Do enjoy my last movie on the Bhutan Journey. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqHEtf-Z1EU&feature=youtu.be

My last blog on my Bhutan Journey

Report on my work in Bhutan

My Bhutan journey marked an important chapter of my life. It was a journey that rejuvenates my spirit and therapeutic to my soul. What I thought was a service to the Bhutan community, it became a blessing I had never expected. I received so much more from the people in return. The experience gave me confidence in what I want to do for the next phase of my life and I am thankful that I took this step of faith. It took me a lot of courage to forego what I have been comfortable doing but when I did, there are surprises awaiting.  

I did not regret my decision of doing a 3 months service in Bhutan community, in fact, it is an experience that many Singaporeans envy, and would love to have.

The experience did not turn out to be what it originally intended. It took me quite a while to embrace everything in my stride. I learnt to look at things with an open heart. I adapted and tweaked my plan as the days passed. And the outcome of each event continues to amaze me.

One thing the Bhutanese never fail to impress me is their adaptability to situations. They are capable of doing things even at the very last minute notice. Interestingly, they did it well despite of the short period of preparation.

In retrospection, I felt very enriched through the interactions of people and things.  Most, if not all the Bhutanese people I interacted with are simple, genuine and loving towards one another. This may also explain their generally happy state of mind. Their spiritual faith are deeply rooted in their heart and it is evident in their way of living.  

I spent my first 2 weeks adapting to the school environment and did many classroom observations. Most of the teachers in Rinchen Higher Secondary School (RHSS) are untrained and they are expected to learn on the job. The school places a lot of importance on teachers’ development and there are dates specially set aside for teacher’s training as well.

Proprietors play an important role in the running of Bhutan private schools. They are the ones who set up the school and provide the resources for the school. Our school proprietor, Aum Sangay and her husband, Dasho are very approachable and receptive to suggestions to improve the running of the school. RHSS are also blessed to have Dr Wang as the management advisor. He is a great believer in educating the future generation. He contributes a lot in terms of money and time to the school. He took over the role as an officiating principal during Mr Tshering’s (Principal) one month absence from school. I am blessed to learn from him.

During my stay in RHSS, I did numerous tasks besides teaching and sharing in school. I felt exceedingly proud of my scouts when they did well in the cluster fund raising event, together with the 6 scout masters. A 3 days 2 nights training camp did wonders in cementing the bond among the fellow scouts.  

I worked with the HODs on 2 main areas : Training and Resources. It is essential to get the resources (both hard and soft copies) according to department so that old and new teachers can tap on each other’s resources.

Due to the schedule of various school events, I only managed to conduct 4 Professional Development sessions with the teachers, namely : Gap Analysis of present and future, Teaching and Motivational Strategies, Brain-based Learning, GROW model, 7 habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. The sessions were well-received by the teachers.

To add value to the school system, I volunteered to co-teach with the teachers during the weekdays. I challenged teachers to think out of the box. It is important to teach using the available resources and explore new ways of teaching to enhance learning from both students and teachers. It was very encouraging to see a new wave of enthusiasm among young teachers, always eager to take risk to try new things.  

I supported the teachers in making resources easily available for them. Even the proprietor, Aum Sangay, started to note a difference in the teachers’ work ethic : A change for the better.

In giving, we received much more. That was the valuable lesson I learnt from Dr Wang and his wife, Lori. Dr Wang has a big heart and he never hesitates to help anyone who is in need. I was blessed by his generosity when I vacated my house in early June. I stayed at his place for 9 days before I leave for Singapore.

The English standard of the students presents a worrying trend. Many of the students repeated their grade 12 because of their poor command in English. I worked closely with the English HOD and tried to understand the problems. The department needs to streamline the year workplan and rethink a better monitoring system for both teachers’ development and students’ progress.

I was also invited to help run the career forum for the girls in the school. Together with the Assistant Principal for Student Support, Mdm Budhawanti, Lori,  Mdm Sita and myself ran the 5 separate sessions for the girls. The talk turned out to be a success. The sessions surfaced different needs of adolescents and we realized that such forums were useful to help to address the problems. Students were keen to share as long as we provide a safe platform for them to share. The school will look into organizing similar forums for the boys as well.

Bhutan, also known as the Land of the Thunder Dragon, is blessed with rich biodiversity and mountains. It has close relations with India especially in terms of its economic progress. Many of the products are imported from India and sectors which requires manual labour come mainly from the Indian workers.

Each province/ town is governed by the Dzongkhag system. The civil servants work in Dzongs made of Bhutan traditional buildings.  The Bhutanese are generally very religious people and there are lhakhang and monasteries everywhere you go.

I also noticed the frequent call for kidney donors in TV news. A large number of Bhutanese have renal problem and the young ones are not spared. This may be attributed largely to their high oil, salt and chili content diet. Chilli and cheese makes up most of the Bhutanese dish.  The most famous Bhutanese dish is Emma Dachi.

Bhutan is not spared from the influence of media since the nation opens to the outside world in 1990s. The social fabric of Bhutanese family is also in danger of disintegrating following more and more young people migrating to the city in pursuit of better living standard. Many young people has no family support in the city and many indulge in bad habits. Drug addiction and alcoholism among young people is fast becoming a problem in Bhutan.

Saying all these, Bhutan students are generally very respectful towards their  teachers and they are willing to work hard. They are the “dream students” of Singaporean teachers.  My heart goes out to them and I simply want to do more for them.

I started my travel in the month of May. It is a good time to travel because flowers start to bloom in Spring. I travelled to 4 places in consecutive weeks of May :

1.    “Tiger Nest” in Paro ;

2.    A very well-known monastery in Pha Jo Ding, Thimphu ;

3.    A farm house on top of the Talo Mountain in Punakha ;

4.     “Bhutan Switzerland” in Bumthang ;

Though my stay in Bhutan was short, I made many good friendships and have many sweet memories. I thanked God for His blessings and protection upon me during these 3 months and will continue to reminisce on my takeaways as I embarked on my next phase of life. To  God be the glory!

19 May - 4 Jun

As I wrapped up the things I was supposed to complete, my heart was filled with joy and thanksgiving for the people and things here. There was not a single day I did not feel blessed.

I started my travelling on the first week of May. After the Taktsang adventure, I went to Pha Jo Ding with my usual group of friends. The journey up Pha Jo Ding was pleasant. Along the journey, we met 1 little Rinpoche and a young Dharma. This little Rinpoche was only about 6 years old and he was identified  to be the reincarnate of a late renounced Dharma. Though young, he demonstrated  profound intelligence and maturity. According to Ugyen and Tandin, any boy identified to be a reincarnate will be able to identify the belongings of late Dharma at very young age and could even understand the sutra faster than any ordinary monks.

As we journeyed together, Ugyen shared a lot of the Bhutanese beliefs that stayed till today. He told me to visit the “burning lake”, a “must go” destination when I go to Bumthang in June. According to the legend, it was believed that Guru Rinpoche went into the lake with a butter lamp and emerged from the lake with the butter lamp remained lit. The lake instantly became a famous site and many tourist visited the place after that.

Along the way, we also visited a 400 years old house. Pasang was so delighted to see the house that she told me it was a dream came true for her. Under the guidance of the young Dharma, we trekked to 3 different sites to see 3 Buddha paintings which appeared naturally on the rocks. It was known to be the past, present and future Buddha. A rare sight indeed!!

During the journey, i discovered that Duptho was a great cook. From the way she prepared her food and making sure that the food was warm in her nice little container, I knew that she was a meticulous person. Both Pasang and Duptho are very hardworking people. Duptho repeated her class XII 4^th times because of her poor English standard. She is very determined to clear her class XII this year. Many a times, I will see her in the staff room, consulting teachers regarding her work.

The scouts have 2 cluster activities in May- June as well. The commitment ceremony on 28 May and the Fund Raising event on 7 June. I start to scale down my involvement in Scouts as I conclude my stay in Bhutan.

I attended a 6 hours cluster meeting at Druk School on 24 May.  The cluster chairman was the assistant principal of Druk School. She was very different from typical Bhutanese. A very driven and task-oriented person. Having said that, I am still very puzzled why they chose the fund raising event to be scheduled 1 week before the June exam. And amazingly, no schools objected to the proposal. If it is in Singapore, most school activities will have toned down their activities during the examination period.

I weighed my options and decided that I will not be too involved in the scout fund raising event (FETE), much as I wanted to. I will go ahead with the Bumthang trip on 5 June.

The week continued with my involvement in the 5 days Career Guidance talk for girls and my shifting to Dr Wang’s place. I initiated the thought of vacating my apartment because I could not convince myself of spending 17 000 Nu monthly rent for only an 8-days stay in the month of June. I want to vacate the place by the end of the month so that I can save the 17 000 Nu for the school. I am grateful that Dr Wang invited me to his house to stay for the 8 days.  It was a pleasant change for me : A shift from an “apartment” to a “hotel suite”. His place is huge and comfortable!!

The Career Guidance sessions were good and it surfaced a lot of problems faced by  Bhutanese youths. The session created a safe environment for the girls to share their thoughts. I felt that similar sessions should be conducted for the boys because boys have similar needs too.

As I delved deep into the English department work, I realized that many things can done to help boost up the English standards in RHSS. There should be a better streamlining of work because some teachers are overworked, while some teachers are “underworked”.

I felt so refreshed after reading the book on Steven Covey, 7 habits of effective people.  The book reminded me of practising these 7 habits to make myself more effective in whatever things that I do. Be proactive in spreading our circle of influence instead of focusing on our circle of concerns.

Aum Sangay and Dr Wang attended my last PD session on 31 May. I was greatly encouraged by their presence.  Dr Wang spread his time so thinly that I can see he is visibly tired. He makes every effort to support every school event. Despite of his tiredness, he made a point to come back to school to attend the PD session after the Marathon event. I could see that he "couldn’t wait" for Mr Tshering to come back so that he could relinquish his job as official principal and stay as an advisor instead.

He is an inspiration to many, and I drew a lot of learning from him.  He gave me invaluable feedback on how to improve on my session, which I was deeply grateful.

We also worked together to help the canteen owner, Mr Tshering, to draw back the crowd, both the teachers and the students. At the end of the day, it is up to Mr Tshering to make changes on his part to attract the people. He is at the losing edge in terms of competing with the restaurant owner at the “bottom” of the school. He is not willing to give more so that he can gain more.

We thought of coupon system to help draw the crowd, “treating the teachers to a set lunch” so that the teachers can enjoy some of the good food prepared by the canteen, but in the end, the food was not palatable and expensive. It was a real put off for the teachers.

I personally felt indebted to Dr Wang and Lori. They had taught me many things, especially in the area of giving. They hope to be the light of the world, and this is also what I see in them. Their words and action are aligned with their belief and  I am sure I am not the only one who benefited from their goodness.

Another person whom I am very grateful towards is Namgay. Namgay is a lively girl at all times. She is always so carefree, very willing to go the extra miles for her friends. She is in good terms with everybody. She seems to have so many connections that she helps me to “save” a lot of money. We spent one weekend at her Punakha farm house and I got to enjoy a hot-stone bath, in an open area. It was an exhilarating experience that no amount of money can buy!! And it was because of her, I got to see the Queen Mother’s place and the monastery too. My experience at the farm house was truly authentic and not for many foreigners like me.

Pasang is another great help to me. We travelled on the bus to Bumthang together. The 11 hours journey was torturous, with a lot of ups and downs and little leg space for us to stretch our legs. But we survived and were rewarded with the scenic view of “Bhutan Switzerland”. By a twist of fate, we have free accommodation at Lop Tashi’s brother’s place in Bumthang. Our stay coincided with an international conference and most of the hotels were fully booked. And we have the house all by ourselves because Lop Tashi Chewang will be going to Thimphu for a week.

As I reflect upon my numerous experiences. I could not help but thank God for the  many blessings I received and I wouldn’t even think of.  The love and the warmth I received in Bhutan is going to make me reminisce on my wonderful experience long time after I go back to Singapore. Thank you, Land of the Thunder Dragon!! 

12-18 May

I created a “Scout Test Frenzy” this week. I gave the scouts an “ultimatum” today : They have to complete the scout tests in the progressive badge system latest by end of this week as I will be going down to BSA to submit their test sheets by the following week.

It worked !! Many of the keen scouts tried so hard to approach their respective scout masters to “clear” their tests.

It is a blessing in disguise that the scouts are out of the school “house system” so that they can concentrate on the scout program. All RHSS students, except scouts, were allotted a house and many of the school activities have their activities conducted in the “house system”.

As the rest of the RHSS students prepared for the Cultural Dance Competition scheduled on 17 May, the scouts focused their attention on completing their scout tests.

It was very encouraging for me and the 4 scout masters to hear how the scouts  bonded and enjoyed themselves during the camp. Sonam Gyeltshen, the scout troop leader represented the group to share some of the scouts’ reflection during one morning assembly. Some of them were scouts for a long 10 years but they have yet attained even a Kuengao Badge (level 1). It was great to see the scouting spirit rekindled in them again.

I kept myself occupied with doing up the school notice board this week. It was the next project I embarked on. I became really good at chasing after teachers and students for their photos. It should be ready before the parent-teacher meeting on 24 May.

3 more weeks and I will be back to Singapore. I missed mum a lot, especially when it was the Mother’s day weekend. Will make up for her when I am back.

Now it is high time for me to see the HODs again, after the unit test. I really hope I can get some “system” or “structure” up before I leave. I was so glad when Dr Wang talked about setting a higher bar for the students during the staff meeting today. He set the stage for tomorrow’s HOD’s meeting.

This week was the cultural dance week. Wherever I went, I could see the kids practising for their dance.  There were so many talents in RHSS.

I decided I should support the cultural event on Saturday and go to Paro only after the event.

The kids put up a good show on Saturday morning. Together with Namgay, Pasang and Anne, we set off for Paro at about 2 pm. We reached Paro town at about 3 pm, settled ourselves in one really comfortable hotel called Hotel Sonam Trophel. We fell in love with this beautiful town immediately. It is not too city-like and it is definitely quieter here. Anne was considering shifting her “base” now.

We met Mr Chogyal and his wife for dinner and we had a great time catching up with one another. As usual, I am the chatty one and Anne the quieter one.

We set off for Taktsang early next morning. We didn’t believe Mr Chogyal when he told me that he took only 45 minutes to go up the mountain. I told him for Singaporeans like us, we may take 3 hours.

True enough, Anne and Pasang took about 3.5 hour, while me and Namgay clocked a comfortable timing of 2 hours. It was very kind of Pasang and Namgay to take turn accompanying Anne during the whole journey. For a person like Anne who doesn’t exercise often, it was a great feat for her. Another surprise awaited her at the summit : She met Mdm Vivi, the Thimphu Primary School Principal. It was sheer coincidence that Mdm Vivi came to Taktsang on the same weekend.

The place was indeed very scenic. As 1 saying goes, if you climb up Taktsang 3xs in a row, you will reach the “heaven”. I wouldn’t give a second thought about it though. Once is enough for me.

I noticed many Bhutanese people have a very bad habit of skipping proper meals and choose to eat junk food and soft drinks.  Namgay and Pasang are 2 typical examples. I advised them against it and told them of the harmful effect the junk food have on their bodies. I could see the toll the junk food had upon them while they were climbing up Taktsang. It was quite alarming to hear so many young people having kidney failure and desperately asking for kidney donors over the TV news. Poor diet does contribute to poor health.

We reached Thimphu at about 6 pm and felt very much accomplished. One week had passed and we will all have to get ready for the next week ahead.

5-11 May

The week began with a state of “no government”. The proprietor, Mdm Sangay and her husband were off to Hong Kong for business engagement. Mr Tshering will be going on a month long leadership course in Brisbane, Australia.

Mr Tshering plays a pivotal role in getting things moving in the school, so inevitably, I felt a sense of loss. But I knew Mr Tshering should go for the course so that RHSS will benefit from his leadership after he comes back. No one should be indispensable in any organization. A great leader must always ensure that the organization run smoothly even in the absence of his presence.

I was pleasantly surprised when I learnt that Dr Wang will be the acting principal. I suddenly found myself a substitute for Dr Wang’s lunch partner in the absence of Mr Tshering. It’s a blessing to have Dr Wang around.

Dr Wang started the week by calling an impromptu staff meeting and get the month’s events in order. It was the first staff meeting I attended since I came to the school. It was useful because it clarified the events that will be happening in May.

The staff welcomed Dr Wang’s initiative of renovating the toilets of the staffroom and the proprietor office. He explained the importance of having a “presentable” toilet for the staff. The condition of toilet usually reflects an organization’s image and how it values the staff welfare. It doesn’t speak well of the leaders or the organization if the basic needs was not even adequately looked into. Well-said and an element of truth in it. Right at the bottom of my heart, I also knew that Dr Wang is going to bear the cost of the renovation again. He has a generous heart and he is always giving.  

I brought up the coming events of the scout camp and the last PD session on 31 May. It was a selfish thought of mine when I secretly hoped that the PD session will be cancelled so that I can go on my weekend trek.

“The school was always busy with many school events that I could never have the full attendance of the staff”. As I made this comment to the staff, I suddenly realized that the negativity began to seep in without me realizing it.

The staff did have a legitimate reason for not being present in the PD session because many of them have official duties elsewhere. Dr Wang supported the last PD session because it was Mr Tshering’s initiative and I will be doing the 7 effective habits of Steven Covey.

The kids had unit test on 5-7 May. I availed myself to help in the invigilation. The system was quite different compared to Singapore.  Students were not allowed to go to the toilet during the unit test and the teachers were only relieved 5 minutes per session during their invigilation duty. Singapore teachers are so fortunate.

I set my mind on the planning of the scout camp on 9-11 May. As the students have unit test till 7 May, I could only call the scouts to a meeting on 7 May. Calling the scouts to a meeting was another challenge because we do not have morning assembly during Tuesdays and Thursdays. I finally managed to get the message across to all the scouts with the help of the Dzongkha HOD, Lop Ugyen.

Tandin and Ugyen assisted in the buying of the camp food, together with the 2 students. It was an arduous task because we were catering food for about 60 students and staff. It was little wonder that the 2 teachers said it will be the first and the last time they will be buying the food for the camp again.

A little hiccup emerged when I realized that there was no gas cylinder for the camp. Mr Bishnu presumed Lop Passang has spare gas cylinder and Lop Passang has none. The issue was resolved when the office staff, Pasang, went to the gas company to top up the gas cylinder and delivered to me in school at about 7 pm in the evening. I was very touched by many helpful people like Lop Passang and Pasang (the office staff). All logistics and rooms were settled at about 8 pm, just before the school closed.

The camp started with a setting of the tone for the camp. I had to wear different hat during the camp. Scouts must understand the importance of punctuality in the camp and I sought the common consensus with the teachers. If we want the scouts to be disciplined, we need to model our talk.

Handing up consent form is another issue. It reflects the accountability towards self and school. One student had to go home to take his consent form as he forgot to bring it to the camp.

We were blessed to have 2 YHSS scout leaders, Sonam Dorjie and Dorji Gyeltshen to help us in the camp. They were a great help. I had always felt handicapped with my inability to speak Dzongkha and not being able to inject Bhutanese flavor of scouting into RHSS scouts. Together with the 4 teachers, Sonam and Gyeltshen boosted the unit with their zest and enthusiasm.

Dr Wang came to visit us during the camp when he dropped by the school to “supervise” the toilet renovation.

Karma and Kelzang were in charge of the meals. I realized to my dismay that they took upon the responsibility to cook instead of getting the students to cook. It was never my intention to ask them to “slog” for the scouts and I told them that it was important to get the students to learn how to cook. In the end, the 2 male teachers took over the cooking. This time they were “smarter”, the students cooked and they supervised. I had to tell the teachers not to focus too much on the cooking as the teachers need to observe the running of the activities and support the camp program as well.

The camp was packed with activities. The teachers were thankful that they did not go to Pha Sho Ding instead. They could not imagine how they were going to bring their blankets and the food up the 2 hours trek to the camp venue. It will be a horrendous task!!

I have to make a lot of adjustment to the program because the activity did not go on as scheduled. We managed to complete most of the activities though.

Most of the scouts and staff did not have a good night sleep for the first night and it was expected. The camp activities included an urban hike, a campfire as well as a night adventure race. From their faces, I could see that the scouts had fun.

One event happened during the camp that made me realized that I had not handled the incident well. As it was important for me to see that there was proper food disposal area and cleaning area, the ”dominant” trait in me suddenly prompted me to tell the teachers and the troop leader what to do.

There was miscommunication as I could not understand some of their pronunciation and explanation and before I realized, I found myself raising my tone towards Kelzang and Tandin raising his voice towards me as well.  

I took time off to cool down and did not take my dinner. The scouts thought that they made me angry and all of them came to me to appeal to me to take the dinner. They will not eat if I do not eat. I suddenly felt very bad for “showing my temper”. I met with the 4 teachers and explained my stand. It was never my intention to raise my voice and I did not realize I raised my tone at that time in front of the teachers or students during dinner time. It was a sheer misunderstanding, be it in terms of culture / pronunciation. I do face problem understanding the pronunciation of the words at times and I need them to spell out the words if I cannot get the message right.

Due to the difference in culture, I have to keep the students focus whenever they have free time. Their usual free time activity is “basketball”.

I told them that they have to make full use of the time to get their advancement test completed in between activities.

It was quite ambitious to complete most of the tests within such a short span of time, but it was comforting to see that most of the students were self-motivated. They had been warned to take good care of their “scout book” as well as the advancement test sheet. They will have to redo everything if they lost either one of them.

During the campfire, we encouraged the scouts to share their takeaways in the camp. One new scout shared his excitement of attending the campfire as it was his first and should not be his last.

I used the opportunity to share with the scouts the true value of the scout laws. It is important that we internalize the value of every component of the scout law instead of just memorizing it. The values of “self-discipline”, “loyalty”, “kind and considerate”, “cheerful under all difficulties” etc will bring them far in life. As they enjoyed the activity and have fun, they should internalize the values they learnt in the activities. The 2 extra laws which were implemented in Bhutan scouting and not in Singapore are : “thrifty”, “love nature and kind to animals”. These 2 values were very good and I saw the traits exhibited in some of the scouts during the camp. It was good to see that the scouts and staff exhibited thriftiness during the meals, and love of nature during the hike.

The 3 days 2 nights camp ended with a positive note. The spirit of the scouts was high and we danced and sang before the closing ceremony. As it may be the last time we meet as a scout group, I exhorted them to continue to keep the scouting spirit burning in their heart. “Once a scout, always a scout”.

Just like the reef knot in the world scout logo, it will continue to bind the scouts from all over the world together in 1 spirit.