Photo: courtesy CTA/OoT, United Nations Geneva Office, Switzerland circa 2014.
With profound sadness, members of ACT’s Tibetan Community and their friends and supporters gathered to pay their respects and offer prayers for the late Mr Ngodup Gyaltsen, a retired former civil servant of the Central Tibetan Administration, who passed in Canberra on 31 December, 2023.
A funeral and heartfelt prayer service was held on the morning of Wednesday, 3 January 2024, and attended by Tibetan community members, their supporters and friends to bid final farewell.
Kungo Ngodup Gyaltsen was born in 1948 in Purang Tridhe, Ngari region of Tibet. He was dedicated to serving the Tibetan people for more than 40 years under the leadership of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in various capacities.
China’s invasion of Tibet led Mr Gyaltsen and his family to flee Tibet into Exile to India through Almora, a district in present day Uttrakhand state. In Exile, he was enrolled to a transit school in Dharamsala, northern India, and graduated from a school in Madras followed by studies in accountancy in Mundgod, South India.
After completing his studies, in 1973 Mr Gyaltsen began serving with the Tibetan Cooperative Society in Mundgod and Bylakuppe Tibetan settlements respectively for many years, during which time he also served as the President of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress several times.
During that time, he also headed the Joint Action Committee established to garner support from the Indian government and other governments and to create awareness about the Tibetan issue.
Mr Gyaltsen served in the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and in Tibetan refugee settlements across India for many years in various capacities.
Upon his transfer to Dharamsala, the Headquarters of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), he served as internal auditor of the Department of Home. He also served in the Department of Health, as a Settlement Officer in Phuntsokling Settlement in Dalhousie, and Kullu Manali respectively in Himachal Pradesh.
In 2007, Mr Gyaltsen was posted as the Executive Secretary of the Tibet Information Office (also known as Office of Tibet), based in Australia’s capital, Canberra, where he served until his retirement in 2013.
Paying their respects across social media throughout the week, members of the Tibetan Communities across Australia who held Mr Gyaltsen in the highest esteem, expressed that after his retirement, Mr Gyaltsen did not sit idle.
In his retirement he went on to serve as President of the ACT Tibetan Community and President of Tibetan Communities in Australia, after committing his entire life serving the Tibetan people and its cause.
He will be sorely missed.
In accordance with Tibetan Buddhist tradition, prayers will be offered for the departed at his family home every 7th day from the date of his passing up until the 49th day.
A special note of thanks to Kalsang Tsering Derab for the translation of this report from Tibetan into English. With kind thanks to Office of Tibet, Canberra and members of the Tibetan Community in Australia who kindly provided information for this report.
Photo: courtesy CTA/OoT
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