike on to Reverend Tutu. Reverend Tutu’s speech was punctuated by his characteristic wit, humor and trademark high-pitched chuckle ‘Wohoo’. He recounted his days of enduring oppression in South Africa. He proclaimed that, just like how things changed for the good in South Africa, Tibetans too would be free one day. Their speeches were followed by a brief Q&A session during which enthusiastic students posed a lot of questions ranging from anger management, joy etc to environment protection. After patiently responding to all the students, the Dalai Lama rose to cut the cake. Reverend Tutu led the crowd in singing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song. The ceremony finally drew to close with a rendition of the famous song ‘We are the world’ by the school band. The Omalaya team is indeed immensely proud to have witnessed these merry moments. We have compiled a video that vividly captures the joyous scenes of the day. For more videos from Omalaya, kindly visit our Youtube page. Video credits: Jeremie Gabrien (website: www.jeremiegabrien.com)

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