Tendol Gyalzur
Tendol Gyalzur (c. 1951[note 1]–3 May 2020) was a Tibetan-Swiss humanitarian, known for founding the first private orphanage in Tibet.
Biography
Gyalzur was born as Tenzin Dolkar in Shigatse, Tibet. She lost her parents in the Chinese annexation of Tibet and as a child crossed the Himalayas on foot and on horseback to flee to India. She grew up in an Indian orphanage, and was chosen to be one of a dozen children sent to Germany by the Tibetan government in exile in 1963. In Germany, she obtained a nursing degree, married another Tibetan refugee, Losang Gyalzur, and moved with him to Switzerland.[1]
When revisiting Tibet as an adult, the sight of numerous street children motivated her to found Tibet's first private orphanage in
One of her sons, Songtsen Gyalzur, became a professional ice hockey player, and established a brewery in Shangri-La, Shangri-La Beer.[2] Gyalzur died from COVID-19 on 3 May 2020, in Chur, Switzerland, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland.[1]
Works about Tendol Gyalzur
- Polli, Tanja (2019). Ein Leben für die Kinder Tibets Die unglaubliche Geschichte der Tendol Gyalzur. Wörterseh Verlag. Lachen SZ. OCLC 1105102410.)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
Notes
- ^ On 2 December 1951, according to her Swiss passport, but this birthdate was estimated later.
References
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
- ^ a b "Tibet's 'Orphan Super-Mother' Lost to COVID-19". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2020-05-16.