June 9 : The funeral ceremony of 9-year-old Bishnu Kumar Nepal, who died drowning into the lake this week, was observed in a local cremation center in Akron, Ohio.
Photo courtesy: Family
Three hours long funeral process ended Monday evening, Amber Subba told Bhutan News Service from there.
Several resettled Bhutanese, representatives from the school where Nepal was studying, International Institute of Akron, and SEWA International among others attended the function to sympathize Nepal’s family.
According to Subba, resettled Bhutanese extended their full supports like local agencies and bereaved family could gather enough money required for the funeral.
“For Nepal’s family, this incident brought home unfathomable agony,” said Subba, “However, “They are thankful for mounting sympathy and supports for the irreparable loss from Bhutanese around the world.”
Information received late confirmed that Bishnu Kumar Nepal, 9, was drowned to death yesterday in Nesbitt Lake behind King’s apartments in Ohio.
According to family sources, the child was pulled from the water by the parametics with oxygen tanks after a search of nearly 1.5 hours. It was the first day of his summer vacation.
The dead body is now at the funeral home awaiting cremation. Formerly from Timai refugee camp, Nepal family moved to USA in 2009.
A group of some ex-refugees from Bhutan participated in the first Gross Hational Happiness (GNH) conference held in Burlington,Vermont of the US from June 1-4.
Ex-refugee’s mission showed its presence in the first day by displaying cards and banners outside the conference hall, requesting the participants not to forget the plight of a hundred thousand people from the same country which coined and preached the philosophy of GNH. The participants from local organizations also joined the demonstration in solidarity.
On June 2, the mission held a panel discussion with the local TV channel and newspapers resulting in wide media coverage of the issues the mission had put forth. The participants registered for the conference and an informal discussion with the title ‘GNH, Bhutanese refugees and National Reconciliation’.
When the mission requested Karma Tshiteem, the secretary of the GNH commission, to address a question raised on the refugee issue, he eluded saying it was not the appropriate forum. The discussion was, however, participated by a group of people, some of who also spoke on behalf of the Bhutanese government. They included Sonam Ongmo, a New York based Bhutanese freelancer and Tshering Tashi, the co-author with Australian Tim Fisher of the book ‘From Jesuits to Jetsetters, BOLD BHUTAN BECKONS, Inhaling Gross National Happiness’ which backs the policy of the Bhutanese government.
The mission ended with highlighting the reasons for National Reconciliation and the pathway to accomplish it.
Arizona, June 3: Manorath Khanal, who chairs the Bhutanese Community in Arizona (BCA), has been selected to participate in Refugees Resettlement Consultations to be held on June 7 and 8 this month in Washington D.C.
The consultation program of Office of Refugee Resettlement marks its 30th anniversary this year garnering community refugee leaders and other stakeholders from various States of America.
It is reportedly learnt that some other resettled exiled Bhutanese are also being selected from different parts of United States, however, BNS is yet to receive their names.
”It is a matter of pride that International Rescue Committee (IRC) which has been looking after resettled refugees here selected me along with six others from various countries for this program,” Khanal told Bhutan News Service over telephone.”The IRC is sponsoring all participants from Arizona”, he added.
“The selection was made based on my contributions to our community members through BCA,” he responded to a BNS query.
From his involvement with the community works since two years, Khanal has felt that America has old immigration policies due to which refugees resettling there do not get sufficient benefits prior to becoming self-reliant economically.
“The aid basket for resettling refugees has been getting smaller each year,” Khanal said promising to raise these issues during the consultations in Washington D.C.
Back in Nepal, Khanal served his community as a secretary of Beldangi-II Extension Camp. He reached Arizona two years ago through the third country resettlement program.
June 2: Parsuram Sharma Luitel, a Bhutanese Australian and Project Co-ordinator from Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES), will participate in the UNHCR Standing Committee and NGO Consultations in Geneva from 18th June to 2nd July 2010.
During two weeks in Geneva, the team from Australia will advocate on number refugees issues, including protracted refugees issues of Burmese refugees in Thai-Burma Border, Rohingya refugees from Burma in Bangladesh, and Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. The advocacy will seek support from UN refugee convention signatory countries to continue supporting the refugee camps in Asia, and increase the facilities for security and safety.
Parsuram Sharma Luitel
According to Luitel, the issues of displaced people from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and other Asian countries will be discussed. The main issues in the discussion will include the reunion of family members who are separated for long periods of time from their relatives in the resettled countries and to effectively improve the process and procedure to prioritize resettlement of widows, single mother and women at risk. Although there are already the provisions to address such issues but they are not practiced effectively.
Luitel has been selected by the Refugee Council of Australia to advocate in Geneva on behalf of the refugees from Asia. He has an extensive experience of working with refugees from Asia, Africa and Middle Eastern countries through a number of refugee programs including mushroom production and setting social enterprise in Melbourne.
He is also a volunteer community worker in the not-for- profit Bhutanese Community in Australia Inc. for the people resettled in Victoria and Albury in NSW.
(If you wish to send inputs or suggestions on the issues to be raised in Geneva, please send us email at [email protected])
Khudunabari, June 2: Ambassadors of core-group countries resettling the exiled Bhutanese visited Khudunabari and Sanischare camp yesterday.
According to Khudunabari camp secretary Bhanu Dhungana, led by Norwegian Ambassador to Nepal, Thor Gislesen, who is the head of the core-group, the seven-member team included Ambassadors to Nepal from Denmark, the United States of America, Australia, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and a Canadian representative.
They have expressed concerns that no repatriation initiatives are underway from our level, Dhungana told Bhutan News Service.
People in Khudunabari submitted a petition asking the core-group countries to pressurize Bhutan for taking the citizens back home.
“Until refugees dwell in camps, our supports for their livelihood and other needs will continue,” Dhungaga quoted the U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, Scott H DeLisi, as saying.
Meanwhile, the Chief of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Nepal said the long-stranded process of verification for official registration of those Bhutanese who missed their chance earlier would begin very soon. “We are giving the last chance, and hope to resume the process at the earliest,” he said.
The fire that broke out in New Horizon Academy building in Morang-based Sanischare camp today is reported to have destroyed several rooms, though accurate loss is not yet known. According to Amrit Bhandari, tenth-grader student, the fire broke out at around 11:15 pm. It is reported that attempts are underway to bring fire under the control.
In a phone conference organized by the BNS between the two, the Association of Bhutanese in America (ABA) and Organization of Bhutanese Community in America (OBCA) finally vowed commitment for unity.
BNS organized two separate conferences, with consent and request from both the organizations, to discuss possible unity. In the first round of 2-hour long talks, at least three executive members from each organizations, focused on the need of unity for continuous intactness of the community.
The second round of nearly-four-hours long phone conference moderated by the BNS, further discussed unity in broader aspect. Both the executive heads of each organization, where all their executive members took participation, further made it clear that they would start fresh and immediate initiative for possible unity.
The conference was moderated by TP Mishra and Buddha Mani Dhakal of BNS. BNS will publish a portion of the audio version of the conference in its radio site soon.
Stating that their initiative was based on the public opinions and suggestions individually and publicly, a meeting of the Organization of Bhutanese Communities in America (OBCA) on Wednesday has called the Association of Bhutanese in America (ABA) for a dialogue to move ahead together.
In a formal letter sent to the President of ABA, Bhakti Sharma, chief coordinator for the first national convention organization committee, has urged the ABA to come forward for creating a congenial atmosphere so that all Bhutanese can sit together, chart out our road map for future and work for the prosperity and glory of our community in America in particular, and the entire Bhutanese community across the globe, in general.
“As we understand, there is no difference between us. We have struggled together for the sake of our people in Bhutan and have been struggling even today; we also sweated together during both the influx of Bhutanese (refugees) and their management in the camps in Nepal in early 90s,” reads the statement, adding- “We had to undergo untold hardship and suffering during the last two decades as refugees. The establishment of OBCA is an attempt expressing the desire and commitment of the selfless young community volunteers emerging from various cities and states towards their community during the transitional phase in the new set up.”
OBCA further said that they wanted to ensure that the joint initiative will be able to facilitate the process of transformation of our community into the mainstream American society with grace and dignity.
Urging the ABA to rise up above the organizational interest for the sake of the innocent and downtrodden people, OBCA has stated that their call for unity is for the greater cause of the Bhutanese Community and, it should not, at any cost, be misconstrued in other ways.
Announced formally on May 7, OBCA, calling their initiative as a “dialogue”, however, has not mentioned anything about its nature. OBCA has already slated the date for the first national convention on June 18-19 in Georgia.
As a final project for their Master’s degree in Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Nikolia Apostolou and Lim Wui Liang produced a research-based online documentary titled ‘Refugee Syndrome’. The duo, who explored the psychology of Bhutanese refugees in New York City through the research-based project, talked to Bhutan News Service about the findings of the research. Excerpts:
BNS: How did you get impress to carry on a research story on Bhutanese refugees in New York City?Liang/Nikolia: We came across the story in The New York Times in September 2009, and thought that we could produce a more in-depth story over time. The day after the story was published; we paid a visit to TP Mishra, and started our project that day. As Mishra’s blog was mentioned in the article, it helped us establish contacts with Bhutanese refugees in Bronx.
Nikolia
BNS: How long did you take to complete the research?
Liang/Nikolia: It took us six months for us to complete the project. We began interviews in September and finished editing the online documentary in March.
BNS: What was the main focus of your research? Liang/Nikolia: After many interviews with the refugees, we found a common thread: the struggle to shake off the dependency which they have developed while living in refugee camps in Nepal. This became our main focus of the story, and hence the title, “The Refugee Syndrome” was chosen.
BNS: Tell us the most challenging problem faced by refugees after resettlement? Liang/Nikolia: For the Bhutanese refugees, we feel that there are two: The struggle to be independent and provide for their own living, and adapting to different cultures and languages.
BNS: What is the main advantage for the resettled refugees? Liang/Nikolia: They have a home, and are free from persecution. They have the chance to make life better for themselves and for future generations.
BNS: What is the perception of the western world about Bhutan? Liang/Nikolia: We think that the majority of the Western world sees Bhutan as a mystical Himalayan country with snow-capped mountains. Their renowned Gross Happiness Index further perpetuates the notion of a place of peace and love. But during our research, we also came across “untold” stories that probably challenge Bhutan’s such a philosophy of gross national happiness.
Liang
BNS: What do refugees need to do, in particular, before coming to the USA through resettlement program? Liang/Nikolia: First of all, they need to prepare themselves mentally and physically to the new environment of the United States. To do so, they have to learn English, and get as much information as they can about the culture and work environment of the city that they will be resettling in. Most importantly, they have to go there with an open mind, and shed whatever identity they have as refugees and start living.
BNS: Your research was solely focused on refugees based in New York City. Didn’t you conclude that this is a wrong place for resettlement? Liang/Nikolia: New York City is a tough city for anyone. And to resettle refugees here may seem like a wrong choice. However, we believe that the experience of adapting to life here would help them in the future.
BNS: Tell us the most interesting finding during the course of your research. Liang/Nikolia: It would be the events in Bhutan over the last 20 years that led to the exile of these refugees. Not much has been described in detail in mainstream media.
BNS: Do you feel these refugees will have better future here in the USA? Liang/Nikolia: Yes, because they are free, and with hard work, they will be able to have a much better life.
Editor’s note: Click here to watch their online documentary.
