A Day in the Life of Phuba

Phuba is 71 years old and lives in a small village in the Chukha region of Bhutan. She is a widow and has one son and two daughters. She lives with her son, her daughter-in-law, and her grandson, Pelden.

Her house is a hut with one room and no electricity or running water. No one in the family has completed five years of schooling, and, at 12 years old, Pelden has never been to school. The family faces food insecurity. They struggle to feed themselves to the extent that Phuba worries about their health. Phuba’s son and his wife work for their neighbours; she earns about 60 Ngultrum (US$ 1.17) and he earns 80 Ngultrum (US$ 1.56).

Like all families in the village, Phuba cooks with wood, a fuel that causes eye and respiratory problems. The family uses a simple pit latrine for sanitation, which according to her is enough for their needs.

Phuba gets up at six in the morning and makes tea, followed by a breakfast of rice and curry for the family. Then she cares for the animals: two cows, two calves, and a pig. She works in other people’s fields. She comes home sometime between five and six in the evening. The family eats together, talk with one another, and then they go to bed.

Phuba is poor according to the global Multidimensional Poverty Index. She faces deprivations in the six indicators highlighted with colours in the following table.