Bhutanese find home away from home in regional centre

Australia.
After years in limbo, thousands of Bhutanese refugees have found a home in regional Australia.

They were expelled from their home country and left to languish in refugee camps.

But after years in limbo, thousands of Bhutanese refugees have found a home in regional Australia.

The community is now being held up as a success story as Australia prepares to welcome 12,000 extra refugees from Syria.

Sylvia Varnham O'Regan reports.

Out in the fields of Albury, on the New South Wales border with Victoria, the only sounds are the kookaburras in the trees and the water coming from a hose.

Beneath the trees, two men are working on a vegetable garden, growing beans, okra, tomatoes and chillies.

The wide open landscape is a long way -- in all ways -- from the crowded refugee camps they grew up in.

"Our parents, they were farmers in Bhutan. They have got their own land, and they worked as farmers."

Members of an ethnic minority group, Rohit Khulal and his family were forced to flee their country more than 20 years ago.

He now runs this gardening project in Albury, home to almost 2,000 Bhutanese refugees.

"We may bring our parents here so that they can remember those days and forget the sorrow and sufferings that are filling their hearts."

The refugees were brought to the area as part of a global resettlement effort involving eight countries.

Since 2007, Australia has taken 5,500, New Zealand a thousand and the United States more than 84,000.

All of the refugees had been living in camps in Nepal, many for decades.

Albury City deputy mayor David Thurley says the resettlement was particularly significant for the parents.

"They missed out on 28 years of education. Now's the chance to do something, earn money, put (their) kids in schools and get their kids a future."

Ram Khanal became the dux of his high school two years after he arrived in Australia speaking hardly any English.

This year, he celebrated another major milestone.

"Becoming an Australian citizen was a very proud moment for myself and something that I will cherish for the rest of my life."

David Thurley says the resettlement program in Albury has been so successful that, now, more Bhutanese people are moving there from other, major cities.

"These people are seeing the opportunity to join in with a group of other Bhutanese people and be part of a big community again."

The Bhutanese population in Albury has helped the local economy, working in agriculture and other industries.

But Rohit Khulal acknowledges many older refugees still struggle with the language and social isolation.

"They can't talk to the neighbour, as well. And just they can say 'hi' but no (more) language, so they are isolated at home."

Rohit Khulal is hoping to get them involved in the gardening project, convinced it will remind them what it feels like to be home.
Source:www.sbs.com.au

‘We are very happy to be in Canada,’ says newly arrived Syrian refugee

By: Sarah-Joyce Battersby Staff Reporter, Nicholas Keung Immigration reporter, Published on Fri Dec 11 2015

After a long day of travel, the first group of Syrian refugees airlifted to Canada checked in to their hotel just before 4 a.m. Friday.

“We suffered a lot,” said Kevork Jamkossian, who stepped off the first government flight with his wife, Georgina Zires, and the couple’s 16-month-old daughter, Madeleine.

“Now, we feel as if we got out of hell and we came to paradise,” Jamkossian said.

The Canadian forces plane carrying 163 privately sponsored refugees touched down at Pearson International Airport just before midnight, its passengers met by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and other dignitaries.

Trudeau and Wynne greeted the first two families to come through processing and gave them winter coats.

“We’re so glad you’re here,” Wynne told the family, before handing Madeleine a teddy bear, which the young girl accepted with a shy smile.

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NATHAN DENETTE / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets refugees from Syria with cold-weather clothing as they arrive at Pearson International airport Thursday.

“We really would like to thank you for all this hospitality and the warm welcome and all the staff — we felt ourselves at home and we felt ourselves highly respected,” Jamkossian told Trudea

“You are home,” Trudeau said. “Welcome home.”

The second family to be processed was Vanig Garabedian, his wife Anjilik Jaghlassian, and their three daughters, 12-year-old twins Lucie and Sylvie and Anna-Maria, 10.

STEVE RUSSELL

Some 28 hours after setting off for Canada, Syrian refugees begin arriving at the Travelodge hotel on Dixon Rd. Friday morning.

“They step off the plane as refugees, but they walk out of this terminal as permanent residents of Canada with social insurance numbers, with health cards and with an opportunity to become full Canadians,” Trudeau said just prior to the plane’s arrival.

“This is something that we are able to do in this country because we define a Canadian not by a skin colour or a language or a religion or a background, but by a shared set of values, aspirations, hopes and dreams that not just Canadians but people around the world share.”

The refugee families, mostly from Aleppo and Damascus, clapped and cheered as the plane touched down in Toronto, the International Organization for Migration said in a statement.

“I am so thankful that this dream has come true for me,” Hala, 23, told IOM staff on the flight. “I was living in a two-bedroom flat in Beirut with 25 other family members. I was going to law school in Damascus, but had to drop out in my last year because of the war. I want to continue my education in Canada and become a lawyer.”

STEVE RUSSELL

Tired new arrivals step off a chartered bus and carrying all the belongings they left home with along with the welcome gift packages from Canada.

And more than 28 hours after they launched their journey from Beirut to Canada, the group of refugees finally arrived at the Travelodge Hotel on Dixon Rd. at 3:12 a.m., Friday.

“I can’t explain my closure, my feelings,” one man told reporters soon after arriving at the hotel.

Slowly, the tired men, women, children — still overwhelmed with emotions — got off the white, chartered bus and into the chilly morning air, carrying all the belongings they left home with along with the welcome gift packages from Canada.

STEVE RUSSELL

Newcomers arrive at the Travelodge hotel after making the 28-hour journey from Beirut.

Refugees carried their belongings in red plastic bags with a sticker that read “Welcome to Canada.” A young girl in a pink jacket and matching hat and scarf descended the steps of the bus, while a father carried his daughter in his arms into the hotel.

A couple of Syrian Canadians still on hand welcomed their countrymen in Arabic.

Surrounded by a media pack, amid spotlights and camera flashes, the newcomers were ushered into the hotel where they were hoping for a good night of sleep before being greeted and picked up by families, relatives and for some, the Canadian sponsors that they have never met.

“We faced some very bad positions,” said one man in a blue down jacket, who fled Damascus with his wife and two children last year.

From refugee to mason farmer, Bhim embraces his new life.

Nancy Rosebush Schertzing | Photography by Jim Luning

December, 2015

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom in the clouds so remote that its giant neighbors didn’t even know it existed. Situated at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountain Range, it was called High Land by the men and women who lived there. For more than 1,000 years, the kings and their citizens practiced their Buddhist faith and honored their native Tibetan culture.

Then one day, the king invited Hindu craftsmen from the neighboring country, Nepal, to do important jobs – from smithing silver to clearing forests to building roads. These craftsmen brought their families to the kingdom, along with their traditional culture, language, food and clothing. With ample work and plentiful food, these Nepali families stayed and began farming the lush valleys and plains in the kingdom’s southern lands. Their numbers increased as new generations grew up supplying the kingdom with food.

For generations, the kingdom flourished, with the Tibetan Buddhist culture ruling from the north and the Nepali Hindu culture feeding everyone from the south. As time passed, people from India came into the kingdom to work and raise families, too. Though the rulers offered money to those who married into the ruling culture, the Nepali and Indians held fast to their traditional languages and way of life.

Then, the government passed a package of laws called “One Nation, One People,” designed to force uniformity. One law fined citizens if they appeared in public wearing anything other than northern people’s traditional dress. Another law discontinued the use of the Nepali language in the kingdom’s schools, requiring all teaching and learning to take place in Dzongkha, the governing language.

You might have already guessed that this is no fairy tale. The kingdom of the High Land is Bhutan, a little nation in southern Asia with a big immigration issue. After thousands of years of separating residents by their original nationalities, Bhutan’s ruling class decided its population needed to be like them. In 1988, the country conducted its first census to establish citizenship. Those who could prove they had lived in Bhutan prior to 1958 were granted citizenship papers. Anyone who could not prove residence before 1958 was considered an illegal immigrant.

Relationship!! Photo of the Day.

Our Prime Minister said,justifies refugee delay, saying Liberals want to 'get it right'

Source:CBC.NEWS.CA/NEWS

Resettlement of Bhutanese refugees surpasses 100,000 mark.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Nov 19 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Thursday marked a major milestone: the resettlement of over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees from Nepal to third countries since the launch of the programme in 2007.

Fifty-three-year-old Devi Maya Thapa is the 100,000th refugee to be resettled from Nepal. Together with her husband, children and grandson, she is set to leave in early December for a new life in the US state of Ohio where other family members have already settled.

"I am leaving the refugee camp forever after spending more than two decades in Nepal. I am happy that our family will be together in our new country and that my children will have a better future," said Devi Maya, who joins 84,800 Bhutanese refugees who have already started over in the United States of America.

She has vivid memories of the day her life as a refugee began in the summer of 1992. Four months pregnant and suffering from malaria, she fled from Bhutan with her husband and four children, settling in the refugee camp in Nepal where she would have three more children.

Her son Bhupendra, 25, has been deaf since childhood. "Life in the refugee camp has always been difficult and physical disabilities added more pain," he said. "I am happy that I am finally going on resettlement. I will be able to learn new things, have more opportunities and lead a happy life."

Eight years ago, some 108,000 refugees from Bhutan were living in seven camps in Jhapa and Morang districts in eastern Nepal. Today, just two camps remain and the refugee population now stands at less than 18,000 people.

A core group of eight countries came together in 2007 to create this opportunity for Bhutanese refugees to begin new lives: Australia (5,554), Canada (6,500), Denmark (874), New Zealand (1002), the Netherlands (327), Norway (566), the United Kingdom (358) and the United States of America (84,819).

"This is one of the largest and most successful programmes of its kind and the resettlement of nearly nine out of 10 Bhutanese refugees is an extraordinary achievement," said UNHCR Representative Craig Sanders.

"Eight years ago few would have envisioned we would reach this milestone. We give credit and thanks to the resettlement countries, the Government and people of Nepal, the refugee community and our NGO and UN partners with whom we have worked for over two decades," he added.

The Chairperson of the Core Group, Australian Ambassador to Nepal Glenn White said Australia was "proud to have played a part in this highly successful resettlement programme."

The departure of the 100,000th Bhutanese refugee was, he said, a demonstration of the strong humanitarian cooperation between the eight resettlement countries, together with Nepal, UNHCR and IOM. He looked forward to working with them all to seek "resolution for the Bhutanese refugees who yet remain."

IOM Nepal Chief of Mission, Maurizio Busatti, said, "Reaching the 100,000th resettlement is a remarkable success, it shows how strong the partnership among all actors has been. Most importantly, we honour the courage of these women, men and children in building their future in a new land, as well as the generosity of those who welcomed them at the other end."

As resettlement reaches its end, it is estimated that around 10-12,000 refugees will remain in the camps in Nepal. UNHCR, together with IOM and the international community, will continue its efforts to achieve comprehensive and lasting solutions for the remaining population.

By Deepesh Das Shrestha in Kathmandu
Source:www.unhcr.org

Are some refugees fleeing Utah in exodus for better health care options?

By Wendy Leonard, Deseret News.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Bhutanese refugee community in Utah is tightly knit. They look after each other, according to some of its members.

But their numbers seem to be dwindling, said Tom Neupane, a 25-year-old University of Utah student who arrived in Utah with his family in 2009. He said several families, including some close friends of his, have fled to states where health care for low-income adults is more accessible.

"If nothing happens here by next summer, I'll be moving out of state, too," Neupane said. "We've been waiting for the good news for the last three years and nothing is happening."

The good news, he said, would be an expansion of Medicaid.

Neupane and his wife are insured through his job at the U., though he said he'd like to live in a state where Medicaid is available to a larger population of low-income adults so that he doesn't have to worry so much about his parents and his in-laws, and others in his family.

"Family is a big part of our culture. Taking care of them is our very first priority," he said. "It's been a very hard time."

Neupane doesn't think welfare programs should be free, but because he pays taxes, he wants to benefit from that in some way.

He said the Bhutanese culture is strong, encouraging education and progress in its youth. Many of his peers are seeking or have earned high-level degrees and "have unique talents."

"We could make the area richer, we have different business ideas," Neupane said. "Losing these communities is not a good thing. But it's really happening."

His father speaks limited English and works less than full-time as a janitor, therefore not qualifying for benefits. In 2014, he was paying about $30 a month for health care via www.healthcare.gov, but he now has to come up with $132 a month, just for himself, as rates have increased sharply in the first years of the marketplace.

"My mom doesn't have health insurance," Neupane said. "She needs to see the doctor, but she's not seeing anybody."

A "low-cost" version of imaging his mother needed ended up costing the family close to $3,000. The family applied for financial aid, but Neupane said it is hard to come up with that much when several families are living on so little.

As the most educated person in his family, and the most active in the community, Neupane said he is relied upon heavily.

"They have faith in me," he said. "They believe in me."

He also said that if he leaves, his family and likely others will follow.

"Our community, it was very big. It's shrinking slowly," Neupane said, adding that he doesn't see a lot of new Bhutanese refugees coming to Utah

The tough road from Bhutan refugee camp to the US

When Tara Dhungana was about to start sixth grade in Bhutan, his family took what he thought was a trip. 

“When we left the country, my parents were saying we would come back a few weeks after,” he said.

They packed a few bags and left their animals in the yard, vegetables still growing in the garden. They arrived in a refugee camp in eastern Nepal, and Dhungana spent the remainder of his childhood there.

“You don’t know what tomorrow has for you,” Dhungana said. “It’s always dark, right? Tomorrow is always dark.”

Today, the world refugee crisis is growing. And while the United Nations says most displaced people live in cities and towns, many still stay in camps for long periods. When people come to the U.S. after years in a camp, they face unique challenges. Many have never worked and have had little to no education.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bhutan drove out more than 100,000 Lhotshampas, Dhungana’s ethnic group, as the government began to see them as a political threat. It wasn’t until 2007 that several countries agreed to take in some of the Bhutanese refugees, and some 66,000 Bhutanese have been formally resettled in the U.S. since then.

Dhungana came five years ago, and at first, he said it was really hard. He found a job at FedEx through a temp agency fairly quickly, but he felt very isolated. When he and his wife came home each day, "We just cried, literally cried,” he said.

Now he works full time helping other refugees find jobs in Columbus, Ohio, through Community Refugee and Immigration Services, the city’s primary agency helping with resettlement.

“I think the city is welcoming,” he said.

But a welcoming vibe may not always be enough. Lots of people come straight from camps where they had nothing to do and no education. In Ohio, they usually find work for low wages in warehouses or hotels. A few Ohio employers have whole teams of Bhutanese workers, with managers speaking in Nepali.

“We have a large group of individuals who are employed at about the three-month mark, which is what the government aims for,” said Megan Zarnitz with Catholic Charities in Cincinnati. Cincinnati has resettled at least 1,000 Bhutanese refugees since 2009.

The federal government sets a goal for most refugees of economic self-sufficiency in 30-90 days. After 20 years in a camp, especially for older people, the shock and pressure can lead to depression, and suicide rates are high in the Bhutanese community.

One gathering place for the Bhutanese community is at the South Asian Bazaar in Columbus. It’s a nondescript storefront in a small strip mall, but inside, it’s hopping. 

"Business is picking up for the community. There’s lot of competition,” said co-owner Bhim Bastola. “We love competition.”

The South Asian Bazaar in a Columbus strip mall sells a mix of food, religious items and garments serving an almost entirely Bhutanese Nepali community.

Lewis Wallace

People look at clothes and weigh bags of food, and groups of women come in from a Hindu religious festival dressed in bright red. 

“Our ladies are really fond of garments,” Bastola said, laughing.

Bastola spent a little time in the camps. He is doing well here, but he and his business partner are both educated — Bastola does people’s taxes, and his partner runs a realty company out of the back. They say hundreds of Bhutanese families have bought homes in just the last few years and are beginning to put down roots.

Bhim Bastola, left, and his business partner Durga Timsina run a small, packed store in northern Columbus that's popular with the large Bhutanese refugee community. 

Lewis Wallace

Nepal earthquake victims get help from P.E.I. student

A St. Jean Elementary School student has raised $521 to help Nepal, the country where she was born.

Archana Giri Bhandari does not remember much of her life in Nepal before moving to P.E.I. but when she learned of the earthquakes, she wanted to help.

"I saw the news that they lost their home, their clothes, their rooms, and they don't have anything to eat or money," said Archana.

The student did not know where to start with fundraising efforts so she went to her teachers for help.

Archana and her friend, Tamara Valiquette made posters, held a bake sale and sold other items like freezies. 

In addition to raising the money, Archana's teacher, Amy MacKinnon says the student went from being shy to confident.

"It was awesome, we were floored by how determined she was every day," said MacKinnon.

The change was noticed at home as well by both Archana's mother and sister.

Bhutanese refugees want to adopt quake-damaged Nepali village

 By:Tu-Uygen Trans.

A group of Bhutanese refugees who once sheltered in Nepal say they plan to essentially adopt a village damaged by two earthquakes in that country.The group wants to provide "lasting relief" that would rebuild homes and provide help with health care costs, not just buy emergency supplies, said Kul Basnet, a leader in the Bhutanese community in Fargo.

They're looking for a village in need in the Sindhupalchowk District, a mountainous hard-to-reach area northeast of the capital Kathmandu. More than a thousand people were reportedly killed there and many homes destroyed after the April 25 earthquake. Another quake followed on Tuesday.
The effort is centered on the Namaste Grocery store, one of two Bhutanese grocery stores in Fargo, and the Bhutanese Buddha Society of North Dakota, a Fargo-based nonprofit group. Basnet is an owner of the store as well as a translator with Lutheran Social Services.
He said he and his friends wanted to help Nepal because Nepal had helped them, and they hoping others in the Fargo area will join the cause.
Bhutanese refugees are victims of Bhutan's ethnic cleansing policy against its Nepali minority, they say. Many still live in refugee camps in eastern Nepal.
For refugees new to America,

John Kerry to have historic talks with Bhutanese PM Tshering Tobgay

Secretary of State John Kerry will become the first ever American cabinet level official to meet with top Bhutanese leaders when he visits India in the coming days, a US official said Friday. 

Kerry will hold talks with Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay from the isolated Himalayan kingdom on Sunday in the northwestern Indian city of Ahmadabad on the sidelines of a trade and investment conference. 

While the United States does not have an embassy in Bhutan, the US ambassador to India is accredited to Bhutan as well. 

We certainly enjoy a diplomatic relationship and one which we seek to strengthen and grow," a senior US State Department officials told reporters on a conference call. 

Washington has never had any engagement with Bhutan "higher than an assistant secretary level," the official said. 

"This will certainly be the first cabinet level interaction with the prime minister or any other senior official, including in prior years with the king ... so the secretary will be the first to have .. that opportunity," the official said. 

Washington and Thimphu have good cooperation, the official said, but Bhutan was looking at ways to "deepen our people-to-people ties or our educational ties." 

Bhutan: Gross National Happiness or Gross National Hypocrisy?

Other Face of Bhutan Uncovering the Truth By Dick Chhetri Perfectly presented to the outside world, the Kingdom of Bhutan is known as the land of “Gross National Happiness,” a place where government policy purportedly prioritizes the emotional and spiritual well-being of its citizens above the country's gross domestic product. Not only are individuals impressed when they hear about it, organizations and even entire countries are beginning to discuss the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) and how they might apply it at home, though doubts have inevitably been raised about the practicality of how a nation’s happiness might be measured. The United Nations (UN) has discussed at length adopting a “new economic paradigm” based on GNH, and has even declared March 20 the International Day of Happiness. The West seems to have accepted the former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck’s Gross National Happiness campaign without question, even though the Bhutanese people have barely heard of it, much less experienced it. It should come as no surprise to find that behind this government-proclaimed happiness lurks a distinctly less rose-colored reality: For the Lhotsampa, a large ethnic minority of Nepali origin who have been the victims of a surprisingly little-known (outside Bhutan) ethnic cleansing campaign, the last three decades have brought little happiness.  Beginning in the late 1980s, over 100,000 Lhotsampa—Bhutanese citizens of ethnic Nepali origin majority of whom belonged to Hindu religion—fled or were forced out of Bhutan. Forbidden from using their language, wearing their ethnic dress, and celebrating own traditions as part of the government's edict known as driglamnamza, the Lhotsampa naturally felt that their very culture and identity were under attack.  The brutal government policy led to a backlash in which factions of Lhotsampa people—especially youths, their passions running high—burned their government-imposed Drukpa clothing and committed some acts of violence. While the overwhelming majority of Lhotsampa did not advocate violent tactics, the Royal government nevertheless placed both guilty and innocent into one ethnic bandwagon, branded them as anti-nationals and illegal immigrants, and drove them out—a staggering one-sixth of the country's total population— using cruel methods such as public beatings.  Most of the Lhotsampa, having nowhere else to go, ended up in UN-operated refugee camps in Nepal. Today after almost 24 years, despite the so called Democracy (2008) and Gross National Happiness, the Lhotsampa who were somehow able to remain in Bhutan continue to be treated as second-class citizens, many remain incarcerated in the Bhutanese jails, and while most of those who fled or were forced to flee have by now found refuge in third countries such as the United States,