July 9, 2024, Day 4 of Bhutan Survey, Trongsa, Thimphu
Hello. Today marks the fourth day of surveying Bhutan. Sunim departed from Zhemgang to meet the Governor of Trongsa, then traveled to Thimphu to meet with the leader of Bhutan’s opposition party and a cabinet minister.
After completing morning practice and meditation, Sunim departed from Zhemgang at 5 AM. The journey to Thimphu requires driving all day on a long road.
After driving for 2 hours and 30 minutes, Sunim arrived in Trongsa. On the road from Zhemgang to Trongsa, there were landslides in various places with fallen rocks.
Fortunately, it didn’t rain heavily during Sunim’s journey, allowing safe passage.
The Governor of Trongsa welcomed Sunim.
“I’m truly grateful for your efforts for Bhutan.”
“Not at all. I do this because I enjoy it. I don’t think of Bhutan as a foreign country; I think of it as my own country when I work here. I also grew up in a mountainous rural area, and since all citizens believe in Buddhism, I don’t feel like I’m in a foreign country at all when I come to Bhutan.”
“I’m even more grateful that you think of it that way.”
Sunim then shared the results of the pilot projects conducted over the past month. Sunim first talked about creating irrigation channels in Nabji Chiwog.
“The residents of Nabji village made the irrigation channels somewhat crooked. But please understand. It’s their first time doing this. They need to experience trial and error themselves to learn a lot. That’s why we didn’t call in technicians from the beginning. Because if the villagers try it themselves and learn, they can fix it later when it breaks. Otherwise, they would have to call technicians every time repairs are needed.”
The Governor of Trongsa agreed with Sunim’s words.
“That’s right. In the past, since the government handled irrigation channel maintenance projects, rural people had no sense of responsibility to fix things themselves when irrigation channels broke – they just waited for the government to fix them. But now that you’ve come and worked together with them, the residents seem to have realized ‘this is not the government’s work, but our work.’ This alone is a great achievement. Thank you so much.”
Sunim then talked about paving the steep road in Kolphu Chiwog.
“In Kolphu Chiwog, the residents paved a steep road, and they were very happy because it was so convenient when they drove on it. If the government had paved the road, they would have just said thank you once and that would be it, but because the residents made it themselves, they feel proud every time they pass by that road.” (laughter)
“Thank you.”
Finally, Sunim talked about building a house for a poor person in Nimshong Chiwog.
“This time in Nimshong Chiwog, the villagers worked together to build a house for a poor person. Actually, building a house together was the most difficult task. It’s easy to participate in irrigation channels and roads because residents use them together, but with an individual’s house, it’s easy to think ‘why should we do this together?'”
“In the old days, in Bhutan too, when building houses, everyone built them together in the way you mentioned.”
“So when I say ‘Please build a house for someone here who doesn’t have one,’ they said they couldn’t support it.
‘There’s someone here without a house, and all our villagers want to build a house for this person. But we don’t have money, so instead all the villagers will take turns working for several days. Please just support us with materials from JTS.’
When they request like this, I said JTS can help. We decided to support only when villagers agree to build together. A house built this way doesn’t belong to an individual but becomes the property of the entire village. This way, residents make all decisions themselves, and since they have to do the work, they don’t become too greedy. As a result, their requests naturally become moderate. If we just build houses one-sidedly, requests like ‘please do this too,’ ‘please do that too’ increase.”
During this visit, Sunim also participated in rice planting with the residents. Sunim suggested that pilot projects are needed for rice planting as well.
“To avoid using chemical fertilizers in rice fields, there’s a method of planting green manure crops to use as fertilizer. We need to demonstrate these organic farming methods through pilot projects and show results over several years. It’s not easy for residents to follow immediately. And when they farm using the new methods we’ve taught, if the yield falls below the average harvest, we need to compensate them. When I provided support to North Korea, I also investigated the current production amount and promised to compensate for any reduction in production compared to before our support. Only then can residents follow with peace of mind.”
After finishing sharing about the pilot projects, they had breakfast together.
Sunim and the Governor of Trongsa continued their conversation while eating. The Governor asked Sunim:
“What do you think is the most important thing to improve?”
Sunim said that improving residents’ living conditions would be the most important task.
“For people with low living standards, when I went inside their homes, the home environment was very poor. There’s a stove inside the house so it’s very smoky, even though several families live there, there’s no internal division, and the kitchen hygiene was poor. From the outside, all the houses look clean, but when you go inside, they weren’t sanitary. Improving the interior of houses seems like it will be the most important task going forward. So in the long term, I consider remodeling houses to be the most important work.”
“It would be good to inspect together when you come next time. From the outside they look fine, but when you go inside the houses, there’s often nothing. This is especially true for poor houses.”
“Of course it could be because they don’t have money, but it could also be because they only live in traditional ways. They don’t have ideas about how to live more comfortably. So we need to create several sample model houses to show residents and listen to their opinions on how to improve. We could make better houses if we spend a lot of money, but we need to find ways to make good improvements while spending as little money as possible. Because only then can we expand this project to more areas. If it costs a lot of money, it’s difficult to expand. If you could tell me about particularly difficult areas in Trongsa, I’ll survey them and proceed with projects.”
After conversing for two hours, they promised to meet again and got back in the car heading to Thimphu.
It takes 4 hours and 30 minutes to get from Trongsa to Thimphu. Like in Zhemgang, there were sections in Trongsa where the road was blocked due to landslides.
Fortunately, when Sunim’s group arrived, heavy equipment had almost finished clearing the fallen rocks. After waiting a short while, the road became passable and they could safely continue their journey.
At Dochula Pass, the highest pass at over 3,000 meters above sea level, they briefly got out of the car to have lunch. After finishing the meal, they continued driving toward Thimphu.
They arrived in Thimphu at 2:30 PM and visited a small temple.
This is a temple operated by Rinchen Dawa, who provided interpretation services during this survey, where he hosts Bhutanese monks. In Bhutan, funeral costs are a big burden when someone dies, and Rinchen Dawa helps poor people by hosting monks to conduct funerals at low cost.
Several devotees also gathered to greet Sunim. Sunim had a brief conversation with monks from Khomsar, including Dorji Sunim who is surveying with Sunim.
“I mainly travel to many places to support people in need in poor countries. This time, I conducted pilot projects to improve residents’ lives in Zhemgang, the poorest area in Bhutan.”
“I sincerely thank you for providing so much support to the villages of Zhemgang and Khomsar.”
Sunim presented donations to the Bhutanese monks.
They took a commemorative photo together and left the temple.
At 3 PM, Sunim met with the leader of Bhutan’s opposition party at the Korean restaurant Sanmaru to explain and discuss sustainable development projects.
Dasho Pema Chewang, the leader of the Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP), which holds the second-most seats after the ruling party in Bhutan, warmly welcomed Sunim.
“Welcome to Bhutan.”
“You’re in politics. How is it? In Korea, politicians fight with each other, making life difficult for the people.”
“In Bhutan, we have a king, so whether opposition or ruling party, we ultimately cooperate to fulfill the king’s wishes. That’s why we don’t fight as severely as in Korea. When politicians fight, only the people suffer in the end.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
Bhutan is facing a ‘brain drain’ problem, with youth unemployment approaching 30% due to job shortages, causing young people to leave the country in large numbers. Sunim expressed concern about the youth problem, which is Bhutan’s biggest issue.
I’m Worried About Bhutanese Youth Leaving for Abroad
“From my perspective, too many young Bhutanese going abroad will be a major problem in the future. When young people keep leaving for foreign countries, it negatively affects national stability. For example, even when trying to build roads in Bhutan, if there are no workers, technicians and laborers from countries like India will eventually come in to do the construction. This makes it difficult to accumulate specialized skills within Bhutan. Even if the income is somewhat lower, Bhutanese youth need to learn these specialized skills and accumulate technical expertise for national development. Initially, due to lack of skills, foreign experts must come to build roads and bridges. However, after experiencing such sites once or twice, Bhutan should eventually be able to do such work independently. But now, since foreign technicians and workers come in to do all the work, Bhutanese youth have no opportunity to learn these skills.”
The opposition leader actively agreed with Sunim’s thoughts and said:
“That’s right. You’re accurately seeing Bhutan’s problems. I understand the Ministry of Education is having many discussions to change the system.”
How Should We Live to Live Well?
Sunim also talked about the side effects of English education and internet education.
“It’s good that Bhutanese children learn English from a young age and receive internet education. However, as they become proficient in English and encounter the world through the internet, it seems to have accelerated the phenomenon of young people going abroad. If they didn’t know English, they wouldn’t go abroad as much. So if I have the opportunity, I plan to give lectures at Bhutanese high schools and universities. I’ve already thought of the lecture topic: ‘How should we live to live well?’ I want to ask Bhutanese youth this question:
‘Is it living well if we just go abroad and earn a lot of money? Or is it more important to work here, even with a smaller salary, to make our country more beautiful and develop it?’
I plan to lecture on this topic. I want to discuss with Bhutanese youth what it truly means to live meaningfully.”
The opposition leader emphasized that a change in civil servants’ consciousness must come first.
“I would be truly grateful if you could give many such lectures in Bhutan. And I ask that you lecture not only to university and high school students but also to civil servants. The phenomenon of Bhutanese going abroad actually started with the civil servant group. As civil servants leave, students follow in their footsteps. If you could lecture to civil servants, it would be very helpful.”
Sunim replied:
“First, I’ll start with training education for civil servants working on sustainable development projects in Trongsa and Zhemgang. If necessary, we could also bring them to Korea for training. It’s important for them to observe that while economic development has benefits, it’s not all positive. However, for now, we need to first conduct pilot programs in Zhemgang for about 5 years, focusing on lifestyle improvement movements and consciousness reform movements. After evaluation, if deemed successful, we should expand throughout Bhutan. The situation hasn’t been sufficiently tested yet.”
Sunim showed the opposition leader a video of repairing poor houses and constructing irrigation channels in Langdurbi village.
After watching the video, the opposition leader said:
“When the government builds irrigation channels, residents should maintain them well afterward, but the lack of ownership among residents is a big problem.”
Sunim emphasized that drawing out residents’ voluntary participation is an important goal of this project.
“That’s right. There was an irrigation channel built 20 years ago, but it was completely destroyed because residents didn’t maintain it continuously. In this situation, when residents asked for a new irrigation channel, I said no. I told them I would support repairs if they were willing to do them, and we’re currently fostering a sense of ownership through the repair process.”
“I want to express my gratitude to you. Bhutan’s national finances are very poor, and we can’t even secure budgets, so what the government can do is limited. I’m truly grateful that you’re conducting pilot projects in areas where the government’s reach doesn’t extend.”
The opposition leader repeatedly expressed gratitude to Sunim, saying that JTS’s work in Bhutan is very necessary.
Next, they headed to Bhutan’s central government office. Sunim met with Cabinet Secretary Kesang Deki, with whom he had signed a pilot project MOU in April.
Sunim shared the results of the pilot project with the Cabinet Secretary and explained future plans.
“Since it’s the rainy season, we could only do a little of the pilot project. So there’s nothing special to evaluate, but the assessments from residents and village leaders seem positive. When I listened to the Tshogpa, Mangmi, and Gup, they said they initially hesitated, wondering ‘Will residents really participate as Sunim suggested?’ But when they actually tried it, residents participated very happily. When I met the residents directly, they said, ‘Since Sunim is helping us, we should work hard too,’ and expressed their desire to continue participating.”
“That’s wonderful!”
Will You Wait for the Government to Do It, or Shall We Do Small Tasks Ourselves?
“The next project can probably start in September after the rainy season ends. More substantial projects can begin in November after the harvest. I told the residents this:
‘If you wait 10 years, the government will do everything for you. But do you want to wait until then? Or shall we do small tasks ourselves?’
Everyone answered they would do it themselves. So I said let’s not wait for others to do our village work, let’s do it ourselves. For example, laying pipes over long distances from water sources to farmland costs a lot of money, so the government should do that, but we can make the channels going into individual fields. All the residents agreed with my proposal.
Problems and Solutions When Building Houses for the Poor
There is a somewhat difficult issue. It seems that the participation rate of villagers drops slightly when it comes to personal matters like building houses for those without homes. So I addressed this problem by saying:
‘We shouldn’t think of it as “there’s one person without a house in our village, so let’s build them a house.” Instead, we should think: “Looking at this person, they work really hard but their circumstances are very difficult. If I had money, I’d want to help them first, but since I don’t have money, I’ll at least go help with the work for a few days.”‘
So we decided that if all the residents agree to build that person’s house, JTS will provide technical experts and materials. We’ve started by making sure that building houses is accepted not as an individual matter but as a community matter. I think we’ll have various cases by autumn. I’ll report on the various cases at that time.”
“Thank you.”
They then discussed several topics. JTS operates on a volunteer basis, but Sunim proposed that the Bhutanese government consider two matters: whether the government could cover expenses when officials monitor sites and pay wages when bringing in technical experts, and whether the government could provide tax exemptions if heavy equipment like excavators and dump trucks are sent from Korea. The Bhutanese government agreed to discuss these matters and inform them of the results, concluding the conversation.
As they left the central government office, Sunim took a commemorative photo with central government officials, including Yeshi and Kaysang, who had accompanied the survey for the past five days.
They got back in the car and headed to the Bhutan Nuns Foundation (BNF) on the outskirts of Thimphu. After climbing up a hill for quite a while, the Bhutan Nuns Foundation appeared.
After unpacking and having dinner, they discussed tomorrow’s survey schedule before concluding the day’s activities. It was another long day.
Tomorrow morning, Sunim will conduct a live broadcast of the Weekly Dharma Assembly for Jungto Society members from the Bhutan Nuns Foundation (BNF), then move to Paro Taktsang Monastery to survey the area with Bhutanese officials. In the afternoon, he will meet with Dasho Karma Tshiteem, the former head of Gross National Happiness (GNH), and then meet with the Queen Mother of Bhutan, who leads a charitable foundation, to share the results of this pilot project and discuss future cooperation directions.
