October 23, 2015: In a unique and unprecedented effort by the 14th Kashag to solve people’s problems, Paljor Kalon Tsering Dhundup la and Kalsang Chodon, a senior staff at CTA’s Department of Finance Chatrel Section, visited 12 cities in North America from September 25 to October 14, 2015. They were accompanied by Ngawang Yonten from the Office of Tibet. Working closely with Tibetan Associations, community members were informed in advance and were given the opportunity to meet with Kungo Kalon and have all their Green Book issues including issuing of new books addressed. The delegation set up office hours from 9 am to late in the evening in each city and resolved many new and old issues.
The team visited New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Boston, Chicago, Minnesota, Colorado, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco Bay Area, Vancouver (BC) and Toronto. Tibetans residing in Amherst, Charlottesville, Calgary, Madison, Philadelphia, Santa Fe, Seattle and Washington, DC were able to send their Green Book and cases for resolution as well.
Through this visit community members were able to directly bring up their problems with the delegation and in most cases the problems were resolved. A total of 1352 new Green Books were approved. The full breakdown of new approvals in parenthesis consist of: New York & New Jersey (431), Connecticut (35), Vermont (31), Boston (44), Chicago (78), Madison (8), Minnesota (112), Colorado (94), Santa Fe (4), Los Angeles (35), Philadelphia (4), Charlottesville (4), Portland (83), Amherst (6), Seattle (5), Washington, DC (31), San Francisco Bay Area (144), Vancouver, BC (12), Calgary (2), and Toronto (189). Most of the cases brought to the delegation were issues related to new applications, followed by name changes and corrections need based on local government issued documents.
The Kashag first came up with the concept of the Paljor Kalon and his senior aide undertaking a Green Book problem solving road trip in Switzerland earlier this year. Given the success of that visit, the Kashag made the decision to do the same in North America.
The Office of Tibet would first of all like to thank Kungo Kalon and Kalsang la for taking time off and making themselves available to the North American community members. They spent long hours patiently listening to people’s problems and were able to resolve most of their issues. We, also, want to express our deep gratitude to the Tibetan Associations who hosted and sponsored the delegation’s travel and other related expenses. The tour would not have been possible without their support.
Lastly, we would like to take this opportunity to urge all community members who do not have a Green Book to get one and those who do, to stay current with the contributions. We remain committed to making the process of applying and paying Green Book contributions simpler and efficient.
