Visioning Tibet

He who looks into the silver waters of the Lhama Lhatso lake, will see his past and future lives. But for most Tibetans their dream about a journey to the 'Lake of Answers' will not come true. Living on the roof of the world, as Tibet is symbolically called, has more perils than those of the Chinese occupation we can hear of. Sharp sunshine causes eye diseases – mostly cataract. When untreated, those diseases may even cause blindness. In 1995, the American ophthalmologist Marc Lieberman visited a hospital in Lhase to train local doctors. Filmmaker Isaac Solotaroff introduces Lieberman's project through doctors fighting against the problems of badly working hospitals and telling the story of Tibetans who set off for the journey across the plains to undergo the treatment. After a 14–hour workday, the happiness of cured people is satisfactory enough for tired doctors. Dr. Lieberman has realised a similar project in India and has been working in Tibet with small breaks for 10 years now. His career proves that he himself has been gifted with the ability 'to see'.