Her Majesty the Queen Mother, Tshering Pem Wangchuck, visited Umsang village under Chumey Gewog in Bumthang today. Umsang village, being one of the remote villages in Chumey, the Bhutan Youth Development Fund has initiated a community based project in the village to improve the livelihoods of the people.
The community based projects are carried out by Y-VIA, Young volunteers in action under the Youth Development Fund.
Her Majesty the Queen Mother Tshering Pem Wangchuck, who is also the president of Youth Development Fund inaugurated the Mother Children Nook at Umsang village. The Mother Children Nook is a temporary house constructed by Y-VIA members in Chumey. The house has Yathra weaving looms and books for children. Y-VIA members will help children read books every weekend.
Her Majesty the Queen Mother also inaugurated a greenhouse for organic farming. Umsang is one of the remote villages in Chumey Gewog. Most of the children in the village are raised by single parents. Therefore, the Youth Development Fund initiated community based projects in the village to help uplift the livelihoods of the villagers.
“Since most of the children here are raised by single parent, it is a burden for the parent to raise the children. But with the support from the Youth Development Fund, a temporary Yathra weaving house has been constructed. Her Majesty the Queen Mother has said a big Yathra weaving house will be built in future,” said ChumeyGupTandinPhurba.
The community based projects includes computer literacy for the villagers, awareness programmes on health and sanitation and media, capacity building courses for the young villagers. Ways of generating incomes through Yathra weaving and organic farming are also included under the projects. The Queen Mother is on a weeklong visit in Bumthang to assess how the community based projects are benefiting the underprivileged communities. Her Majesty also visited the organic farm produce outlet in Chamkhar and the community learning center in Tamzhing.