Finally Goodbye for the Refugee Camp.

Nine-month-old Loria Basnet, held by Amrita Siwakota, Tahal Man Khadka (left) and Dhanmaya Khadka are among the Bhutanese who arrived Wednesday.

IT may have only been five days of travel for the group of people from Bhutan, but their journey that ended in Winnipeg late Wednesday night has been a lifetime in the making.

More than 30 Bhutanese refugees have taken up residence at the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council's Welcome Place housing facility as they get used to a new city, a new country and a new beginning.

The unfamiliar surroundings have the group excited for the future.

"My friends are here, we travelled a long way together, and I hope to make many new friends in Canada," said Tulashi Ram Siwakoti, who is looking forward to learning more about Canada.

The group, ranging in ages from eight months to 79 years, has actually been out of their native Bhutan for nearly 20 years. Resigned to find lives in a refugee camp in Nepal after being forced out of southern Bhutan through what Chitra Pradhan "social blackmail," the group has come a long way to get to Manitoba.

Pradhan has been assisting the mass move, and shakes his head when describing the situation in Bhutan. There are three groups of people in the Asian country (bordered by the India to the south, east and west, and by China to the north), with the northern Bhutanese using fear and intimidation to force out southern peoples.

"I don't want to call it a social cleansing, but it's like that," said Pradhan, who came to Winnipeg in 1992. "These people have been through more than you can imagine. They've been forced to leave Bhutan without any possessions."

As expected, the journey to Canada was no weekend trip.

The group left camp in Nepal on Feb. 27 headed for the country's capital, Kathmandu. From there, they caught a flight to Abu Dhabi. After stops in London and Toronto, they landed at Winnipeg at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"It was my first time flying," Dilli Ram Mahat said through a translator. "I had no problem eating the food. I ate everything they gave me."

Mahat, one of the elders of the group at 65 years old, said the biggest thing for him in coming to Canada was getting a chance to reconnect with family members.

"I'm excited to be in Canada because my daughter and son-in-law have been living here," he said. "Coming together to live with the family is a greater excitement."

The Bhutanese community in Winnipeg now stands at around 150 people. Canada will welcome 5,000 refugees from Bhutan this year.

SAARC Summit: preparations in full swing

The preparations for the 16th SAARC summit are underway in earnest with various royal government agencies spearheading the work gearing towards a March end completion deadline.

In all, about 450 delegates are expected to attend the summit, besides a media contingent of approximately 150, which will converge to the capital from the airport in Paro, as well as by road from Phuentsholing.

In addition, 86 editors and journalists from South Asia have already confirmed their participation in the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) organised SAARC journalist summit, which is customarily held in the host country parallel to the SAARC summit.

Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering reported to the prime minister yesterday at a meeting held to take stock of the preparatory progress so far that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is confident all physical works and services will soon be in place.

The pre-summit meetings will commence from the third week of April at the Royal Banquet Hall, while the summit on April 28-29 will be held in National Assembly hall. The retreat for the SAARC leaders will be hosted at hotel Terma Linka in Babesa.

Thimphu will receive a major facelift with gates, flags and banners planted all over the places. A massive clean-up campaign of the town and the riverbank will begin shortly, involving Thimphu’s residents. The facades and rooftops of the buildings falling along the route of the dignitaries will all be done up.

The road between Thimphu and Paro will be improved for safety, while hundreds of school children and other residents waving the flags of SAARC and SAARC countries will receive the dignitaries along the way.

The heads of states and governments, foreign ministers and foreign secretaries will be housed at the Ministers’ Enclave in Motithang, the major facelift work of which is expected to be complete by March 31.

The rest of the dignitaries will be accommodated in 188 rooms in 10 hotels that have already been booked. The possibilities of keeping journalists in Paro are being looked into if Thimphu runs out of hotel rooms.

An elaborate security arrangement is being made besides entertainments showcasing Bhutanese culture.

The preparations, in fact, are being done with the minutest detail from food, traffic movements, control rooms, media centers, gifts and helicopters for emergency medical requirements to docking space at Paro airport for aircrafts that the leaders will fly in. PAGE 6In all 14 sub-committees have been formed to carry out the preparations.

“I have no doubt you are doing your best; our success will be determined from day one,” The prime minister told the meeting. “It’s the mood that we will create that will determine the outcome of the summit.”

The summit will also be attended by observers from China, Japan, European Union, Republic of Korea, USA, Australia, Mauritius and Iran.

Winter Olympic,a thrilling moments for Bhutanese in Canada

After living 20 years in a Refugee Camp in Nepal, Bhutanese resettled in Canada watched the “live” Olympic Winter games for the first time on their Television sets for 17 days. So far more than 1500 Bhutanese Refugees living in Nepal have been resettled in Canada from the east coast of New Found land and Labrador to the west coast of British Columbia in the west, where the winter Olympic was held.

"This is one of the great accomplishment to be resettled in a develop nation and it’s an extraordinary opportunity for me in Canada and watch the Olympic game in the history of my life" quoted 72 years old Nar Maya Mainly, who is resettled in Regina, Saskatchewan. I am really proud to resettle in Canada, she added in her sharp voice.

After 17 days of thrilling athletic competition, amazing display of sportsmanship and magical moments when lifelong dreams were finally realized on the podium, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter games drew its official close yesterday night.

We have never ever dreamed of these great moments in our life, watching Olympic, its pretty incredible, said Khagen Adhikari in a telephone conversation. Mr. Khagen who is resettled in Tri-Cities in Vancouver, BC also got an opportunity to meet and greet the well known athletes of the world.

A festive of 60,000 jammed into BC Place Stadium for the closing ceremony, many of them Canadians abuzz over the overtime victory by the men’s hockey team earlier in the day to give the host nation a Winter Olympics record of 14 gold medals where I was also one of the audiences in the arena.

Though when we talk about the winter Olympic Bhutanese may not have sufficient ideas about the performance however the entire community enjoyed the game, it was so fantastic and enjoyable added Lakpa Tamang who enjoyed the entire game in his TV set in St. John. Every people dreams of watching the Olympic game and that has come true in my life he said through Skye interview with us.

Finally the game ended when all the athletes gave a patriotic wave, wipe away the tears and said goodbye to the Vancouver so do the Bhutanese filled their hearts with joys and memories of the Olympic a new experiences in their life, in a far distant land