Shagkor Yeshe Palden, an 83-year-old man living in Lhasa, Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, makes Wechat calls every day with his two daughters and grandchildren in Switzerland, where he spent nearly 30 years. On the mobile phone calls, Shagkor Yeshe Palden often updates with them what’s going on in Tibet, China, since his return back in 1994.

Shagkor Yeshe Palden was once a living Buddha of Drepung Monastery, one of the "great three" Gelug monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism in Lhasa, but his peaceful Buddhist studies were disrupted in 1959. At the age of 20, Shagkor Yeshe Palden witnessed the brutal rebellion of the bka’ shag government. “Bombs blasted around Drepung Monastery. One of my friends was killed by rebel forces,” he said. Due to fear, he escaped from the monastery to Lhoka city and eventually fled to India where he met his fugitive father.

With little supplies and a language barrier during his early times in India, Shagkor Yeshe Palden sheltered in a refugee camp at the border where up to 40-60 people lived together in each bamboo room. “The scorching heat was unbearable and meanwhile I suffered from worrying about my mother and sisters, who were left behind in Lhasa,” he recalled, “but realizing there was nothing I can do to help them, I could not stop thinking of them.”

Waiting for life is waiting for death. A month later, Shagkor Yeshe Palden and his father left for Kalimpong, East India, and tried to make a living by selling astronomy and calendar booklets. But their life didn’t become settled. Seven years’ life in India led into a longer journey to Europe.

In 1967, Shagkor Yeshe Palden moved to Switzerland and was allocated to a paper mill as an apprentice, arranged by the Switzerland Red Cross. He had to start a new life again. He learned German by himself and changed careers several times.

Meeting with other separated Tibetans in Switzerland from time to time became Shagkor Yeshe Palden’s way to achieve a sense of belonging. It was during this period that he decided to resume secular life. He got married with a Tibetan woman and later had two daughters.

Family life didn’t come as a cure for homesickness. “I miss my old time in Drepung Monastery. I miss my mum. But before China’s opening-up in 1978, information from my homeland barely touched me in Switzerland, let alone finding a way back to Tibet,” said Shagkor Yeshe Palden.

Shagkor Yeshe Palden stuck to Tibetan traditions in his daily life. He drew up a set of rules in his house. For example, his daughters were required to speak the Tibetan language once they returned home from school. He taught them how to observe Tibetan traditions. He said: “In Switzerland, people don’t cultivate highland barley, the principal grain used mainly to make tsampa and alcohol. So we search for and find another grain, which is similar to highland barley, to grind flour for tsamba.”

In 1984, due to the opening-up and welcoming of overseas Tibetan people policy, Shagkor Yeshe Palden paid a visit to Lhasa for the first time since he left Tibet 25 years prior. Setting foot again on his homeland, he said he was surprised to see that great changes had taken place in society and in people’s minds. He stayed in Lhasa for 10 days and in his ancestral home in Garze Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Southwest China’s Sichuan province for another 14 days. He said: “Even though things changed a lot, the intimacy still remains in me. When I was there, I felt I belonged there.”

Because his daughters were so young, Shagkor Yeshe Palden went back to Switzerland to take care of them. But he didn’t take the Swiss nationality in his 28-year-long stay there. “Fallen leaves return to the roots,” he said, “Leaving Tibet is not at my will. I’d like to return to Tibet as long as it’s impossible.”

In 1994, after 35 years of overseas life, Shagkor Yeshe Palden finally came back to Lhasa, Tibet. He said his family felt happy about his choice and so did his old Swiss friends: “I tell my Swiss neighbors that I’m going back in China. They all feel happy for me because they know after so many years I’m at home.”

Up to now, Shagkor Yeshe Palden has been living in Lhasa for 27 years and he has witnessed the development in Tibet. He said huge progress has been made in Tibet, especially in economic growth, people’s livelihoods and environmental protection.

At the same time, Shagkor Yeshe Palden is taking part in building a better Tibet. As a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Standing Committee of Lhasa city and Tibet autonomous region, he has put forward proposals on garbage sorting, underground water protection, Tibetan cultural preservation and so on.

“Poverty eradication is an unimaginable success that the Communist Party of China (CPC) has made in Tibet. Without the CPC, it wouldn’t be possible,” he said.

Shagkor Yeshe Palden often invites his daughters’ families to Lhasa, Tibet. They said they enjoy their stay in Lhasa and love this city. What’s more, his Swiss sons-in-law tell what Tibet truly is to their friends in Switzerland. “They see Tibet with their own eyes. It may be different from what the media has reported in western countries, but the most important thing is that what they see in Tibet is real,” Shagkor Yeshe Palden said.