Tsering Elder’s Home

Namgyal Dorjee
Place & Date of Birth:  Shotholosum, Tibet, 1940

He came to exile from Tibet in 1959 to Assam which is one of the states in Northeast region of India with his relatives. After coming to India, he worked as a laborer on road construction sites and later joined the Mustang Army where he served army for a few years. Then he later got married and settled in Nepal with his wife and children. Due to personal problem, he got divorced and later he was left alone. With no one to look after him and gradual ageing, he couldn’t take care of himself. Thus, he was admitted to Tsering Elders Home.

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Thupten Sonam
Place & Date of Birth:  Dhayak, Tibet 1932

Thupten was born into a family of nomads. He was the youngest of three siblings. At the age of sixteen, he became a monk at Drepung Loseling Monastery and pursued his monastic education until he reached 26 when Tibet was on the verge of being completely occupied by the Chinese Liberation Army and he was reluctant to join Chushi-Gangdruk, a resistance army formed by Tibetan warriors in 1958. He recalls fighting with the Chinese soldiers on several occasions and this went on for a few years until they gave up their weapons and decided not to engage in wars or any sort of non-violence methods on His Holiness’s advice. He came to exile and joined E.S.T 22 Indian Army and served for thirteen long years. Then he did the sweater business and got married when he was 39 and had a beautiful daughter but unfortunately, his wife passed away due to cancer. He also had health issues and couldn’t look after his daughter properly. His sister-in-law took the responsibility of taking care of his daughter. He came to Nepal and did small business for some years. Due to health issues and no one to take care of him. Eventually, he was admitted to Tsering Elders Home.

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Tsering
Place & Date of Birth:  Kyidrong, Tibet 1945

Tsering came from a nomadic family. She lost her father when she was 10 years old. She fled Tibet when she was 14 along with her mother and sister. They settled at the Nepal-Tibet border. She learned carpet weaving and at age 25 got married and gave birth to a baby boy. Tragedy fell upon her as her husband left her when her son was only 1. She had a very difficult life after that as she had to take care of her son and old mother as well as work outside for their livelihood. She had to send her son to a monastery in Dharamsala, India. After a few years, her mother passed away due to old age. And she was alone and suffered from depression. Her mental health worsens gradually, and she would often be found talking to herself. Her sister then brought her to Tsering Elders Home, and she has been living here ever since.

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Pasang Tenzin
Place & Date of Birth: Solukhumbhu, Nepal, 1954

His father was a monk of Sera Monastery in Tibet. He and three of his friends decided to come to Nepal for a pilgrimage to visit Holy Boudhanath Stupa in mid-1950 by crossing the Nangpa la pass. Stayed in Solukhumbu to recite the Buddhist texts and for puja. There he met a Tibetan woman who had come there earlier than him and got married. They gave birth to three sons and two of his little brothers passed away because of tuberculosis and cancer in one year, almost 20 years ago. Again after five years, another tragic struck him as his mother passed away and three years later, his father passed away as well. He had married a local woman who was much older than him but they never had a child and she also passed away. For the past ten years, he survived through the support from the locals and little money he saved as porter and cook . As getting older his right hand became senseless by fell down. As not availability of proper medication in the remote area, facing lots of hardships and no one to look after him. He was admitted here in Tsering Elders home on October 4, 2019.

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Wangmo
Place & Date of Birth:  Rolpaling, Nepal 1952

Her parents were from Tibet, but she was born in a remote area of Nepal. Her father worked as a shepherd which was their only source of income. But her father died when she was very young, and her mother married another man.  When she was around 27, her mother forced her to live with her stepfather for some reasons and she gave birth to a boy with him after around 5 years. Her mother passed away around 2 years later. She had to work as a servant at others’ houses while her husband worked as a shepherd to make ends meet. Her husband passed away a few years later and this really affected her mentally and emotionally. She developed a drinking habit, and her son wasn’t taken care of properly. Hence, her relatives took her soon and admitted her to the monastery. She has an accident, and her right foot was injured because of which she couldn’t walk properly. She couldn’t go to work and struggled for daily bread and butter. And as she grew older, she had no one to look after her and eventually was admitted at Tsering Elders Home.

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Jorgyal 
Place & Date of Birth: Shota Lho, Tibet: 1938

When he was 8 years old, he joined to Ngor Monastery in Shota Lho and became a monk. Later he went to Lhasa, when he was 20 years and admitted to Drepung Monastery for monastic education for 3 years. As the family constantly insisted to return to home, he left Drepung monastery and moved to Shota Lho. Under Chinese rule he worked as a road construction and laborer till 1979. In 1980 he came from Shota Lho to Lhasa for pilgrim and at the time instead of return to his hometown, he fled into exile in India. He stayed one year at Dharamsala. Later he came to Nepal for the sake of job and worked in a dying unit as a gatekeeper until he was unable to work due to his knees problem. He was admitted in the Tsering Elders Home in 2006.

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Kunthup
Place & Date of Birth:  Menkap, Tibet, 1939

He was born in Tibet and was living his life as a farmer. Later he came to exile in Solukhumbu in 1965 and worked as laborer at road construction sites for a while. There he got married and had 5 children. Later he started owning a small shop of his own. Unfortunately, his wife left him, and all of his children went to seek their own life. He is in touch with his children, but no one is available to take care of him. He lived alone for a long period. Since he was getting old, and no one was there to help him. He got admitted here in Tsering Elders Home.

Dukdhak 
Place & Date of Birth:  Soktsenden, Tibet, 1949

He came into exile in the year 1983 along with his wife. With great difficulties, he reached Nepal Kathmandu after a month-long walk through the Himalayas. He then went on a pilgrimage within Kathmandu without any work and without any source of income for about a year. In the year 1985, he worked as a gatekeeper at a carpet factory. After Tibetan Government in exile turned business units into a Privatization policy in the year 2004, he lost his job as a gatekeeper and was left without any source of income.  As his living condition was below the poverty line and had no one to look after him, he got admitted in Tsering Elders Home.

Norbu
Place & Date of Birth:  Sokorowa , Tibet, 1951

He came to Nepal with his parents right after Tibet lost independence in 1959 when he was just 9 years old. They settled in Solukhumbu Tibetan settlement and lived by farming. His parents passed away there and later he met a girl, married and had four children. Later he moved to Kathmandu with his family, and he worked in a carpet factory for some years. Having lived in a remote area for so long, his children didn’t receive proper education and thus do not have good jobs and are not financially sound although all of them are grown up. So, they are not capable enough to provide for him. He was admitted in Tsering Elders home.

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Ngawang Choedon
Place & Date of Birth:  Toe-Sur-Tso, Tibet, 1943

She came to Nepal with her parents when she was 15 years old and settled in Solukhumbu. Her parents started working in a carpet factory while she worked as porter for a couple of years before joining her parents to work in the carpet factory. She was around 30 when she had a relationship with one of the co-workers and a daughter was born. The father of the child however refused to accept the child and she had no other option but to raise her daughter on her own. Unfortunately, her daughter had health issues related to kidney from the birth. Ngawang Choedon did her best to give her daughter education and she was able to complete her schooling up to higher secondary. As she grew older her daughter had to take care of her but since her daughter did not have a high-income job, their financial situation got worse and thus she decided to live in Tsering Elder’s Home.

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Tseten Dolma
Place & Date of Birth:  Dhingri, Tibet 1941

Tseten was born as the only child in her family. Her parents were farmers and they both passed away when she was very young. Her uncle took her under his care and she became a part of her uncle’s family. They fled to Nepal and settled in Solukhumbu when the Chinese forces arrived in their village. She had to work with her uncle on a farm from a very young age. When she turned around 15 years old, she was forced to learn carpet weaving at a factory for better income. She worked there for around 9 years until the factory was shut down. She didn’t have any job and married Dhondup Tsering at age 27, he’s from the same village and worked as a cook at the government school. They never had a child due to some health issues. As they grew older, both were admitted to an old age home there on the advice of their concerned Settlement Officer since they had no one to look after them. They were happy living together at the facility until her husband Dhondup passed away on January 12 this year from jaundice and Pulmonary Edema.

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Topgay
Place & Date of birth: Dingri,  Gangkar 1953

Tobgay escaped from Tibet and settled in Khunde village, Solukhumbu, Nepal. He worked in construction site and shepherd at Sherpa community. And at the age of 25, he got married and had child, but unfortunately due to illness, he lost his only child at his age of 14 years. Four years back, he lost his dear wife. Then he had a very miserable life. His income was not enough to fulfill his basic needs. Even though he struggles a lot but due to his right-hand problems, he is not able to put effort on his work. So, finally he has to admit Tsering Elders Home, Tinchuli, Nepal.

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Pema Karkyi
Place & Date of Birth:  Lab Kham Pa, Tibet, 1939

She and her family came in exile to Nepal in 1960s and got settled with other Tibetan refugees at Manang. They engaged themselves into farming for their livelihood. At the age of 30, she got married and had two daughters. Unfortunately, her husband and 2 daughters had untimely demise due to sickness and no proper health facilities in the region. She carried on living alone and doing whatever small chores came her way to make her daily ends meet. As she grew older and had no one to take care of her, she was admitted in to Solukhumbu Elder’s Home. After few years this facility was shut down and hence, she was transferred to Tsering Elder’s Home.

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Pema
Place & Date of Birth:  Tsum, Tibet, 1939

Pema was born in Chum village, Nepal. He had five siblings. He came from a family of nomad. At the age of 17, he moved to Kathmandu to have better life. He worked in carpet industry as a wool dryer for around 7 years before joining the Indian army when he reached 24. He served in the army for 9 years and came back to Nepal to help his father for farming. He got married at the age of 40 with Mrs. Sonam Lhamo from Chum village. They both are same age. They had a child but due to health issues, they lost their only child after nine months. His wife was very disturbed, and they moved to Kathmandu for better living. His wife was doing wool weaver and he was doing barter system. Later on, as they grew old, they both got hypertension and he was diagnosed with Parkinson disease. They have no child to look after them and both were admitted in Tsering Elders Home.