COVID-19: A God Sent Opportunity for Bhutan

Hi John,

Thank you ... yes lets pray but as you know the tenacity of the human race has always been remarkable. We have always survived many catastrophes and crisis over the centuries. The Black Plague killed 25 million and yet we are still here - all set to face and fight yet another catastrophe.

There are some school of thought that believe that catastrophes such as this is nature's balancing act. Periodic disasters such as this are necessary to maintain the earth's equilibrium. That is why I am a great admirer of your monumental leader Winston Churchill who understood a thing or two about the need for catastrophes - you may recall that it was him who first propagated the thought: "Never let a good crisis go to waste".

Already I am told that one of the positive effects of this virus is that the environment is benefitting across the glob.

You are right, our King and the government are doing a remarkable job of arresting the virus at the borders and not allowing it to reach the communities. As long as we are able to effectively keep the virus at bay, we should be fine.

Something good about this for Bhutan is that we are now effectively liberated from being tethered to our traditional economic activities: our tourism is at a zilch, our industries have ground to a halt, and our exports are suspended. Liberty has finally been imposed upon us - a season has dawned on us - a season of opportunity. The coronavirus has gifted to our government and the people of Bhutan an opportunity to shift focus to areas that have been traditionally neglected.

Thousands of young and energetic hands in the form of tourist guides and workers in the service industry are idling away their time - without work, employment or earning. To me this is a God sent opportunity to seize and embark on a revolution of sorts - to focus on something that should have been our natural choice of economic activity - production of food. Up scaling agriculture production and restocking the rural homes with able bodied agriculture workers is now a possibility. We have fertile land, we have the water resources, and farming is inherently in our blood.

Even if we are able to ward off the virus, since we live in an inter-connected world, as a part of the whole, Bhutan cannot escape the fallout of the global impact of the virus, for the next 2-3 years. Thus, we need to be ready and prepared to walk the distance with imagination and foresight. To me agriculture production is a natural choice.

Sorry for the long winding mail but I hope that at the end of it you see that it is not all gloom and doom.

Please convey my Regards to all your participants to the Conference. I am amazed at their positive attitude - not one of them seem to have given up hope. They are still hoping to be able to make it to Bhutan at the end of July. That is what I keep telling my friends - hope is the very foundation of human civilization.

Bye and take care

Yeshey Dorji

Club Secretary

Rotary Club of Thimphu

RID 3292