Presenting Bhutan to Danes

Who said teaching small children is an easy job? Thanks to my teachers whom I cannot give back anything but I am really grateful to them. The most difficult job I have come across is making children understand what you are talking.

That was my first time experience talking- but almost teaching- to a scout group of 25 children with few adults at Struer Scout Centre with my project group. Actually I wanted to say so many things and talk about Bhutan but since their education is done in Danish language except for English and more over they were small- as young as 10 to 14 years old- I was inhibited to greater extent from ways of presentation to content.

Yet then they were told about Bhutan. First I spoke a sentence about Bhutan and then my friend Herman translated it for them.

The actual version of my presentation was this:

Bhutan is a small landlocked southern Asian country sandwiched between India, in the south and China, in the north. The country has a total area of 38, 394 km2. It has 20 districts- we call dzongkhags- and the capital of the country is called Thimphu.

Bhutan lies at the foothills of Himalaya. So its range of altitude from around 1000m to about 7000m. It is really mountainous with so many valleys through which rivers and small streams make their ways to the south- that is India. Snow capped mountains and glacial lakes are sources of rivers and streams.

About 72% of the total area is under forest coverage with almost 8% as agricultural land. Bhutan has rich biodiversity of animals and plant species and is recognised for its conservation internationally.

Bhutan enjoys tropical to alpine climate. The most part of the country have four seasons. It is almost similar to Denmark.

Bhutan has population not more than 600,000. People of Bhutan are known are as Bhutanese. Majority of Bhutanese practise Budhism- and its our state religion. While there are small sections of the population practising Hindhuism and Christainity.

In a way, Bhutanese ways of life- from every day life to political system in the country- are influenced by Budhism. Bhutanese are hospitable and live in joint family.

Dzongs- that are fortresses in terms of western part of the world and traditional houses are major attraction for foreigners. Dzongs are used for administration as well as religion purposes.
Archery is our national game. It is played with great pomp and show. Mostly it is played during several ocassions but nowadays its not uncommon to see so many archery tournament competitions organised in the capital.

Our country is known for known for preservation and promotion of her rich culture and tradition. The country is one whole lively museum!

Gho for men and kira for women are national dresses in the country which is worn every day anywhere- I mean- for formal purposes: going to offices and schools, formal events et al.

At present, Bhutan is gaining worldwide attention by her unique development approach- that is Gross National Happiness (GNH)- the philosophy propounded by the fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The King says: "Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product."

In simple, GNH means the economic development focused on happiness and wellbeing of people where there is preservation and promotion of culture and tradition, good governance, conservation of environment and promotion of sustainable development- which are ofcourse the four guiding principles of GNH.

Thats why though Bhutan is not a developed country, there is eleven years of free education for every child and every citizen has access to free medical services- from diagnosis to medication. By 2013 every household will have electricity.

Economy is quite underdeveloped but blooming every passing year. The export of hydropower- the electricity produced by water forces- earns the biggest revenue. Then its tourism industry which generates highest revenue though it has unique approach- thats 'High Value, Low Volume' strategy where tourist pays high entrance fee to enter the country. That is done to regulate number of tourist coming in the country.

At large, the Bhutanese economy is based on agriculture and forestry which provide the main livelihood for more than 80% of the population. Agriculture consists of largely subsistenace farming and animal husbandry. Bhutanese import so much of rice and other food items from India.

The GDP per capita is around US §4800.

There are around 4500 km of roads. There is no boat or railways like here in Denmark. The country has only one flight service provider-thats DrukAir which operates several flights in four asian countries: India, Nepal, Thailand and Bangladesh.

The most interesting fact is that television was introduced in 1999 and internet in 2000. Now, internet is accessible from towns of almost all 20 districts.

Presently, there are five newspapers including one national newspaper and one national broadcast TV.

Thanks to the enlightened vision and leadership of His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck who gave democracy to people of Bhutan and crowned the Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck as the fifth King of Bhutan.

So it was in 2008 that Bhutanese elected their new government and celebrated one century of monarchy- which was instituted on 17 December 1907- and the formal coronation of the Fifth King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck.

So far so good in Bhutan.