The Rowell Fund for Tibet begins its eighth year of accepting applications for funding from September 1 – 30, 2010. Applications are now available online at www.savetibet.org/about-ict/rowell-fund-tibet or at http://www.savetibet.org/documents/other/2010-rowell-fund-application. The Fund is seeking to support Tibetans who can make a significant contribution to their community and/or an international audience in the fields of visual arts and media, and environmental and women’s rights. Acceptable project categories are photography, humanitarian projects, journalism/literature, women’s issues and environmental awareness.

The Rowell Fund for Tibet was initiated in memory of late Galen and Barbara Rowell, who were longtime friends of Tibet. Galen and Barbara cooperated with His Holiness the Dalai Lama to produce My Tibet, a touching book that captured the natural essence of Tibet. Their love and passion for photography and writing introduced the beauty of Tibet and its threatened ecosystem and culture to countless people around the globe. Following their tragic passing, ICT’s Board of Directors, family and friends of the Rowell’s established the Rowell Fund to honor and perpetuate the goals and ideals of Galen and Barbara in the Tibetan community.

Interested applicants should send in their applications from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30, 2010. Applications can be sent via email (rowellfund@savetibet.org) or by post at:

Rowell Fund for Tibet
International Campaign for Tibet
1825 Jefferson Place, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

The applications need to reach the ICT office by midnight of September 30, 2010 Washington, D.C. time. Received applications will be confirmed by the ICT staff, compiled, and sent to the Advisory Board of the Rowell Fund for Tibet in late October. Grantees will be notified in early December and the funds will be distributed in mid-December. Grantees are required to send in a mid-year report by June of the following year, and a final report on the results of the project and how the funds were spent by Dec.1 of the following year.

Visit www.savetibet.org/about-ict/rowell-fund-tibet for more details on the Fund and for more information on Galen and Barbara Rowell, visit their site at www.mountainlight.com.

On Sunday, May 23rd, 2010, Team HighPoint members John Jancik, David Baker & Steve Gardiner (along with Cormac Dorsey) hiked to the top of Arkansas's highest point; Magazine Mountain (Signal Hill). Arkansas is the 48th state highpoint achieved by Team HighPoint which hiked to the top from the Visitor's Center via the North Rim Trail in 90 plus degree heat.

At 2,753 feet, the top "The Natural State" is the 34th tallest state highpoint and lies to the south of the town of Paris, Arkansas. The mountain is a flat-topped plateau with a sandstone cap rimmed by rock cliffs. Magazine Mountain provides habitat for 94 different species of butterflies.

"One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come here to justify
One man to overthrow
In the name of love!
One man in the name of love
In the name of love!
What more? In the name of love!

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resists
One man washed on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss

In the name of love!
What more in the name of love?
In the name of love!
What more? In the name of love!..."

--- U2

Beijing, China (CNN) -- China summoned the U.S. ambassador on Friday to express its "strong dissatisfaction" over the Dalai Lama's meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama a day earlier. China didn't disclose what was discussed during the session with Ambassador Jon Huntsman at the Foreign Ministry. But Beijing had warned that a meeting between the president and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader would damage its ties with Washington.

"The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to this meeting," a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement after Thursday's meeting at the White House.

"China demands the U.S. seriously consider China's stance, immediately adopt measures to wipe out the adverse impact, [and] stop conniving and supporting anti-China separatist forces."

The U.S. Embassy didn't characterize Friday's meeting, but it provided the message Huntsman delivered to Deputy Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai.

"Now is the time to move forward and cooperate in ways that benefit our two counties, the region and the world," Huntsman said, according to the U.S. Embassy.

The meeting has the potential to further complicate Sino-U.S. tensions, which have been rising in recent months. The Dalai Lama has said he favors genuine autonomy for Tibetans, not independence for Tibet. Beijing regards the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as a separatist who wishes to sever Tibet from China.

Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama "runs against the repeated commitments by the U.S. government that the U.S. recognizes Tibet as part of China and gives no support to 'Tibet independence'," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said. During the meeting, Obama stressed his "strong support for the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity, and the protection of human rights for Tibetans," according to a White House statement. The president praised the Dalai Lama's "commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government," the statement added. He also stressed the importance of having both sides "engage in direct dialogue to resolve differences, and was pleased to hear about the recent resumption of talks," it noted.

The Dalai Lama, while acknowledging that he raised concerns about Tibet during the meeting, did not provide further specifics about his home region's political situation while addressing reporters. He said he admired America as a "champion of democracy and ... freedom," and cited the need to promote "religious harmony" and "human value."

He also met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The meeting between the Dalai Lama and Obama could "seriously undermine the Sino-U.S. political relations," Zhu Weiqun, a senior Communist Party leader in charge of ethnic and religious affairs, warned recently. "We will take corresponding action to make relevant countries see their mistakes."

On Thursday, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman said the meeting "grossly violated the norms governing ... international relations."

Obama did not meet with the Dalai Lama when the spiritual leader visited Washington last fall, making it the first time since 1991 that such a meeting did not occur. Ahead of a summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Obama persuaded Tibetan representatives back then to postpone the meeting with the Dalai Lama. Thursday's encounter took place against the backdrop of several contentious issues already threatening to sour the relationship between America and China, including trade disputes, a recent U.S. arm sales deal for Taiwan -- which China considers an illegitimate breakaway province -- and a censorship row over Internet search engine Google Inc.

The meeting is "another event in the recent, one has to say, downward spiral in U.S.-China relations," said China scholar David Shambaugh. It's also troublesome for the Chinese for one other important reason, Shambaugh said. "He could have met him as a spiritual leader in a neutral place like a church," he said. But receiving him in the White House "is a political act. And that is going to irritate China very much." The meeting did not take place in the formal, official setting of the Oval Office. It was instead held in the White House Map Room, which is considered part of the presidential residence. The choice of settings was considered by many observers to be a sign of Washington's acknowledgment of Beijing's political sensitivities.

Some analysts said the Chinese government could retaliate by cutting off political exchanges as they did after the Dalai Lama met with the heads of state of France and Germany. And Hu could turn down an invitation to visit Washington in April.

FROM: www.cnn.com

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/19/china.obama.dalai.lama/index.html?hpt=T2

Monday, December 14th, 2009

The Rowell Fund for Tibet announced today it was awarding $42,000 to 7 Tibetan grassroots organizations and projects. The Fund strives to support environmental, conservation and research projects as well as innovative aid work in India, Nepal and Tibet. Funding decisions are made by the Fund’s Advisory Board and it is managed by the International Campaign for Tibet.

This year’s application pool of over 67 applicants came from 10 different countries. The seven selected projects will receive grants ranging from $3,150 to $6,750. Four are led by women.

Much of this year’s grants were funded by a benefit climb of the Grand Teton in 2009 with world famous mountaineers Conrad Anker, David Breashears and Jimmy Chin.

Mountaineer Conrad Anker praised the fund, stating that “the RFT is a meaningful way to foster greater civil society activity particularly to help Tibet's environment. As funding is even more difficult from within Tibet, we need to support those dedicated to environmental and educational issues in Tibet as well.”

Some of this year’s grant recipients include:*

Tenzin Yangchen’s work with the Tibet Oral History Project to record and translate the personal histories of Tibetan elders in Tibetan settlements. ($6,570) www.tibetoralhistory.org
Yosay Wangdi’s academic research project constructing a portrait of early Tibetans on the Himalayan frontier. ($3,150)
Ju Amnyi Trulchung Rinpoche’s art and cultural education project for Tibetan nomads. ($5,715) www.vistaproject.org
Tsering Yangkey’s work with the Tesi Environmental Awareness Movement to set up 50 monastery Eco-TEAMS. ($6,750) www.ecotibet.org
*Not all projects have been listed due to their confidential nature.

The Fund is named after lifelong Tibet supporters, Galen and Barbara Rowell, who died in a plane crash in 2002. As avid mountaineers and outdoor photographers, Galen and Barbara Rowell helped bring Tibet and the Himalayas into the public eye. Their fund continues this legacy, providing small grants to Tibetan writers, academics, photographers, and conservationists. To learn more about Galen and Barbara Rowell and the background of the Rowell Fund, click here. (http://www.savetibet.org/support-tibet/donate-rowell-fund)

ICT and the Rowell Fund also wishes to congratulate last year's grant recipients, whose final written reports provided concrete evidence of impact the Rowell Fund continues to have among Tibetan communities. The advisory board, made up of friends and family of Galen & Barbara, is made up of John Ackerly, Conrad Anker, David Breashears, Jimmy Chin, Bob and Beth Cushman, John Jancik and Terri Baker, Bob Palais, Tony Rowell and Ray and Nicole Rowell Ryan. The Fund is managed by the International Campaign for Tibet.