WDI Global Impact 2012

Going to Church in Bhutan (Part 2)

Bhutanese Folk Dancing-I think I sat this dance out

In my last post, I introduced you to my church community. I mentioned that they are mostly of Nepali descent as opposed to the Bhutanese that make up the majority of the population. The community is very close knit and I was immediately invited to people’s homes for dinner. As I mentioned earlier, Nepali people usually speak Nepali as their native tongue and only a few are fluent in Dzongka. So just like me, they may have to speak in English with Dzongka speakers. I attended English services which were comprised of a mixture of South Indians, American expats and Nepalis. It was in this service, where I played keyboard with the worship team. That was an interesting experience because if I was not careful, I’d miss song transitions because everyone spoke Nepali around me. In fact, sometimes when I was still being careful I would still miss instructions on key changes or when the leader would change the order of songs. This past Sunday was my last at the church so I decided to introduce an American song that they never heard. It was well received!

One last note on Nepalis. Many of them have never been to Nepal and are actually not citizens of Nepal. Unfortunately, many of them are also not recognized as citizens of Bhutan therefore they are a people without a country. Both the Bhutanese and Nepalese government go back and forth arguing over what percentage of the Nepali refugees are actually Bhutanese citizens.

My wife and I with the Chairman of DHI

My supervisor is to my right

On the topic of DHI, I just came from a banquet last night where for the first time DHI employees dined with employees of DHI’s subsidiary companies. Enjoy the photos!