MRS. TENZIN PELMO HONOURED WITH 2008 TESI ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE AWARD

“Every one of us living on the lap of Mother Nature should not only enjoy the warmth of her lap but must work towards healing the wounds and the pains we keep inflicting on her despite the warmth and the nourishment she gives us. Let's pay her the gratitude she deserves by making a resolution on this day, 5 June 2008: World Environment Day. Let us all make this resolution together, 'I won't waste the food that I buy no matter how bad it tastes and how full I am.’” Mrs. Tenzin Pelmo’s Message for youth

Dharamsala, 5 June 2008: Tesi Environmental Awareness Movement honoured Mrs. Tenzin Pelmo with 2008 Tesi Environmental Service Award. Mrs. Tenzin Pelmo was born on 2nd October 1965 in Shimla, India. She did her schooling till Class X in the Tibetan Children’s Village School in Dharamsala and continued her 10+2 at the Central School for Tibetans in Dalhousie. After completing 12th grade she did a two-year teacher training course in Mount Hermon College in Darjeeling. In 1990 she joined TCV School as a junior teacher and later she was transferred to the TCV Teachers’ Training Centre (TTC) Dharamsala. Tenzin Pelmo-la has been working as an English instructor at the TTC since 2001. At the Centre, she was able to bring her long held interest in the environment into the classrooms.

She has earned an exemplary reputation as a maker of teaching aids for her students (teacher trainees) from reused and recycled items. She uses milk cartons, newspapers, discarded computer components, nut shells, used post cards and almost anything that she could get her hands on to create the most wonderful teaching tools. Her items like CD holder made from used tetra-pack cartons are received with much curiosity and appreciation by everybody. She gives talks on inculcating reading habit and has distributed thousands of bookmarks made from waste materials. She has also held numerous exhibitions to educate people about the many useful things that she has created with discarded items.

Her interest in the environment and concern for local environmental problems is evident from her work, which is completely voluntary in nature. A key focus of her work has been the problem of littering and garbage disposal in Dharamsala. She is particularly worried about the examples we are setting for the younger generation.

In her own words, “We Tibetans think that cleanliness is needed only inside our own homes. But we must not forget that we are living on this earth and thus this whole Earth is our home and we are responsible for keeping her safe and clean.” (Source: Chitsok Melong newspaper in 2007)

In recognition of her tireless efforts in raising environmental awareness within the Tibetan community, Tesi Environmental Awareness Movement is honoured to grant Mrs. Tenzin Pelmo with 2008 Tesi Environmental Service Award. We are confident that she will continue to inspire and educate many more Tibetans to be responsible and caring towards Mother Nature.

Tesi Environmental Awareness Movement