LHASA: When Dechen Narum, along with her 10 siblings, used to lie on the grass on a rare sunny day to warm her feet more than 50 years ago, she could have never imagined the end of slavery in her land of lords and lamas.

"My father, a shoemaker, used to work round the clock, but could never find time to make shoes for any of his children," Dechen, now 74, said.

Dechen thought they had lived as slaves and would die as slaves. A day to commemorate the abolishment of slavery was not even a passing thought.