Two young Tibetan girls are the first Lodi Gyari Fellows who has begun their prestigious internship opportunities at US Congressional offices in Washington D.C. The two young Tibetan-Americans have begun their prized eight week internships at House Foreign Affairs Committee and office of Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).

International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) chaired by Hollywood actor Richard Gere had earlier this year launched the Washington Internship Program for Tibetan-Americans (WIPTA). It is part of ICT’s effort to empower the burgeoning Tibetan-American community by providing them with meaningful opportunities and exposure to the American political process and by fostering their civic engagement.

The non-profit organization named the participants of the internship program in the honour of late Lodi Gyari who was former ICT President and Chair of the Board of Directors. ICT has given the name of Lodi Gyari Fellows to the participants of the WIPTA which Tenzin Rangdol and Tenzin Nangsel debuted in the second week of June.

Tenzin Rangdol is a master of arts candidate in conflict management and international economics at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She is interning with the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Tenzin Nangsel is pursuing a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is interning in the office of Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), one of the driving forces behind the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act.

The ICT initiative selects highly motivated Tibetan-American undergraduate and graduate students for a unique six- to eight-week summer internship placement in US Congressional offices in Washington, DC. Detailed program eligibility and application information is available at savetibet.org.

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