By:Thia James.
Chhiring Tamang was only nine years old when her family had to leave Bhutan to live in a refugee camp in Nepal.
Nearly three years ago, she and her husband left Nepal for Canada, following her brother Ramesh’s path to a new life in Saskatoon. Ramesh is the Nepalese group’s pastor at the Meadowgreen House for All Nations on Saskatoon’s Avenue W South, where Chhiring — known as Puunam to those closest to her — learns English.
There, they also found a friend in Pastor Rick Guenther, who oversees the House for All Nations.
“He can help us, everything. How to respect people, how to deal with friends, everything when we move to another place,” she says.
Chhiring lived in the Nepalese refugee camp for 18 years. Her family’s home was made of bamboo and their kitchen was constructed with mud. The home was decorated with paper crafts.
The family was among the many thousands of ethnic Nepalese who were subject to restrictive policies in Bhutan. The Bhutanese royal government enacted those policies in the late 1980s out of fear over the growing ethnic Nepalese population within its borders.
Her grandmother urged the family to leave Bhutan and join her in the refugee camp out of fear for their safety.
When she came to Saskatoon, she went to the Open Door Society.
“Very difficult when we came here,” she recalls. “In my country, we always speak our language only. Only Nepalese.”
At school, she took English classes. At home, she spoke Nepalese.
After taking programs through the Open Door Society — one of the programs partnered with the Meadowgreen House for All Nations — she found work at Superstore.
Guenther calls the House for All Nations a “church plant” of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. In 2009, the church started renting three units in a plaza south of 20th Street West.
It partnered with other organizations, including the Open Door Society, the Mennonite Central Committee, International Women of Saskatoon and the Global Gathering Place. Nursing students from the University of Regina also work with them.
“We wanted to be a place where people knew that they could come to gather,” Guenther says.
On Sundays, informal services are held, including one with mainly Bhutanese and Nepalese attendees.
It’s a place where people are connected to programs, services and organizations when they arrive in Saskatoon, and it’s located in a community with a growing new Canadian population.
Of the 24 apartment and condo buildings in the immediate area, Guenther estimates immigrants and refugees make up about 70 per cent of the residents in the 24 apartment and condo buildings in the immediate area.
“We try to plug them into organizations that are serving out of here,” he says. “Try to get them into language groups that they need to, try to do things for their kids … try to plug them into kids’ groups, and just try to help them with practical needs.”
The people who come here want to plug into the community as quickly as they can, Guenther says.
For someone who has fled a traumatic situation and arrived as a refugee, the difference between the place they left behind and their new home can be overwhelming, he notes.
“We want to try to make that as smooth as possible and try to help them adjust to a Canadian way of life. And many of them want to jump in with both feet and get involved as quickly as they can.”
With more new Canadians and refugees settling in the area, the need for help with language and settlement is growing, Guenther adds.
“There’s such a tremendous need in this community, I don’t see us going anywhere. I’m in it for the long haul. I’ve been here since 2009 and I’m not planning to go anywhere.”
On a chilly December morning, Chhiring and about 20 others were learning about buying groceries — one of the everyday tasks of life in Canada, in a language she learned at school but did not speak at home.
Through the programs offered at the House for All Nations, she has learned how to interact with friends and co-workers.
“I learned more things, new things, in my life,” she says, adding one of the important lessons she has learned is how to understand the language doctors use.
“We have to learn slowly and maybe one day I will improve. It’s important, English is very important here.”
Source:http://thestarphoenix.com
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