Her Royal Highness Princess Chimi Yangzom Wangchuck graced a ceremony attended by the Education Minister, to formally grant high quality face masks produced in Bhutan to all the teachers and students of Bhutan.
Supported by Project HOPE, Her Royal Highness spearheaded the project to produce these high quality masks for use during the pandemic, upon the Royal Command of His Majesty The King.
Close to half a million masks will be distributed to students and teachers of Bhutan, ensuring that each student and teacher has 2-3 of these re-usable masks each for use during the school year.
The twin objectives of the Project was to make quality masks, which would be effective in protecting wearers during the COVID-19 pandemic, accessible to the people, and to generate employment during this period, when many people have lost their income.
The choice of design and fabric, and the production of the masks was personally guided by Her Royal Highness. The 3-D design, which allows breathing space, was chosen as it is known to be the most comfortable for extended use. Adhering to international findings on the most effective face-masks, the design has 3 layers for maximum protection, with a fine inner lining which is water-repellant and breathable. The design also allows for room to insert an additional filter. The masks come with a nose divider within, and easily adjustable ear loops, to ensure that the masks are comfortable to wear even after long periods of time. Additionally, high quality fabric with a thread count of 200+ have been used.
Under this project, over 100,000 masks have already been distributed to front liners across Bhutan, with the first set of masks ready for use during the National Day celebrations. During the lockdown, all front-liners serving across Bhutan received the specially-produced face masks.
To help them earn an income, 225 recipients of the Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Kidu in Thimphu and Paro, who had signed up for tailoring courses, were trained for this Project.
Additionally, spouses of armed force personnel, with previous training through Project HOPE, have also been engaged to ramp up production of masks for the students and teachers. Already, a total of Nu 6 million have been made in payments to the tailors since the project started, enabling them to earn a steady income.
Over 20 HOPE staff and pre-school teachers were also engaged to carry out the other components of the production process, such as mass-cutting, washing, drying, sanitising, packaging and distribution.
The face masks are reusable, and can be placed in it’s packaging for safe storage between uses.
Samten Dolkar
