Tsering Dolma (, 1919 – 21 November 1964) was the founder of the non-profit refugee organisation

Tibetan Children's Villages Tibetan Children's Villages or TCV is an integrated community in exile for the care and education of orphans, destitutes and refugee children from Tibet. It is a registered, nonprofit charitable organization with its main facility based at ...

and was the older sister of

the 14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

, Tenzing Gyatso.

Biography

Tsering Dolma was the eldest daughter of a farming and horse trading family living in the hamlet of Taktser. She was the eldest sister of the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

, and acted as a midwife to her mother during his birth in 1935 when she was 16 years old. She married Taklha Puntsok Tashi, a Tibetan politician in 1937 and they moved to

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

in 1940. She was part of the 1950 Tibetan delegation to India who met with

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

, and she also formed part of a 1954 delegation to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

to meet with

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

and the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

. She fled Tibet to India in response to the

1959 Tibetan uprising The 1959 Tibetan uprising or Lhasa uprising began on 10 March 1959 as a series of protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, fueled by fears that the Chinese government planned to arrest the Dalai Lama. Over the next ten days, the demonstratio ...

alongside her brother and other prominent Tibetans with the support of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

Special Activities Center The Special Activities Center (SAC) is the center of the United States Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to a 2015 reorganization. Within SAC there are at l ...

. In exile, she established

who assisted in the building and running of refugee camps for children in

Dharamshala Dharamshala (, ; also spelled Dharamsala) is a town in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It serves as the winter capital of the state and the administrative headquarters of the Kangra district since 1855. The town also hosts the Tibeta ...

. There, she also worked with international volunteers from

Service Civil International Service Civil International (SCI) is an international peace organisation, founded by Swiss pacifist Pierre Cérésole in the aftermath of World War I to foster understanding and a culture of peace between people from different countries. Since ...

. Tsering Dolma died in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1964.{{Cite news , date=29 Oct 1965 , title=Dr. Florence Haslam tells of hospital work in India , pages=11 , work=

The StarPhoenix ''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. It has been referred to as a "sister newspaper" to the '' Leader-Post''. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each we ...

, url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/509498974 , access-date=12 Apr 2023

References

Tibetan politicians 1919 births 1964 deaths Tibetan emigrants to India Members of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration 14th Dalai Lama