About Saamdu Chetri
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Saamdu Chetri was born on 15 Oct 1957 in rural Bhutan in a cowshed at Upper Nichu (no exact location) under Dagana Dzongkhag now, which is today a part of the Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary.
His early life started with animals, plants, and insects. He developed resilience at a young age witnessing the nature around him. He was sent to school, (which was established in the same year he was born), at the age of 9 with a cow because his father thought, he could not live without the milk.
His ancestral grandmother was a Khampa (he vaguely remembers his father’s story of Lithang) from Tibet. She had saved an enemy wounded in the war and married him. This man was a hired soldier from eastern Nepal.
Her third generation migrated to Namchi in Sikkim and after two generations, Saamdu's grandfather migrated to Bhutan in 1910 and settled in Dagana. They had picked up the Nepali names, culture, and systems then in Namchi by connecting themselves with their extended relatives and families in Nepal.
He did his early schooling in Lhamoyzingkha, the last migration place, where his home is today. Saamdu left school after three years to be with his parents. He was 12 years old then (he had received double promotions in school and was studying in standard four). His whole family had broken and separated already four years ago. After the flood in October 1968, where a big chunk of land was washed away by the River Sankosh, there was a food shortage in the family and he stayed home to till the fields. In 1971, after two years of school break, his brother Prem brought him back to school again in the north of Bhutan, Paro Central School at Gowpey, near Tahdzong, the National Museum. This school has been shifted in the late 1980s to Drukgyel Central School.
He continued schooling against his will, as he always wanted to be a farmer. His mother who still lives at the age of 104 wanted him to study. He completed his high school in 1977 at the age of 20 years, and his undergrad at the age of 25 years. He had a childhood marriage at the age of 16, Jan 1973, on the road in Nepal with a girl of 14, during a pilgrimage.
He was saved from a collapsed house when he was 11 years old, fell on his back from 12 feet height and went into deep unconsciousness and was proclaimed dead, from drowning in the river at the age of 13 years, hepatitis B at the age of 35 years (took him 8 years to be negative with indigenous treatment), and at the age of 58 from a car accident hanging on the slope of a roadside. The message he received was death can come at any time and we need to follow a path of humanity. He has learnt to accept and let it go as a young boy when he witnessed the death of his little sister. He has learned to forgive others and self, move with right intentions and efforts, say sorry and thank you every breathing moment, not comparing with others but being himself.
He started his career in the private sector in September 1982, as the executive in Chhundu Enterprises and the personal secretary to Dasho Lhendup Dorji, who was the Delegate Prime Minister of Bhutan in 1964. After serving six years, (as one of the first government graduates, he opted with the government a second time to serve, as Bhutanese Head and Deputy to the Resident Coordinator in an NGO Helvetas and as well Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Bhutan. They had the same office and were engaged in the support for the development of the country. Saamdu played a great role in consolidating, balancing and expanding several programs to the national level in Education, Renewable Natural Resources, Rural Infrastructure.
