Tenzin Bhuthi (CA) is an IT engineer, born and raised in Kalimpong, India.  She engineering degree in Kolkata, worked for a few years in Mumbai before coming to the United States to work at Intel as a Systems Analyst. Tenzin is passionate about technology, calling herself a tech-sadist because she loves finding bugs in people’s code. She is equally passionate about women in technology, human rights and education and is a proud member of ACHA. When she is not finding bugs, talking about serious “stuff”, she relishes watching cooking channels and trying to replicate some of the dishes in the kitchen: “The verdict on how successful I am in doing so is still up in the air but, nevertheless, I try.”

Tibetan Tina Blue (CA) was born in Amdo between Rigong Tibetan Autonomous Region and Labrang Monastery. Damo has a double Bachelor’s Degree from China in Education and later in Legal Studies from UC Berkeley. While in Tibet, Damo taught in the 10th Panchen Lama’s middle school students and tutored Tibetan students in Mandarin and English, and taught English to Chinese students before she came to the US, where she worked for the Doctors Without Border for one year. She worked for Refugee Transitions as a tutor/mentor for refugee children and currently works at the Bay Area Legal Aid Oakland as a legal assistant assisting low-income individuals with housing, domestic violence prevention, public benefits, health access and youth justice. Damo speaks, reads and writes Mandarin and Amdo Tibetan. She is passionate about women and girls’ education in the developing world, and refugee issues. Damo has been supporting a girl from the Kokonor region since 2010. In 2012, she started a project called “Food for Being” in South Bay that feeds homeless people regularly in SF and San Jose with over 60 volunteers. She has also raised $3000 for a recycle project and environmental education for a school in Rebgong region of Amdo. Damo enjoys music, dancing, outdoor activities, long distance running, and learning new things. Damo joined ACHA, because ACHA’s mission “fits my passion and values, which is to support women and girls education and health in the Himalaya region.”

Namgyal Choedon-Newton, Co-Founder (CA) was born and raised in the diaspora Tibetan community in Nepal. She is a busy working-soccer mom. She has been an IT professional for over ten years and now she dreams of re-launching herself into a career in fashion industry. Namgyal has been a committed member of the ACHA core group while also serving as a member of the Tibetan Association of Northern California’s building committee. She views ACHA as a meaningful platform to bring about changes within her community, to empower and be empowered and to engage and have fun while working towards a better community and ultimately a happier world to live in.

Tsechu Dolma (NY) was raised in Tibet, Nepal and India. She is the co-founder of Yulha Fund, an initiative working on building climate resilience and alleviating poverty in the Himalayas. Tsechu is currently finishing her Master of Public Administration in Economic and Sustainable Development at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. Previously, as a Development Consultant at the United Nations Development Programme, Tsechu helped design its strategy on extractive industry and natural resource management in Colombia. She co-runs websites  glacierhub.org  and  merabsarpa.com. Tsechu was honored as a Brower Youth Award recipient 2014 and Udall Scholar 2013. Tsechu is interested in the intersections of gender, economic development and sustainability. In her free time, she enjoys nature walks, bird watching and geocaching.

Tsering Dhongthog (DC) is originally from Seattle, WA where she attended college at the University of Washington. She majored in Political Science and International Studies with a focus on China. During college, she studies abroad in China for one year and had the opportunity to travel across the Tibetan plateau. After graduating from college, she moved to Beijing, China to work for an IP law firm and the United Nations. She moved back to the U.S. to pursue her graduate studies at Columbia University (China Studies) and the University of Michigan (Law). After graduating from law school, Tsering moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the General Electric Company’s General Counsel’s Office on International Government Relations. While at GE, she worked on trade policy, export laws, compliance, and other areas, with a particular focus on the company’s businesses in China. She then transitioned into government service and joined the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of International Affairs on the China desk. She travels to China for work and focuses on U.S.-China energy relations, including trade, policy, foreign investment, and other areas of cooperation. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Tashi Tenzin, and their Lhasa apso, Khandoma.  She enjoys reading and is an avid member of two book clubs in Washington, D.C.

Tenzin Woeser Labrang, Co-Founder (CA) works as a banker at the West Marin Bank in Marin County and is the Treasurer for ACHA. She was educated in Central School for Tibetan (CST) in Dalhousie, India and came to America. She served on the board of Tibetan Association of Northern California with Dechen Tsering, with who she co-founded ACHA-Tibetan Sisterhood (later changed to ACHA-Himalayan Sisterhood). While waiting for her husband in India to join the family in the Bay Area, Tenzin balances being a temporary “single mother” for her 11-month daughter with a full-time job.

Kim Phuntsok Dolma Meston (MA) is a Tibetan woman, an American citizen, an activist and organizer, a professional, a dancer, a runner, a world traveler, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a caretaker, a compassionate friend, and a person who speaks her mind. She is also a survivor of human trafficking. When she was sixteen she was trafficked to the US from a Tibetan refugee camp in India. By her late twenties, Phuni experienced a transformative shift that let her see the world in new ways. It began in 1995 when she attended the World Conference on Women in Beijing as part of the Tibetan delegation. She says of that transformative experience: “I found strength and solidarity with women from around the world who shared their struggles and vision in a way that made many of our cultural and ethnic differences secondary to our commonalities. I started to see the connections between my own experiences and that of many others. I discovered I had buried so many feelings and beliefs and as they emerged I was able to express myself with a sense of authority I never knew I had. I was able to move through the anger I was holding and use that energy for positive change both in myself and in the world. It has fueled my activism for Tibetan human rights and I now draw directly on my experience in Beijing in my work on human trafficking.” Phuni brings survivors into dialogue with each other so they may find solace in knowing they are not alone and derive strength and support from each other. Phuni co-directs the Massachusetts-based Trafficking Victims Outreach & Services (TVOS) Network, a collaboration of over 35 individuals representing public sector, private sector and nongovernmental organizations to address human trafficking, sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, and gender based violence. Phuni is a successful social entrepreneur and owner of Karma Fine Crafts – a socially conscious artisan boutique that features high-end merchandise with a focus on fair trade and cultural enterprise. Karma is the creation of Phuni and her late husband, Daja Wangchuk Meston, author of “Comes the Peace”. Phuni has fifteen years of retail and high-end fashion experience under her belt. She is the mother of two sweet girls and lives in Newton, MA.

Sang Mota (NY) was born and grew up in Amdo Chapcha Tibet (Tsolu Prefecture). After High School, she joined a Tibetan Dance Troupe where she performed as a dancer for 6 years. Sang’s dance specialties were Tibetan dance, Korean dance, Turkish Dance, and Mongolian dance. Later she worked as a choreographer and a bookkeeper in a Tibetan middle school. She did this for two years after giving birth to her daughter. In the early 1990s, Sang escaped from Tibet to Northern India, Dharamsala. In 1996, Sang came to the United States as a translator and has remained in the United States ever since. Sang soon realized that without mastering the English language, she would have a very difficult time surviving in the United States. So, she worked as a waitress and simultaneously took ESL classes. After countless challenges over the years, she was finally able to pursue her college education. In 2007, Sang completed her Bachelor’s degree (B.A) in Psychology at Hunter College and completed her Master’s Degree in Social Work (2009) at Hunter College. From 2009 to the present, Sang has worked at the Kings County District Attorney’s Office: Victim Services Unit in Brooklyn, as a trained domestic violence (DV) counselor. She primarily focuses on an Eastern Asian population, but also helps in the Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking, Homicide, and Crimes Against Children Victims Division offering language and cultural competency. Sang faced challenges when it comes to provide services for Tibetan domestic violence victims because there is no support system for this particular population. Generally, domestic violence is a hidden and silenced topic in many societies, including the Tibetan societies, both in Tibet and outside of Tibet. Sang joined ACHA-Himalayan Sisterhood in 2014 as a NYC-based member. Sang sees her role, first and foremost, as a Tibetan DV counselor, to raise awareness within the Tibetan communities about signs of DV, the VAWA (Violence Against Women’s Act) implications for DV survivors, and to assist Tibetan domestic violence survivors with finding relevant resources and support. Sang is fluent in Tibetan (Amdo and Central Lhasa dialects), understands Tibetan Kham dialect, and is fluent in Chinese (Mandarin) and English. Sang lives in New York City with her daughter and husband.

Tenzin Tselha (MA) was born and raised in India and went to the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) school in Dharamsala. Tselha got her Bachelors in English from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduation, she moved to New York City to work as a Grassroots Associate contractor for Students for a Free Tibet. Tselha currently lives in Somerville, MA, where she is on the lookout for an exciting job opportunity and preparing for graduate school. She loves poetry, small furry dogs and all things sweet.

Dechen Tsering, Co-Founder (CA)  was raised in Nepal, India and the United States. She came to the United States at age 18 to complete High School. Dechen has a B.A. from Antioch College in Ohio in Environmental Studies and pursued architecture before she made a dramatic switch to public health following a summer internship in Dharamsala, India. She received her Masters in Public Health (MPH) degree from Tulane University in New Orleans. She is the director of Sisterhood for Wellness project at Community Health for Asian Americans (CHAA), a nonprofit in Oakland, CA that promotes behavioral health and wellness among underserved communities.  Dechen is a trained domestic violence counselor and works with survivors in the Bay Area Himalayan community. She served as full-time volunteer president of the Tibetan Association of Northern California (TANC) from 2008-2010 after leaving her position at the Global Fund for Women, where she managed grantmaking to women’s groups in Asia and Oceania. Dechen sought out women’s groups in Tibet to fund such as Shem and DoKham and traveled to Xiling, Amdo. She also traveled to Dartsedo and Litang for the Seva Foundation, where she managed blindness prevention programs in India, Nepal, Tibet and Cambodia. Before moving to CA, Dechen was at the Trace Foundation in NY, coordinating scholarships for graduate and PhD.  students from Tibet. While at Trace, Dechen took four months leave in 1998 and traveled in and around Lhasa as a research assistant on women’s reproductive health in the Tibetan medical system – her first trip to Tibet! Following graduate school, Dechen worked at the Tibetan Delek Hospital in Dharamsala, India initiating the first HIV/AIDS prevention and sex education programs for Tibetan high school students, youth, and residents of Tibetan settlements. Dechen is passionate about social justice, gender issues and women’s leadership and co-founded ACHA-Himalayan Sisterhood. She enjoys drawing/painting, swimming, gardening, hiking, connecting people to resources, family, and making her son laugh. Dechen lives in Berkeley with her partner and their son, Taj. Dechen is the de-facto director of ACHA.

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ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Dr. Losang Rapgey. PhD. (DC)
Dr. Tashi Rapgey. PhD. (DC)
Dr. Tenki Sangmu, MD (CA)
Dhardon Sharling (India)
Youdon Aukatsang (India)

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Anupama Chapagain (CA)
Sherab Dolma (CA)
Carol Keslar (CA)
Sonam Lama (CA)
Khunkyi Malampa (NY)
Beckie Masaki (CA)
Ellie McCutchson (CA)
Hillery Trippe (CA)
Tenzin Tsomo (CA)

ACHA’s local partners include: Adhikaar, Community Health for Asian Americans, City of Berkeley Mental Health Division, Keds Brave Life Grant, Upwardly Global, Niroga Yoga Institute, Women’s Cancer Resource Center, API Institute on Domestic Violence, Korean Community Center of East Bay, Tibetan Association of Northern California, Nepali Women’s Global Network-CA Chapter, New York Asian Women Center, Oakland International High School, Narika, International Advocacy Network for Gender Equity and Law, Asian Center for Mental Health Services, Church of Today.

FISCAL SPONSOR: Machik (www.machik.org)