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