New Delhi April 19 – Jetsun Pema or Amala for the children of the Tibetan children’s village has been awarded the World Children’s Honorary Award in Stockholm, Sweden yesterday.
“I share the great honour and encouragement with all our co-workers at the Tibetan Children´s Villages. I´m sure this is also an inspiration to the younger generation who through learning about each other and sharing may, in the future, be ensured of a world that is more understanding, harmonious and peaceful. I am sure that the prize also has offered an opportunity to millions of children around the world to learn about Tibet and the Tibetan children”, Jetsun Pema said in her acceptance speech.
Better known to children as Amala (mother), Jetsun Pema has worked for the plight of Tibetan refugee children for forty years. As a student spending vacation in Dharamshala, Jetsun Pema would help her sister Tsering Dolma in taking care of the children of displaced Tibetans working at road construction sites. Bhusokhang (Nursery) as it was then called had only 51 students in 1960, the year of its inception. Today, it has grown into one of the largest residential schools in India.
Youngest among the three sisters of the Dalai Lama, Jetsun Pema is a former kalon (minister in the Kashag or the Tibetan cabinet) and she is the first woman ever to achieve it.
Meanwhile, the Global Friends’ Award was won by THE ORPHANS’ ORGANISATION, AOCM, Rwanda, and the World’s Children’s Prize was awarded to Craig Keilburger from Canada.
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