She looks after 42 children in the
Tibet Autonomous Region and another 32 in
Yunnan Province. But, despite being no blood relation, the
children all call her their auntie.
Tendol Gyalzur, a Swiss passport holder, now travels by air between
her three homes. But she spends most of the time with her children
in Toelung of central Tibet.
Her new home, the Children's Charity Tendol Gyalzur, is a row of
two-storeyed Tibetan houses with a small garden.
"I
am an orphan myself and I had always thought that one day I would
do something for other orphans," Tendol said, while entertaining
her guests with tea and sweets in her sitting room.
Tendol cannot remember her exact age or birthplace because she said
she was adopted at a very young age. She moved from somewhere in
China's Tibet, first to India, and then to Germany and finally
settling in Switzerland after she got married.
Decades later in 1990, she returned to Tibet for the first time.
Unlike other travelers who were immediately struck by the local
religion and landscape, all Tendol could see were street children.
She decided to help. "There are orphans all over the world, but I
am Tibetan and I wanted to help the orphans of Tibet."
It
was neither a rational or carefully planned decision. Her family
and friends argued that it was an impossible dream because she was
a surgical nurse with little money. What's more, she knew little
about the situation in Tibet.
Tendol went ahead. She took her savings of US$26,000 and travelled
to Tibet. She went to the Tibet Development Fund in Lhasa and told
them she wanted to rent a house for an orphanage. But they told her
it would be better in the long run to build a permanent home for
children.
They offered her free land for the project. The easy-going Tendol
found a place at Toelung, about 10 kilometres southwest of Lhasa
and began to build the orphanage in May 1993.
When the orphanage opened on October 6, 1993, Tendol took in seven
children. In 1997, the charity built another house in the
Tibetan-populated area of Gyalthang in Yunnan Province.
It
was not an easy process, Tendol said, but one particular incident
made her determined to succeed.
One cold winter's day, she saw two children in rags begging. She
took them to a restaurant but the manager refused to serve them. "I
was furious and fought with him and forced him to let us in and
have something to eat," she said. "From that time on, I realized
that the only thing I wanted to do was to fight for the rights of
these abandoned children."
Her fight has won support from local people and authorities as well
as friends in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Even her husband,
an electrician, has come to join her.
At
61, her husband, Gyalzur Losang Tsultim, is now in charge of the
orphanage at Gyalthang. It is also a Tibetan style house that
provides shelter for another 32 children.
The couple's own children, two grown-up sons, now work in
Switzerland. Her family pictures as well as those of her other
children are hung side by side on the wall of the sitting room in
Toelung orphanage. There are also certificates of merit, awarded to
her children by their schools, displayed on the shelves.
She is happy to see that her children are doing well and wants to
make sure that every one of her 74 children - 30 girls and 44 boys
- in her home has every opportunity. "I want them to grow into
independent people who will contribute to society," she said. "This
is the responsibility of every parent."
Tendol has a 29-year-old helper, Tsamchoe, in Toelung, and she
calls her the "greatest woman in the world." The children call the
quiet and hard-working Tsamchoe their mother.
All the children in the orphanage are assigned responsibilities.
The elder ones have to help the younger ones and the little ones
are asked to do things such as pick up rubbish. "They learn by
example," she said.
Every week they must take at least three baths. "When they first
came they refused to do so because they were not used to the habit.
Some Tibetans believe that taking a bath would make them sick," she
explained.
And a boy from a pastoral background did not want to use the toilet
since he was so used to the open countryside. "I told him that
there were little insects that wanted him to feed them and he went.
He has since changed," Tendol said with delight.
She was also delighted to tell visitors that six of the 42 children
in her Toelung home are now studying at middle schools in China's
interior - academically successful Tibetan children are often
admitted to schools in the interior.
"I
am so happy that the kids are tolerant and sensitive. When I am in
low spirit some of them will go and pick flowers for me," she said.
"I get most satisfaction from them. This is something you cannot
buy with money."
(China Daily 07/12/2001)