Three decades after the tribe of hunters settled down in Rukha, the Olep community is not far from catching up with the rest of the country.
On the foothills of southern Wangduephodrang, is a small village of Rukha in Adha gewog encircled by a mixed conifer forest, undergoing rapid change as the country itself braces with shocks and aftershocks of development and modernisation.
Just three decades back, the elderly in the community recall, how their tribe of hunters, settled in the current location after mountains and forests couldn’t provide them with adequate space and food as size of families grew.
Leaving behind their temporary sheds roofed with tree branches and leaves, and a wide spread of cultivated land which they had no ownership over, the Olep tribe, believed to be a sub-group of Monpa community in Trongsa gradually moved to a deserted and fallow paddy field where the village stands today.
Among the lot who migrated and settled down was Olep’s oldest couple Tekpa, 81 and his wife Kinley, 68. “After spending about five decades in the rugged mountains of Tsochasa, Dhara, Pedkar and Pangchema we moved down to this place,” Tekpa said. “Food was scarce in the forests which once provided abundant food and meat.”
Tekpa said while living in the forest one group left to settle in Trongsa.
Explaining along the same lines, Sherubtse College’s adjunct professor, Dorji Wangchuk, who studied origin of the Olep tribe said oral sources attribute the tribes origin to one of the tribes in Burma.
“While coming along the Bharmaputra river, a wind storm that hit their journey broke the group into two,” he said. “One that followed Punatsangchu settled in Rukha while the other group that followed Mangdechu reached Langthel gewog in Trongsa.”
A footpath linking Rukha and Monpa of Langthel, according to Dorji Wangchuk could be linked to Tekpa recalling the cross interaction of two Monpa communities.
The changes
Way of life
In 1982, when the fourth King granted land kidu, villagers built two story bamboo homes around the paddy field. They occupied the top floor while ground floor housed cattle and pigs. “We were living together with animals,” said Gochu 69.
Today, all 20 bamboo homes have vanished with the non-governmental organisation, Tarayana foundation, replacing it with two-story timber and mud houses in 2007 and 2009. The foundation provided corrugated roofing sheets, timber and nails under the integrated approach to community development program, assisted by UNDP, while villagers contributed labour.
Built with same materials, carpenter and workers, which were the villagers themselves, the houses are same, except for the extended kitchen that was built later.
“A decent house, adequate food and warm clothes that we have make us no different from other Bhutanese,” said farmer, Kuenga, who requested the foundation’s patron, Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck to pay a visit to Rukha village, when she was in Samthang, a hamlet below Rukha. “Had Ashi not visited the village we would have still lived in darkness,” he said, “Old times of living under a torn bamboo is long time gone,” smiled Kuenga.
“Until the project came in, Rukha was still under abject poverty,” Dorji Wangchuk said. He had helped build the homes, when he was working with the foundation as a freelance journalist. “When we first visited the village they were living under broken roof, which exposed them to summer rain and harsh winter.”
Dorji Wangchuk said the Oleps were working for a daily wage in nearby villages and sustained on it.
The villagers also resumed paddy plantation after the foundation re-built irrigation channel that was washed away by a flood in 1994. The paddy field which sprawls across the settlement is optimised through mixed cropping.
They also have piggery farm and fishpond from which villagers get the meat. Attached to each other the piggery and fishpond are built in the middle of the village.
Today besides three meals, the community also has adequate grains like wheat, which is brewed into bangchang, a local liquor that is served before each meal. “Since tea is scarce bangchang serves the purpose,” a villager, Tshering said. Irrespective of summer or winter, one can see villagers served with a hot plate of bangchang right from the morning. “It has become a culture to serve bangchang in a plate instead of cup,” said Tshechu. “Since we like it hot a larger container retains heat.”
Considered pure and healthy, the bangchang is seen in every social and religious gathering in the village that has more than 400 inhabitants.
Telecommunication
Every time farmer Tshechu finds that his bull is missing, he does not go out in the forest instead he calls other herders. “In the past we had to trace missing cattle through hoof prints, now we call friends and neighbours to find out if the missing cattle is with their herd,” Tsechu said.
Mobile network is not reliable as it would be in urban centres but each adult member of the community owns a cellphone and they are excited to be connected to the whole country. The network becomes poorer in gloomy and hazy weather.
While in urban centres mobile technology is fast becoming a toy for gaming and entertainment, besides communication, in Rukha the technology is strictly for communication.
In times of illness and emergencies the technology has come of aid. Tshechu said cell phone has made them easier to inform the villagers when somebody falls sick. “We gather young people over the phone to carry sick people to the nearest health centre,” Tshechu said.
The nearest health centre is in Kamichu, which is over five hours walk from the village. “The phone also helps us in fixing appointment with health staff,” Tshechu said.
Located on the south of Phobjikha and adjacent to Tsirang dzongkhag, Rukha is around eight hours walk from nearest road point at Taksha near Tsirang.
The other advantage of cell phone, villagers said, was the ease with which they could contact local leaders, especially to find out the agenda of gewog zomdu (meeting).
Tradition and culture
Originated from the sub-group of Monpa in Trongsa, the Olep are believed to be hunting tribe. Their spoken dialect, which is also called Olep, once differentiated the community from the rest of the people in Wangdue. This is no longer the case with Dzongkha having taken over the local language. Except for a few elderly people, the younger ones don’t speak their dialect.
Unless, one hear elders speaking in Olep, it’s hard to differentiate them by their physical appearance.
Despite being hidden by mountains and parents having lived in isolation throughout their lives, education is highly regarded in the community.
From around 100 school going children, Pelchen, 27, is the first university graduate. He is an idol for most children in the community. He graduated from Rangsit University in Thailand, having studied there under the Trongsa Penlop fellowship. Pelchen works as a researcher with Shejun agency for Bhutan’s cultural documentation and research, a private firm in Thimphu. He said he would encourage every child in the village to get an education. “It is the only way to open up to outside world.”
The absence of health care and road has kept alive the tradition of animal sacrifice, done to appease deities in times of illness.
Home stay – Changing attitude towards sanitation
One cold morning in one the homes in Rukha, Nima was removing cobwebs and doma stains from walls of his house.
Above his house, Nima’s squat toilet was without a door. He was yet to decide what material to use . Like Nima all 20 households in Rukha have been encouraged to replace their pit latrines with toilets.
Come this tourist season, Nima and 18 other villagers will host guests from overseas. The farmers have toilets built with concrete and timber provided by Jigme Singye Wangchuk National park and financial assistance from UN agencies.
“I feel uncomfortable to use water in the toilet as I am used to using sticks and leaves,” Nima said. The toilets will replace the pit latrines built close to their homes. “After I built this houseflies that linger around my house reduced drastically.”
Each house also has a set of new mattress, blankets and pillow cover for their home stay guests.
“We aim to provide an alternative source of income to improve their livelihood,” park’s chief forest officer, Kezang Wangchuk, said. Home stay is an alternative source for the villagers, who make cash out of smoked fish, bamboo basket and agriculture.
“Tourist are looking to experience this kind of lifestyle,” Kezang Wangchuk said.
The park reclaimed old foot trails and built 16 bazam or wooden bridges over streams that flow between Adha and Rukha villages. The minimum walking distance between villages is nine hours.
The park in collaboration with tourism council of Bhutan also conducted a three-day training on food handling, guest management and basic skills on catering services.
“The homes in Rukha need not necessarily have all standards and features of a hotel but it should be clean and comfortable to live in,” a park official said. “Our focus is mainly on sanitation.”
For the villagers who mostly go out in the forest to empty their bowels, toilet is a sign of modernisation and development. “We are happy to see our village evolving into urban Rukha,” a villager Namgay said. “Unlike earlier we will not let time decide instead we will seek government’s support to bring in more facilities so Rukha is no different than rest of the country.”
Source: Kuensel K2 Magazine
Anthropology of Bhutan 