A Student Wins 2009 Tesi Environmental Service Award

5 June 2009: Today, on the twin event of World Environment Day and TEAM’s founding day, Mr. Tsering Tharchin, a student at Gopalpur TCV was honoured with Tesi Environmental Service Award. The award recognises his commitment in raising environmental awareness in the Tibetan Community and his outstanding love and respect for Mother Nature.

Mr. Tsering Tharchin was born on 1st October 1986, in Lhodrak village in Lhokha, a southern part of Tibet bordering Bhutan. Born in a family of four boys, Tsering enjoyed running free in Nature and spent most of his childhood climbing trees, rolling over meadows, talking to birds and bugs, and swimming in fresh water streams. His words, ‘the natural beauty and bounty of my village are absolutely awesome and unmatched by anything I have seen so far. Kids don’t need the company of plastic toys, television or human friends to keep them occupied. Parents don’t have to fear that a vehicle may run over their children. Every child there has a luxury of growing up in the lap of Mother Nature’.

As he grew older, his parents, Mr. Kunsang Topgyal and Mrs. Yangzom, sent him to the local county school. Tsering said, ‘In school my interest in studies grew and my yearning for knowledge drew me closer to two men who have been to the current abode of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They promised to take me with them to a school there if my parents permit me to leave’. Thus with his parents’ consent, he reached Dharamsala in February 2002 and joined Tibetan Children’s Village school in Suja.

In exile, Tsering decided to focus only on education and not to dwell on the memories of his village and his family. He feels that ‘homesickness is really a sickness if you don’t control it’. When he was in 9th grade, the students elected him as one of the monitors to watch over the school’s cleanliness. He recalls, ‘when I was trusted with that responsibility, I was again forced to reconnect with the Mother Nature. But here it was different. So much trash everywhere and every cleaning session ended with a bonfire of papers and plastics’. He worked hard to make his school environment clean and sought help from Tesi Environmental Awareness Movement (TEAM) for information on waste management.

Tsering Yangkey, TEAM’s founder, said, ‘Tsering Tharchin and three other boys came to our office and showed a lot of interest in environmental issues at their school. At the time we had just started and couldn’t offer much help, but their interest was a true inspiration for us to really get started and work hard to revive the ecological consciousness of our people. We offered them a small seed fund and gave them our brochures and publications and told them to stay in touch. And our relationship grew. In 2006 we invited Tharchin and thirteen other Suja students to participate in a month long Environmental Leadership workshop in Amaravati with 30 other students from different Tibetan schools.’

Ugyen, TEAM’s Assistant Director, said, "All the students were wonderful, but Tharchin was extra committed. He was always the first one to come and last one leave whenever there was a chore to service Nature. On return to school, he stayed in touch with us and we kept sending our publications and information through him. While in 10th grade, he became the school prefect and his influence at school grew and he was kind of an environmental warrior among his peers. During that winter break, he volunteered to teach the new arrivals and made a couple of presentations to the school on Global Warming Issues and also Waste Management."

In 2008, TEAM invited Tsering Tharchin to support our Summer Workshop in Sarah and in 2009 he interned with TEAM for two months during his winter break. Tharchin is now in class12 in TCV Gopalpur with extra responsibility as the School’s Head Boy. In college, he wants to major in International Law with special focus on human rights and environmental laws.

So, this year TEAM is extra pleased to honor, Mr. Tsering Tharchin, a young Tibetan full of integrity, commitment and energy, who has always loved and cared for Mother Nature, with 2OO9 Tesi Environmental Service Award (TESA). The previous recipients are Ama Karlo who passed away this March and Madam Tenzin Pelmo of Upper TCV.

May he inspire all young Tibetans and others to become environmentally conscious and committed!