Settle into an enlightening exploration of happiness as we're guided by "The Yak in the Classroom," a Bhutanese film that mirrors the contrasting worlds of tradition and modernity. Our narrative begins with Ugyen, a young teacher whose heart is torn between the Western allure and the tranquil simplicity of his Himalayan roots. As we weave through his story, we unravel the complexities young Bhutanese face in their pursuit of contentment, a journey that echoes across continents and cultures, challenging us to consider the weight of happiness as measured by the UN Happiness Index.
In a world grappling with the migration of minds, we confront the phenomenon of brain drain and its ripple effects on communities both losing and gaining vital human capital. From personal tales of Nepalese professionals to Norway's community-centric ethos, we ponder if the secret to a thriving society lies in nurturing local talents, much like a garden of diverse flora depends on the nourishment of its native soil. Joining this reflective odyssey, we dismantle misconceptions about global wealth, drawing a line between the imagined affluence of a middle-class Norway and the reality of a paycheck that just makes ends meet. By shedding light on the economic dynamics that span beyond borders, we seek pathways to inspire and retain youth, building a world where opportunities bloom at home.
Settle into an enlightening exploration of happiness as we're guided by "The Yak in the Classroom," a Bhutanese film that mirrors the contrasting worlds of tradition and modernity. Our narrative begins with Ugyen, a young teacher whose heart is torn between the Western allure and the tranquil simplicity of his Himalayan roots. As we weave through his story, we unravel the complexities young Bhutanese face in their pursuit of contentment, a journey that echoes across continents and cultures, challenging us to consider the weight of happiness as measured by the UN Happiness Index.
In a world grappling with the migration of minds, we confront the phenomenon of brain drain and its ripple effects on communities both losing and gaining vital human capital. From personal tales of Nepalese professionals to Norway's community-centric ethos, we ponder if the secret to a thriving society lies in nurturing local talents, much like a garden of diverse flora depends on the nourishment of its native soil. Joining this reflective odyssey, we dismantle misconceptions about global wealth, drawing a line between the imagined affluence of a middle-class Norway and the reality of a paycheck that just makes ends meet. By shedding light on the economic dynamics that span beyond borders, we seek pathways to inspire and retain youth, building a world where opportunities bloom at home.
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Speaker 1:
Is happiness to be found in modern western countries or traditional Bhutan? For young Bhutanese people, this is a serious question. Last year, the Bhutan movie the Yake in the Classroom was shown in several Norwegian cinemas. We met Ugyen, a student teacher. He's reluctantly entering his final practice. The young man is a guitar player and a singer and his dream is actually Australia. So he applies for a visa and a teaching job Seems to be just kind of a plan B. Now he's being sent to Lunana, which is considered the most remote place in the world. Actually, you don't get to experience the village until you have walked for eight days, mostly on steep uphill slopes. Again, it's not very enthusiastic about this at first. The movie is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. You see, it's so many beautiful landscapes and natural images of the Himalayas and I really love the Himalayas since I have traveled a lot in Nepal and in all this beauty it's also a sort of sadness and grief. In everything you experience, the modern and urban culture on the one hand and the scenic and traditional on the other, and these values are really fighting against each other in the entire film. The backdrop of the whole movie is one big question Is happiness to be found in Western modern societies or in traditional and remote Himalayan communities? Fortunately, in my view, it leaves no clear answers. However, the film shows the complexity of this question and if you follow Ugyen's development, it's easier to understand the dilemma facing young people in Bhutan. Ugyen is heartily welcomed by the locals. He is giving everything he needs and the school undergoes a major upgrade under his leadership. This is to the delight of both the children at the school and the adults in the village who really wants the children to learn and to evolve, you know. So within a short time the new teacher becomes very popular by everyone.
Speaker 1:
I have seen the movie three times and who really got into my heart was the girl Pemsam. I actually cried both the second and third time I watched the movie and because of her I need to see the trailer at YouTube over and over again. She makes me think about the children I have met in Nepal and my own children, and what future awaits her and the other children in Lunana. That is the question in the film and it's never answered. It only shows the brutality in the difference between the poor and the rich and also all the good parts of growing up in a society like Lunana.
Speaker 1:
This innocent and hard-working schoolgirl is, according to the filmmaker, pavel Chonin-Dorji, the heart and soul of the whole movie. She comes from a broken family with an alcoholic father and an absent mother. Several scenes makes you feel the sorrow she carries right in your stomach, especially when she tearfully begs the new teacher to come back again when the season is over and Ugyen has to return home. He is faced with a terrible dilemma. What is happiness? A career in Australia or making a difference to the children who need it the most in his own country? He knows that they all depend on him and it really makes him face a lot of dilemma. I really feel for him in the movie because I can see it's not an easy choice to make.
Speaker 1:
Thousands of young people are leaving Bhutan, said filmmaker Dorji in an interview with Old Jazeera in February 2022. I wanted to tell a story about the opposite, about finding happiness where you least expect it. For this he also faced criticism. Be careful not to idolize traditional Bhutan, warns Melbourne University PhD student Jetson Tobgai. In the diplomat met October 2022, an emigrant Bhutanese in Australia herself. Jetson Tobgai reminds us that, despite the film's wonderful descriptions of mountain people living simpler and seemingly happier lives, the reality is different. Over 30,000 Bhutanese have emigrated to Australia and the influx reached new heights when the borders opened after the pandemic situation.
Speaker 1:
Go kapra mindu is often said in Bhutanese. Translated into English there are no options, or Norwegian det er ingen muligheter. Witnessing a young man's journey away from a stressful modern society that can, at times, absorb us and give us the feeling of a more authentic society. It is more light-hearted, warmhearted and thoughtful. We think about those societies when we face these differences. They have little, but they are still happy. A life without internet access, spectacular natural surroundings and closer human relationships can seem alluring.
Speaker 1:
Many people experience a longing for something real in the West, and one might wonder if the poor have something we don't. It's important to remember that this longing is also the privilege of the rich, because we can choose. Pem Sam cannot. According to the UN Happiness Index, which is based on how happy people say they are, countries like Bhutan are on the bottom, despite the fact that Bhutan is the only country in the world that does not measure GDP, gross national product, but gross national happiness. Very few Bhutanese say they are happy. Western countries are on the top of the list and people living in Scandinavia are by far the happiest. In Scandinavian countries, there are no children at risk of losing precious schooling.
Speaker 1:
This is not the reality for Pemsam in Lunana. She did not choose what we sometimes glorify, so it's important to acknowledge that we are in no position to understand that life situation without digging deep into it. And still we will not understand it properly. Those who are educated, those who are the future of our country. Why do they seek happiness elsewhere? Ask the village leader when he talks about Ugyen.
Speaker 1:
And the beauty of the film is that there is no simple answer to these hard questions. There is neither an idolization of the possibilities that exist in the Western world nor then an idolization of the traditional and authentic in Bhutan. The film simply shows how difficult it is to stand in the gap between these two realities and have the opportunity to actually move to another country, how hard it is to be young and to have to make decisions for yourselves that also can affect others in a negative way, that actually also can make your country not develop as good as it can, because they lose you, because now we're going to talk about the brain drain and that is seen as a problem in developing countries. I will also talk about the positive sides, because there are some positive sides with it too, because you know, this is a topic that is really close to my heart, as I've had many wonderful conversations with young people in both Nepal and Norway. The two beautiful mountain countries have many contrasts, and they have both similarities and differences. Something that sets the countries apart is the socioeconomic situation of the average population. As a result, one country sees young people traveling abroad because the opportunities are greater in richer countries. In the other country, the young people are traveling there because they want a better life.
Speaker 1:
What I have learned in these meetings is that this subject is very complex. My Norwegian mentality tells me that it's the system that people are trapped in that needs to be fixed, not the individual themselves. All people are in systems that either oppress them or lift them up, and it's these systems we have to change. That is really a Norwegian way of thinking, so I'm thinking like that. This means that both rich and poor countries must take their share of responsibility for ensuring that young people today feel that opportunities in their own country are good enough.
Speaker 1:
One thing I've learned in my encounters with people is that we need to meet these problems with empathy and compassion. Hard facts and statistics don't help if we don't see people. When I read the statistics and the good suggestions and measures from the World Bank, I also realized that the storyteller inside me is tapping me on the shoulder and saying remember the human beings, remember the individual, even if you focus on the system. That's why I started this episode by talking about the story of Ugyan and Pemsam, because behind every statistic there's a story, the story of a desire for acceptance and a better life. It's important that we treat all these stories with dignity and respect.
Speaker 1:
With dignity and respect, brain drain, that is, the immigration of highly skilled individuals from developing countries to more economically advanced nations, and it has significant implications for both the source and the destination countries. Skilled workers often leave due to better working conditions, higher pay and greater career prospects in developed countries and limited personal freedoms push skilled individuals to emigrate. The brain drain phenomenon has both positive and negative effects, as I told you, and now I'm going to talk about the pros and the cons. So let's start on the pros Remittance laws. Immigrants often send money back home, contributing to their family's well-being and the local economy. Brain drain encourages investment in education to produce more skilled workers.
Speaker 1:
Strong diaspora networks facilitate knowledge transfer, innovation and technology exchange. I have actually seen this in some of my meetings with young urban people in Nepal. Before I traveled to the country, I had only seen pictures of smiling ladies carrying their baskets with a strap surrounded by their head, standing in the rice fields. This picture illustrates that Nepal is a country of people just doing farm work, and is only parts of the truth. On my first journey to Nepal, I also could see educated and well-dressed young people sitting on fancy coffee bars with their Mac working on the next creative project. As head of communications from a rich country, it opened my eyes to these professionals and instead of sending Western communications workers to Nepal to make stories and movies, I started to pay local freelancers. I also got better text and photos doing that, because they had the understanding of the society that only local people have. So it was actually a win-win situation for both parts. And then we need to talk about the cons Skills shortage. Source countries suffer from shortages of skilled professionals, affecting sectors like health care and education. Loss of investment Developing nations invest in education and training, but when skilled workers leave, that investment is lost. Bling Okay.
Speaker 1:
Dependency of remittances While remittances help, families relying on them can hinder long-term economic growth, and on this subject I really feel that I think like a Norwegian, because as a Norwegian, I think that focusing on your family mainly only is not a good thing for the whole community. Our society is based on the opposite, you know. So I really can relate to this negative part, because we pay taxes to all the people of Norway so that if my son needs a place, needs to go to the hospital, my neighbor's son will have the same opportunity to send his son to the hospital. My neighbor's son will have the same opportunity to send his son to the hospital. And nobody's asking us how much we earn yearly. They just accept our sons in the hospitals and they don't ask which one is rich, which one is poor. They go to the same hospital. So, thinking on our family mainly, that is not what we have done in Norway, like getting our country on a rich level. We thought about the society as a whole and a family as a part of this society, you know. But yeah, reading those pros and cons, we need to reflect on solutions, pros and cons. We need to reflect on solutions, and the solutions to these problems are, according to the World Bank and other experts, pling Invest in education.
Speaker 1:
Improve educational institutions and create an environment that encourages skilled individuals to stay. Pling Policy reforms individuals to stay. Pling Policy reforms. Implement policies that retain talent, such as offering competitive salaries and career advanced opportunities. Reverse brain drain Encourage people to return by creating attractive job prospects and supportive environments. Pling Collaboration Destination countries should collaborate. The poor countries to Norway to study. It's important that they learn skills they also can bring back to their country to make their country grow and develop, and in my view, this is not good enough in our country to think like that, because we think how to help them when they come here and we discuss if we should do that or not, and it's too negative or too positive and too one-sided often. So I wish we could have a thought that also people who wants to go back to their country, they need something to bring with them so they can help their country to grow. But anyway, brain drain is a huge and complex issue with far-reaching consequences. By understanding its causes and effects, we can work towards sustainable solutions that benefit both development nations and the global community. Development nations and the global community, and having reflected on both the positive and the negative aspects of brain drain, I still believe that the best thing for young people today is to find opportunities in their country they come from. I still believe that the best thing for young people today is to find opportunities in the country they come from.
Speaker 1:
Breaking away from the culture you come from can be tough, and moving far away from both friends and family is difficult for many people In Norway. A lot of the people who have come from poor countries struggle to talk about their situation in their home country. A lot of them feel pressured to send money home because their families believe that they have it easier in Norway. They also encounter a lack of understanding of how difficult it actually is to establish oneself as a foreigner in Norway. This is a misunderstanding of the system in Norway. Norway must be a paradise, I often hear on my job journeys. Just as I had an overly simple view of Nepal as an agrarian society before, this is also an equally large simplification of our country and our system.
Speaker 1:
People coming to our country from the poorer parts of the world face a number of tough challenges. Firstly, it's very difficult to get a well-paid job when you come to Norway. Remember that the professional language we use in the workplace is Norwegian, not English. Many talented people are weeded out of job application processes due to their lack of Norwegian language skills, and many of them have lived in Norway for several years. In addition, the benefits of the Norwegian welfare states are not available to everyone until they have lived in Norway for a certain number of years. It will take many years before you both speak Norwegian well enough and have the right understanding of the system in our society before you can actually live a good life in Norway.
Speaker 1:
That is an investment in time, actually. And sending money home to family in your home country, well, I think that is not possible. We are a middle-class country, not an upper-class country. Most Norwegians use their entire paycheck within a month. There's little left for saving or sending to other family members. We have created welfare in our country, not prosperity. So when mostly Norwegians don't manage to support their other family members, why should people from the poor countries manage it? There is no easy way out of this situation, but if the world's institutions continue to work wisely to give young people hope and opportunities in their own countries, we will get closer to a better world for all, with opportunities for all. Bye, thank you Outro Music.
