A benefit concert for the Tibetans in Exile Health Project will be held at the Creative Life Center on Friday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m.

Vibhas Kendzia, a classically trained pianist and flutist who’s studied Latin percussion, saxophone and the native flutes of India and America, is providing the music.

Participants will have the chance to bid on fine art, jewelry, dining certificates, adventure packages and alternative health treatments donated by artists and merchants from Sedona, the Verde Valley and Santa Fe, N.M.

All of the proceeds will be used toward a medical clinic in Mainpat, India, to treat Tibetan refugees exiled by Chinese oppression.

Sarah and Sig Hauer and Jane Ginn, all of Sedona, are behind the project, initiating the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and serving on its board of directors.

At the request of Tulku Karma Rinpoche, a Buddhist lama who is the spiritual and effectual leader of the camp, the Hauers traveled in June, 2008, to Mainpat, a remote mountaintop where hundreds of Tibetans suffer without any medical care or proper living arrangements.

Acupuncturists and herbal medicine experts, the Hauers treated 450 people over the course of 10 days, using equipment and medicine transported by them from the U.S.

“These are peaceful, loving people who are dying from simple things,” Sarah said.

Pain from old injuries, childbirth and chronic diseases totaled half of the conditions the Hauers treated.

Digestive, respiratory and eye and ear problems constituted another 36 percent with urogenital, liver, hypertensive and diabetic diseases comprising the bulk of the remainder.

The closest hospital is hours away from the camp over unimproved roads, a difficult journey for anyone in distress.

Even if patients make the trip, there’s no certainty they will be treated in clinical conditions.

One of the camp’s residents died of Hepatitis B shortly after the Hauers arrived, doomed to death by dirty needles used at the hospital where he initially sought treatment for another disease.

In addition to providing traditional Chinese medicine, the Hauers have short-term goals of attracting visiting practitioners: doctors, dentists, nurse practitioners, experts in eye and ear diseases and others who can offer formal Western medical care.

“If we build a clinic and stock it with medicines it will be easier to have visiting practitioners come and plug themselves in,” Sarah said.

Long-term goals include the establishment of a scholarship program for medical training in Western and Chinese medicine so the Tibetans are able to provide their own treatment.

The Hauers are currently working with the Rinpoche in Sedona where he and his father, Lama Samteng, are visiting, providing blessings to local residents and businesses.

Samteng was formerly a Buddhist monk, meditating for two and a half years in a cave as is the practice.

Chinese officers dragged him out of his sanctum, tied his hands behind his back, forced him to his knees and put a pistol to his head.

“They dragged him for days wherever they were going — without food or any comforts,” Rinpoche said.

When his captors left him untended for one night, he escaped.

“For three years, I ran from them before reaching the border of India, hiding during the day or pretending to be a laborer,” Samteng said.

His son, the Rinpoche, was born in exile.

Samteng and Rinpoche’s stories are similar to those of many Tibetans who have been forced from their homeland, living precariously in India where they have no legal status, no land and few, if any, resources.

Tickets for the fundraiser are $20 per person and can be obtained by calling 282-0882 or 300-0649.

More information on the health project can be obtained from the Hauers at Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine at 282-0882.

Susan Johnson can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 129, or e-mail sjohnson@larsonnewspapers.com