Villages – Page 2 – Tshering Tobgay

Walking tall

January 16, 2010Poverty, Villages

Dramekha, Ngatsena and Thangdokha are three villages perched precariously on the steep slopes of a mountain opposite Dorokha, Denchukha and Dumtoe. Dramekha, Ngatsena and Thangdokha were, until recently, part of Mayona Gewog under Samtse. In 2007, these three villages and several equally remote villages of Dumtoe (Samtse) and Samar (Haa) were combined to form the kingdom’s newest gewog, Gakiling. Dramekha, Ngatsena and Thangdokha hold the disagreeable distinction of being among the poorest villages in Bhutan. They also hold the most unfortunate record of never having had a dzongdag visit them. That’s correct: no dzongdag has ever visited these villages,…

Highway to Dorokha

January 16, 2010Villages

Yesterday, I was at Dorokha. We drove from Samtse to Yabala, and walked the rest of the way. The trail to Dorokha is broad. And, its alignment is comfortable – the path hugs the mountainside and gradually descends to Dorokha. But, because of the heavy traffic at this time of the year, the trail can get rough. The migrating cattle, work horses and constant stream of people marching on the “highway” to Dorokha and back takes a toll on the road. There are pebbles, mud, dust and loose stone over the rocky outcrop that is the trail. Still, the…

Hospitality business

January 13, 2010People, Villages

Shebji is Sombaykha’s northernmost village. And, civil servants, especially Dzongkhag officials, traveling to Sombaykha normally spend a night in there. After walking continuously downhill from Tergola (at about 4000 meters) through alpine meadows, giant rhododendron forests, and subtropical jungle to Shebji (about 1500 meters), most travelers are happy to rest their tired knees in this little hamlet. Now, in accordance with our age-old traditions also still practiced throughout rural Bhutan, travelers can choose to eat and drink, rest and sleep in any one of Shebji’s eight houses. Each one of them would feel honoured and very happy to offer…

Demand for equity

December 20, 2009Government, Towns, Villages

Consider this: in rural Bhutan, our people are undernourished, stunting and wasting. Now consider this: in urban Bhutan, our people are overweight and obese. Time to get serious about the equity in the DPT’s Equity and Justice.

Lost and (not) found

September 16, 2009Towns, Villages

“Whoa…sho, sho, sho… Jamu-ya, sho, sho, sho! Whoa…sho, sho, sho…Tsheri-ya, sho, sho, sho,” Tshitem Dorji calls out shaking a feedbag of maize kernels. Jamu, an obedient mare, and Tsheri, a black mule, quickly respond to my cousin’s gentle entreaties. They emerge from the thick rhododendron forests to enjoy their morning meal before being saddled for the day. It’s a clear, crisp spring morning in the mountains. And Tshochuyala, where we have camped, is beautiful. The rhododendron – several varieties of them – are in full bloom. And much of the meadows are literally carpeted with purple primulas. Giant magnolias…

Poor villages

July 25, 2009Poverty, Villages

Our government estimates that 23.3% of our population live in poverty. And that the incidence of poverty in our villages is significantly higher than in our towns. In fact, the poverty rate in rural Bhutan is 30.9%. That is, almost one in every three of our villagers lives below the poverty line. Compare this to the urban poverty rate of just 1.7%, and it becomes clear that our villages need serious and immediate attention. But, the amount of money allocated to local governments, and hence to rural Bhutan, for this financial year, again, is negligible. Only 22.8% of the…

Farmers’ produce

July 25, 2009Economy, Villages

Our economy grew by 8.1% last year. That’s not the 9% growth per year promised by DPT. But, given all that happened in those 12 months, from a host of national celebrations to the global financial crisis, 8.1 is really not too bad. The share of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors to our GDP are 16%, 45% and 36% respectively. And, during the past year, the primary, or agriculture, sector grew by 1.7%; the secondary, or industry, sector grew by 7.5%; and the tertiary, or service, sector grew by 12.1%. These figures were given to the National Assembly…

Gasa tshachu

May 31, 2009Nature, Villages

We're in Punakha, back from Gasa. And other than the heart wrenching sight of the damaged tshachu, our hot springs, the quick trip to Gasa was most wonderful. Gasa's famous tshachu, a truly national heritage that, over many centuries, has provided hope to countless ailing patients and rest for weary travelers, is no more. On 26th May, the Mochu changed its course, towards the hot springs, and washed away all the ponds, three shops and a lot of the embankment. Local people and Dzongkhag officials have already tried to locate the springs. But so far, they have not been…

Yangthang’s new bridge

May 29, 2009Villages5 Comments

The recent flash floods hit Haa quite hard. A house was washed away, several houses were submerged, bridges were swept away, and many farmers have lost their entire crop. And we know very little about the extent of damage in Sombaykha and Gakiling simply because no one from these gewogs has made it to the dzongkhag headquarters. But among all this disaster, I witnessed a comforting story. The village of Yangthang (52 households) had been cut off from the rest of Haa as, during the flash floods, the river had breached its banks and created a new course between…

To Gakiling and beyond

April 19, 2009Villages

I begin another visit to my constituency today. In particular, I’ll visit Gakiling. And from there head to Dumtoe and Dorokha in Samtse. Most families from Samar gewog, including mine, make this journey every year, moving their cattle from the high mountains in Haa to the lowlands in Samtse each winter. This difficult journey has been undertaken by many, many generations at almost the same time each year, along exactly the same path, and to the same pastures. Our people continue this tradition. We have to: we are semi-nomadic people.So, naturally, I'm excited.I won’t be able to access the…

Kajana fire

March 20, 2009Villages

At about 1:30 AM on 14th March, a fire raged through two adjoining houses in Kajana in Haa.The first house belonged to Aum Dema, aged 60. Aum Dema wasn’t home during the fire – she was at her daughter’s house because she didn’t want to spend the night alone. She would have had to spend the night alone because her husband, Ap Passang, was in Danadingkha Goenpa. And Ap Passang was in Danadingkha fighting a forest fire … as a volunteer. He’d volunteered to spend the night in the goenpa to make sure the forest fire didn’t restart.Aum Dema…

Preparing for storms

March 19, 2009Nature, Villages

A week ago, strong winds damaged 20 houses in Haa, most of them in Katsho. The storm had blown off most of their roofs.I’m in Haa. And I was delighted to see that most of the houses have already been repaired.Wind storms are not uncommon in Haa. Just last year several houses had been severely damaged, mostly in Samar.In fact, wind storms are not uncommon in most parts of our country. My colleague, Dasho Damcho, is currently in Laya meeting farmers still recovering from the effects of last week’s storm. And, barely a year ago, strong winds swept through…

Water solution

March 15, 2009Nature, Villages

In “Weather dependent” I’d celebrated the snowfall, without which our farmers wouldn’t be able to plant potatoes. But I’d also agonized that too much snow could be bad for potato cultivation.These mixed emotions prompted one Anonymous to comment: “You complain when there is no snow and complain again when there is snow. Nothing new – that is the way Bhutanese are and you are a true champion.”Precisely.And I’ll keep complaining: it snowed here, but I learnt that other parts of Bhutan, Gakiling and Sombaykha gewogs for example, got hardly any precipitation. There I saw many farmers look helplessly on…

Home from home

March 14, 2009Villages

I’m back. And I’m sorry for the confusion my last entry created. Anonymous Migmar wondered how I’d posted “Celebrating women” with “No road, no electricity and no telephone” in the two gewogs I was visiting. So he asked: “… are you back in Thimphu or is someone from your office upgrading your blog... he..he Explain.”Aum Zekom suggested that I could be “blogging mobile” as “At some of the highest passes, you can catch the airwave to connect your cellphone.”Here’s the explanation: I wasn’t in Thimphu; no one had posted the entry on my behalf; and none of the many…

Going home

March 5, 2009Villages

I’m off to my constituency.We’ll walk everyday, some days for more than 12 hours, to visit some 18 villages in Gakiling and Sombaykha. In these remote gewogs live some of our poorest people.I’m looking forward to meeting our people: to give them my report on the second session of the National Assembly; to ask for directives for the third session; to listen to their problems; to discuss possible solutions; to investigate income generating activities; and to renew growing friendships.Gakiling and Sombaykha are not connected by car road. And by telephone. So my blog will be quiet for a while.Pictured…