Update 2009.03.30: With word from a friend that another $600 or so will reach us soon, I deem it safe enough to announce that we’ve reached our target. Big thanks to all our friends and family who have come forward and donated so very generously.  An update will follow soon on the final tally and other news. Thank you once again!

During my time in Bhutan, I was a member of Volunteer Artists Studio of Thimphu (VAST), a local non-profit organisation that aims to promote the arts to Bhutanese youths. Established in 1998, VAST is the torchbearer of contemporary art in Bhutan and is well-known locally for their many community programmes.

As part of their efforts to encourage social responsibility, VAST is raising funds for their Build-a-House community programme. VAST hopes to raise sufficient funds to build a safe shelter for an impoverished family of 6 living in Punakha, in western Bhutan. Details of the programme and Ap. Khen and his family can be found at http://www.vast-bhutan.org/projects/build-a-house/.

We hope to raise S$2,125 for the family by April 3, 2009. All contributions, regardless of amount, will be accepted with our gratitude.

For those of you in Singapore, I accept donations in cash or via internet banking fund transfers. Please contact me for bank account details so that I can better track your donations. For transparency, all donations received will be recorded and viewable online at: http://tinyurl.com/buildhouse. The money collected will be pooled and transferred to VAST in a single transaction to save bank processing fees.

If you live outside of Singapore, or choose to donate directly to VAST, please check here for bank account details or how you can donate online. You may also contact VAST directly if you have any queries or want to help in other ways.

More Information:

• VAST http://www.vast-bhutan.org
• What is VAST? http://www.vast-bhutan.org/what-is-vast/
• Build-A-House http://www.vast-bhutan.org/projects/build-a-house/
• Track Donations (from Singapore) at http://tinyurl.com/buildhouse

On behalf of VAST and the family that we are helping, Thank You.

- Li-Ping

And just as quickly, the days have flown by. I leave the morning after tomorrow. It will be a while before I am here again. If I do. But life is a difficult beast to predict, so there lies my final consolation. One day. Perhaps. Maybe.

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

From Yahoo! News:

GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) – Four bomb blasts rocked the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan on Sunday, including one in the capital Thimphu, and a woman was injured, a spokesman for the Royal Bhutan Police said.

The blasts came as the Buddhist nation prepared to shift to democracy after a century of absolute monarchy by holding its first ever general election on March 24.

The bombs — planted in a vegetable market, near a restaurant and close to a government guest house — failed to cause much damage to properties, except shattering a few window panes, police said. Nepal-based Maoists were suspected of involvement.

Many ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan were not given the right to vote. Tens of thousands fled Bhutan or were expelled in 1991 for protesting against discrimination and demanding democracy.

Some angry Nepalis, along with refugees, have formed armed groups and threatened to disrupt the vote next month.

“The Bhutan Tiger Force, Bhutan Maoists Party, and Communist Party of Bhutan based in Nepal are suspected to be behind these explosions,” the police spokesman said.

Apart from Thimphu, the blasts took place in the districts of Samste, Chukha and Dagana. Police later found another unexploded bomb during searches at Dagana district.

Reproduced from this BBS article:

23% Bhutanese live below national poverty line

January 16: About 23% of the Bhutanese population live below the national poverty line of about Nu 1,100 per person per month. This is according to the Bhutan Living Standard Survey (BLSS) which was conducted by the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) from March to May, 2007.

Poverty in urban areas at 1.7% is significantly lower than in rural areas, which is estimated at around 31%.

Poverty rates are found to be high in Zhemgang, Samtse, Monggar, Lhuentse, and Samdrup Jongkhar.

The poverty line, the minimum acceptable standard of per capita consumption needed to assure a minimum standard of living, was obtained using the Cost of Basic Needs approach, a commonly used methodology in many countries for constructing the poverty line.

56% Bhutanese literate
In education, the overall literacy rate is estimated at 56%.

Thimphu has the highest literacy rate at 72% while Gasa has the least at 40%.

The net enrolment rate in primary schools is estimated at 82%, but the enrollment rates at the secondary level are much lower with 23% in lower secondary schools, 19% in middle secondary schools, and 11% in higher secondary levels.

60% of the people in rural areas and 32% of the people in urban areas have never attended formal schooling.

Unemployment high among 15 to 24 years
The country’s unemployment rate is estimated at 3.7%.

The survey says high unemployment rates are prominent in the age group 15 to 24 years, especially in urban areas.

Among the estimated 274,000 employed persons in Bhutan, two-thirds are employed in the agriculture sector, three out of twenty work in industry, three out of twenty work in the services sector, and one out of forty works in other enterprises.

Only 45% rural women deliver in hospitals
In urban areas, 80% of women who give birth over a period of one year before the survey began delivered in hospitals or clinics.

But in rural areas only 45% delivered in hospitals or clinics. More than 70% of all women who gave birth during the same period are below 35 years.

Teenage pregnancy is twice as common in rural areas as in urban areas. Utilization of contraceptives is particularly low among teenagers.

Average household consumption in urban areas 1.9 times to that of rural
The average monthly household consumption expenditure is estimated at Nu 13,823 while average per capita consumption expenditure was found to be Nu 2,755 per person per month.

The average household consumption expenditure in urban areas is 1.9 times that of rural areas. The average household consumption in the top 20% at Nu 25,181 was more than four times that of the average household consumption of the bottom 20 percent which is estimated at Nu 5,704.

Only 56% of rural areas have electricity
About two-thirds of households in the country own dwellings. In urban areas, only one in five households has their own house.

Across the country, nine in ten persons have access to improved water source while more than nine in ten persons have access to improved sanitation.

Practically two-thirds of the households have access to electricity.

In urban areas 97% of the population has access to electricity while in rural areas only 56% have access to electricity.

Respondents from rural areas suggested that road infrastructure and bridges, electrification, and water supply should be the priority concerns for improving their welfare.

Urban households consider land and resettlement, labour and employment creation, and housing as priority concerns.

PS: Public Holiday Announcement. I will not be getting the day off from work for New Year’s (Jan 1) but instead there will be a day off for Winter Solstice on Jan 2.