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The
Tibetan Children's Village in Dharamsala has been founded in 1960
by the elder sister of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Ms Tsering Dolma
Takla. In May 1960 - about 50 Tibetan children have arrived in Dharamsala
from the road camps - they were ill and malnourished. Mrs. Tsering
Dolma Takla volunteered to look after them. Upon their arrival -
members of His Holiness' entourage took care of these children,
but in a longer term, the Indian Government rented Conium House
to accommodate all the children in one place. At that time, the
centre was called "Nursery for Tibetan Refugee Children."
At the very beginning the Nursery only provided basic care for children. As soon as the children were at school age - they were sent to residential schools, established by the Government of India. Very soon the schools were overcrowded and another solution was to be found. Due to great courage and the look ahead of Ms Jetsun Pema, youngest sister of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and today's director of the TCV, it had been decided that the Nursery had to grow - regardless the various problems and obstacles. A re-organization plan was mandatory and included to seek for help from private persons as well as international aid organizations. Various additional houses were to be built and the Nursery was growing to a small village with its own schools. In 1972, it was formally registered under the Societes Act as Tibetan Children's Village and became a full member of SOS Kinderdorf International. His Holiness the Dalai Lama was extremely concerned about the poverty and the total lack of education for Tibetan Refugees in Ladakh. Therefore - in 1975 - the TCV Ladakh was founded, followed by TCV Bylakuppe in 1980. Both of these villages became members of the SOS Kinderdorf International. Suddenly the political situation in Tibet changed. Due to its international condemnation of its human rights, China was forced to follow a lenient policy towards Tibet. Tibetans were suddenly allowed to controlled visits of their relatives on both sides. This opened up a completely new opportunity for Tibetan's to smuggle their children across the boarder to India. Thousands of Tibetan children overwhelmed the TCV in Dharamsala. This situation lead to the opening of a new residential school at Lower Dharamsala, a high standard primary and secondary school - founded by Tibetan parents in exile. In the course of the last 32 years, more and more residential schools were built to provide a roof, food and education to Tibetan children - fled over the Himalaya - or born in exile. Today, in 2007 the various TCV's are taking care of aprox. 17'000 children of all ages.
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