On Tuesday, September 16th, SSILL welcomed MaryAlice Lee, Ph.D. from Yale University to present “Bhutan:  A Kingdom in a Modern World” to the membership.   A large number of members attended this event.  It is a topic that we do not hear much about, so it was remarkably interesting to learn about the culture of the Bhutan kingdom.

Bhutan is a small Himalayan kingdom and has developed into one of the most politically and economically stable countries in the world.   Bhutan’s main religion is Buddhism.  Bhutan sounds like a truly exceptional place rich in culture and family values.  The government measures their success by an indicator they call GDH – “Gross National Happiness” (versus GDP).  What a nice concept.

MaryAlice discussed all aspects of life in Bhutan (farm life, diet, religion, clothing, industry, wildlife, health care, etc.)  MaryAlice has been instrumental in bringing health care programs to Bhutan, specifically dental programs to maternal and pediatric populations.  She explained how successful Bhutan was during Covid with their vaccine program.  The membership thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and had some wonderful things to say about what they learned.  One member stated, “Fabulous to learn so much about a valuable civil society”.  Others expressed a desire to visit Bhutan someday.