Cultivating Joy Amidst Global Brain Drain Dilemmas

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So let's start storytelling today . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 .

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 .

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 .

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 . 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 .

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 .

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 .

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 . 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

. 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 .