A beautiful story

By early afternoon yesterday, good news from Melbourne reached Bhutan. Conjoined twins Nima and Dawa were successfully separated.

The image of the separated twins flooded social media. The news was followed by thousands of congratulatory notes on social media, where Bhutanese were sharing and re-sharing the beautiful story that appeared on many news outlets. The massive operation to separate the twins joined from the lower chest to just above the pelvis and shared a liver took less than expected time. It was successfully done in six hours.

Many Bhutanese were closely following the news of the twins after the Children First Foundation, Australia offered to have them separated and funded the operation and the cost of travel. They had been in Australia for about a month.

The good news comes at a time when Bhutanese are recovering from the hectic election period where everybody, along party lines, was accusing everybody. The run-up to the election caused some bitter division along family, community and regional lines. The news from Australia came as a breather.

On the morning of the surgery, trainees of the Royal Institute of Management devoted to praying for the twins and their parents. Thousands of Bhutanese left their good wishes on social media. Bhutanese living in Australia showered the twins with love and wishes. For once, everybody came together in a show of support. This is a beautiful story, the power of children.

The story of Nima and Dawa brought a smile on the face of thousands of Bhutanese and some tears too. The story will be told and retold for many days. It is a beautiful story, a good news that Bhutanese will love to share.

What will be remembered more is the generosity of the Foundation in Australia and the people of Australia. Without their help, Nima and Dawa will probably live a miserable life. He parents are not rich to fund such a costly surgery. Not even their life saving will be enough to fund it.

The Aussies have found a special place not only in the hearts of the parents but also in the hearts of many Bhutanese who are thanking the government of Australia for the generosity. Bhutanese know Australia well. We have thousands of people living and working or studying Down Under. Australians know Bhutanese as very hard working and sincere people. Bhutanese know Aussies as friendly and helpful souls.

The story of Nima and Dawa has brought the people of two countries together in a big way. It was not only a story of an operation. It was a story of two nations separated by continents. Yet it was a beautiful story that will be remembered always.

There is a message to Australians from the Bhutanese- “Thank you Australia!”