Hello All,
 
     On November 5th at 10:30 am Amanda, Asher and I were in a van driving towards Phuentsholing, Bhutan.  My mom, 2 aunts (Kay and Janet) and Brenton and Drew (2 of my co-workers in our ECTA Endeavors project) were high overhead on a Druk Air Flight leaving the Kingdom.  Our meetings with different government officials and Bhutanese NGO’s went very well, the Queen was delighted with our proposal, we found a great sight for a pilot project in the region of Haa, the weather was dry and cool, the days where cloudless with impeccable views and I gained a good 5 lbs. due to all the yak meat that I ate.  Thanks to all these factors the long, winding drive to Phuentsholing was passing quickly blurred by my daydreaming.  I dreamed about living in one of the quaint, rustic farmhouses warming up next to a bokari on a snowy day.  I dreamed about flying over the mountains in an ultra light aircraft evacuating patients from remote villages and Amanda delivering babies in a hospital that actually appreciated her presence.  I dreamed about drier monsoons, riding my bicycle around to different villages on health visits and Asher attending the local school dressed in a gho.  I dreamed about the better days that could be on the horizon.
     Suddenly, the window beside me exploded and I was showered with fragments of broken glass.  I looked through the brokenness to see a women staring at me in shock.  She was in her 20’s, a Nepali, dressed in rags, faced baked like leather by the sun and holding a sledgehammer.  A chip from a rock she had been breaking caused the incident.  Soon the driver and the project foreman (an Indian Military Engineer) were arguing.  Continue reading Three Questions

Hello all,
 
Just a brief update.
 
     The Je Khenpo (Bhutan’s equivalent of the Dalai Lama… more or less) called the Royal family to Punakha for a religious ceremony the day that we were supposed to have our meeting.  Thimphu is very busy with all the preparations for the new King’s coronation on November 6th.  But all is not lost.  Her Majesty Ashi Dorji Wangmo (The queen of the 4th King) did read the proposal and was “very excited” by what she read.  As a result she called a meeting for us with the members of her Tarayana foundation.  The meeting went very well.  All of our objectives are perfectly aligned with those of the Tarayana Foundation… even down to very minute details.  As we talked with the members we felt more like we were talking with friends or coworkers… rather than people trying to sell a project idea to a government.  Support for us seems to be strong.
      Of course there are many hurdles as no one has done anything like what we are proposing to do.  But if Tarayana supports us, and the Queen is behind us it seems like things may go through.  Our proposal will be put before the board at the Tarayana Foundation’s bi-annual meeting later this fall.  So while our meeting with a very busy King was understandably canceled… it seems like we still have many positive signs.  We still have several days in Bhutan, we will see what happens.
 
Ryan