European Chitue Candidate: Chungdak Koren

You can find this information about me on the website of European Tibetan Congress:

Chungdak Koren was born in Phari, Central Tibet in 1951. Chungdak Koren studied in St. Joseph’s Convent, Kalimpong and UCNL School in Dheradun. Soon after completing her school education, Chungdak volunteered at the Transit School in Dharalsala set up by the Department of Education  to meet the educational need of Tibetan children in 1967-68. From 1968-69, she worked as a manager for the cooperative society of the Tibetan Settlement in Sonada, Darjeeling.

In 1969, she reached Norway under scholarship to study in college and subsequently she did B.Sc nursing for three years in Oslo with an additional one year of specialization in Dialysis. She worked for 19 years as nurse at the Oslo University Hospital. During the same time, she was active at the grassroots level in both the Tibetan community and the Tibet Support Group. She was one of the main initiators of the Norwegian Tibet Committee set up in 1988. In 1989, she was officially appointed by the Office of Tibet London as the Co-ordinator between the Office of Tibet and the Nobel Committee for preparation of Nobel Peace Prize award to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She is also one of the core initiators in establishing Voice of Tibet, Norway radio in 1996 and continues to be on the governing board of VOT. From 1995-2001, she was appointed Representative of His Holiness at the Office of Tibet, Geneva. During the time, she managed many important meetings including the one with the Italian Prime Minister and Swiss Home Minister. She helped organize the Pavarotti Concert for aiding education of Tibetan Children and involved UNESCO to fund educational projects for Tibetans.

Soon after completing her service as Representative, she worked as one of the organizers for the Graz Kalachakra, Austria, in 2002. Since 2002, she has been serving as Executive Director of Norwegian Tibet Committee and Board Member of International Campaign for Tibet (Europe) since 2001. She was responsible for organizing the 1st European Tibetan Congress in Switzerland. In November 2008, she was awarded the Norwegian PENs Ossietzky prize for her work for Human Rights of Tibetan people inside Tibet. See videos of this candidate. [Nomination received 9th August 2010]