Day 12 - August 5, 2008

There were six additional Tibetans from Chicago that joined us today. There were 18 total walkers. It was extremely hot and humid all day long. The heat was actually unbearable but the walkers kept the hunger strikers in mind throughout the day. Three Tibetans brought us a great lunch, which we ate on the grounds of a very exclusive country club in the suburbs of Northern Chicago. It took some time to get permission to eat lunch on their grounds. We walked through extremely rich neighborhoods all day and there were no bathrooms to be found. The walkers were quite creative dealing with this challenge! We walked about 10.5 miles.

In the evening, Palden-la, Wangchuk-la, Jigme-la, and Larry met with an inner city group of at risk teens that live in a high crime community. Their group is led by an ethnically diverse group of former offenders that were imprisoned for murder. Palden-la spoke with the teens about his prison experiences including the brutal torture he experienced at the hands of the guards. The teens were very attentive and some posed great questions to Palden-la. Jigme-la and Larry also talked about the walk and they encouraged the youth, as did Palden-la to set their dreams high, work hard in school, and stand up for their rights. A long time supporter of Palden-la invited the four walkers to this event.

Our host family supplied the walkers who were left behind with an excellent dinner.

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