The gift of childhood – Tibetan orphan returns to homeland to run orphanage

By Chu Meng

Tendol Gyalzur was born in Tibet in the 1950s.

Orphaned at 12 when her parents died of illness, Gyalzur was adopted by a German couple and taken to Switzerland and given an education. After finishing her studies in medicine, the young Tibetan woman began a comfortable life with her husband and sons.

But childhood memories were slow to fade.

Gyalzur, then in her 40s, decided to leave her job as a surgeon’s assistant to care for other orphans in her native Tibet.

For Tibet, it was the birth of the autonomous region’s first private orphanage: for 300 orphans from seven minorities, it was a chance at a happy childhood.

Zhaxi Qidan, a 24-year-old Tibetan boy, works as an auto mechanic and earns a fair salary. He is shy and hides his eyes behind a pair of sunglasses, but there is a smile on his face as he speaks.

He is one of 80 orphans who have left Tendol Gyalzur’s orphanage to work in the real world.

Many of his fellow orphans have found good jobs and become productive members of society. Zhaxi said one of his Han friends from the orphanage graduated from a military academy in Kunming Province and now commands 35 soldiers in Sichuan Province.

“It is wonderful if an adult orphan can serve his people and his country. It shows the success of an orphanage,” Gyalzur said. Her orphanages focus on education and vocational training, which provides the children with skills that can ensure their livelihood.

Gyalzur runs three orphanages in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, Shangri-La, Yunnan Province and Lithang, Sichuan Province.