The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has notified the US Citizenship and Immigration Services of a telephone scam that appears to target Bhutanese refugees.
Current reports of the scam are localized to Texas, but I would like to spread the word to as many government folks, immigration service providers, churches, and teachers as possible, said a circular issued the Department of Homeland Security, Thursday.
“A man identifying himself as a representative of the “Federal Grants Department” calls from a Washington, DC-based telephone number, (202) 436-9601, informing recently resettled refugees that they are eligible to receive $10,000 because they are refugees from Bhutan,” ORR reported USCIS.
It further said that in order to claim the money, they are instructed to produce a money order for $650, and call the telephone number for further instructions on where to send the money.
At least one refugee has been coerced into making multiple payments as “processing fees”, totaling more than $5,000, added the circular.
The circular also clarified that the federal government does not demand processing fees or security deposits from grant recipients.
The Office has also requested the resettled Bhutanese to contact local police or respective resettlement agencies for further assistance upon a suspicious request.
The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Nepal has completed the task of camp consolidation of Timai camp into three Beldangi and Sanischare.
Exiled Bhutanese unloading materials after arriving in Beldangi camp from Timai (Picture : Vidhyapati Mishra)
According to Dhan Bir Subba, Camp Secretary of Beldangi, altogether 885 huts have been relocated in Beldangi whereas Pathri received a lesser number.
“The relocation of Timai camp has formally come to an end from today,” said Subba. Secretary Subba futher added that majority of Timai residents are happy to be in Beldangi.
LWF started shifting some 4000 exiled Bhutanese to Beldangi and Sanischare from November 11.
Reported by Moses Lagoon from Beldangi-II Extension for BNS
A glance through the open door Tuesday afternoon revealed a broken man, slumped in a chair and staring straight ahead.
Santi Ram Bhujel was driving this blue Toyota Camry when he accidentally backed into and killed his wife, San Maya, on Monday (Picture courtesy : The Commercial Appeal)
Answering the door of their ramshackle apartment at 170 N. Hollywood on Tuesday afternoon, the family of Santi Ram Bhujel said he didn’t want to talk after the tragic incident that killed his wife, San Maya, on Monday.
It’s doubtful any words could have been more expressive than that haunting image.
“When I talked to these people, it just broke my heart,” said Jill Berry, whose company manages the Woodcrest apartment complex where the Bhujels live. “It’s so sad.”
The tragedy began just after 9:30 a.m. Monday, according to a witness. The Bhujels, in their blue Camry, were at the office in the apartment complex, ready to pay their rent.
According to police, Bhujel said he put the Camry in reverse and accidentally stepped on the gas instead of the brake.
The car shot backward, hitting another car as well as Bhujel’s wife and another woman. The car kept going, smashing a hole through an apartment. That hole was covered with plywood Tuesday.
“It sounded like ‘Boom!’ Loud,” said 19-year-old Tika Khadka, who lives in the building that was hit. “When I came here, she was under the car.”
The second woman wasn’t seriously injured, but San Maya was taken to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis in critical condition. The 45-year-old woman later succumbed to her injuries.
Police are investigating the incident, but no charges have been filed.
“The husband was backing up, and something happened. The mom got caught between the car and apartment building,” said Mike Allen of Catholic Charities, the group that helped resettle the Bhujels in Memphis from their native country, Nepal.
The Bhujels and their two daughters made their way here in 2010, Allen said. Like many other immigrants, including some from Nepal, they settled in the Woodcrest apartments.
The blue Camry was still parked in the lot Tuesday, fresh white paint scarring the dents in its trunk.
On Tuesday afternoon, the small apartment in Building A was filled with mourners to comfort the stricken Bhujel.
A family friend opened the door, allowing a glimpse of the broken man. She spoke to the family for a minute or two, then graciously declined to talk about the incident.
She then closed the door, leaving that man and his children with their grief.
Adelaide, Jan 4: Bhutanese Australian community living in South Australia have appealed the Government of Nepal for taking steps in registering people who were released from Bhutanese prisons over different times as refugees.
The letter addressed to Nepalese PM Dr. Baburam Bhattrai contains 30 signatures mostly of community workers, former political prisoners including Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience and community members.
After released from Chemgang prison, which the letter describes as the most notorious prison in Bhutan, some nine Bhutanese are known to be living with their family or relatives in refugee camp who are denied refugee status by the Government of Nepal.They are dependent on the ration and facility given to the host family. According to the appeal, they are having traumatic life and various hardships including insecurity and uncertainty in Nepal.
Although they made various appeals and attempts in the past to get registered, their appeal was turned down each time without satisfactory reasons.
Interestingly, they are recognized and registered by International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) as political prisoners and their ICRC numbers are mentioned against their name in the appeal. The appeal is copied to various stakeholders including Nepalese Home Minister, UNHCR and refugee advocacy groups, among others.
The two-week long eight session of the Parliament has been scheduled to commence from today.
Much anticipated to amend the world’s strictest tobacco control act, the House will also discuss a number of other bills – King’s relief fund, disaster management, education city and child adoption, among others.
Based on the Parliamentary practices, amendment proposal of the Tobacco Control Act 2010 will be endorsed and implemented before the House comes to an end since the government is preparing to table the proposal as an urgent bill.
From the time the law came into effect since January, altogether 59 persons including three non-Bhutanese have been charged of possession, sale or smuggling of tobacco products. Of them, 10 have been convicted of smuggling and jailed.
Bhakti Prasad Pokhrel, a longtime teacher of Bhutanese students, who served the Bhutanese community as a teacher for 34 years, passed away on December 27, in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He was 69.
Late Pokhrel (Picture courtesy : his family)
In addition to problems related with prostrate and lungs, late Pokhrel had multi-organ complications of diabetes, especially leading to renal failure, one of his sons Padam Pokhrel informed. He died while being treated at the Altru Hospital.
He started his teaching career from a private school in Sibsoo in 1968. Completing his training at the Teacher Training Institute (TTI) from Samtse, he joined Changmari Primary School as a trained teacher in 1971.
Late Pokhrel, whose personality was well admired by his students, taught in various schools until his voluntary retirement in 1992.
In exile, he joined the Bhutanese Refugee Education Program of the Caritas Nepal and got retired in 2002 due to his old age.
Dozens of resettled Bhutanese from two cities, Grand Forks and Fargo, gathered at a local crematory center on December 29 to pay the last tributes to the departed soul.
The Pokhrel family
The 13-day rituals based on Hindu culture will complete on January 9, added the family source.
Three sons, two daughters and wife survive late Pokhrel, who was resettled in ND on March 10 last year along with his family under the third country resettlement program from Beldangi-II Extension camp, Jhapa, Nepal.
A resettled woman in Memphis, Tennessee, who was reported to have been hit unknowingly while her husband reversed the car from the parking lot at the Hollywood Street in their Woodcrest apartment complex, died Monday morning. According to the eyewitness, the driver was trying to park the car.
According to an eyewitness, the victim was walking to the leasing office to make the rent payment while the car reversed by her own husband hit her from the back.
The driver, Shanti Ram Bhujel, in his 40s, who reportedly kept reversing the car also hit the wall of an apartment leaving a Somalis woman injured. She is being treated at a local hospital, it is learnt.
According to Amir Gurung in the same city, the victim, Son Maya Bhujel, was pronounced dead after she was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Gurung further informed BNS that Shanti Ram was driving his son’s car that hit his wife to death.
Whether or not Shanti Ram has his learner’s permit and or driver’s license, required by law of the land to drive a vehicle, is not yet known.
It is reported that the police authorities have been undertaking further investigation.
Bhujel’s five-member family—three children and parents, moved to Memphis, TN through third country resettlement program more than a year back from Beldangi-I refugee camp in Nepal.
Bhutanese Buddhists in North Carolina have observed Losar, one of their biggest festivals here in Charlotte amidst a special function on Sunday.
Bhutanese artist from Tennessee sings on the stage while a self-motivated girl joins him with a dance ‘off the stage’. Photo/TP Mishra.
According to Pradip Gurung, one of the organizing members of Sunday’s program, an American Buddhist monk conducted nearly two hours long prayers wishing well being, happiness and prosperity of all human beings.
Sunday’s celebration also included traditional and typical dances of Buddhists followers, songs, among other entertaining performances.
Bhutanese Buddhists from another city, Greensboro, also attended the function in Charlotte. Both Buddhists and non-Buddhists artists from Greensboro rocked the staged with their performances.
Young artists from Charlotte also performed typical Gurung dance titled ‘murahari murahari’.
Gurung further informed BNS that the program was organized with an aim of promoting and conserving Buddhists culture and traditional.
Besides cultural shows, Buddhists Community of Charlotte, organizer of the Sunday’s program, also served the participants of the program with typical Buddhists food including ‘khabje’.
The Buddhists Community also honored elderly Bhutanese citizens dwelling in Charlotte area with ‘khada’.
Charlottean Bhutanese Buddhists artists perform typical Nepali dance. Photo/TP Mishra.
Meanwhile, the Organization of Bhutanese Community in Charlotte (OBCC) offered young artists with ‘token of love’ as appreciations for their active involvement in the field in recent times including during the recently organized ‘Deusi-bhailo program in Charlotte’.
An estimated 400 Bhutanese including friends of Bhutanese in Charlotte attended Sunday’s program, which was organized at a hall in a Hindu Temple.
Note: You might want to click on the image to see it’s enlargement.
Amidst a program organized Friday here, the Khudunabari camp handed over a Shiva Temple build within the camp premises to Khudunabari Village Development Committee (VDC) – 9.
The management of the Temple has been shifted to the host community considering camp consolidation expected to begin from January.
Nepalese Cultural Minister Gopal Kiranti, who was also present during the handover session today, said that the government was committed in preserving refugee settlement areas. However, he did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, the communities also began a weeklong Srimat Bhagawat Saptah Yegya of Khemraj Keshab Saran Dahal from today itself.
The Yegya aims to collect funds for setting a Senior Citizen Welfare Trust in the VDC, informed organizers.
Similarly, the Buddhist community of the camp is also learnt to be preparing to handover management of a Buddhist Temple to the local host community by the next week.
Reported by Deo Kumar Tamang from Khudunabari camp for BNS
The Bhutanese community and their donor agencies are certain to lose a dynamic leadership of Dr Madhurima Bhadra, Project Director of the Primary Health Care Project for Bhutanese Refugees (PHCP-BR), following her resignation from the post. Several have doubted that Dr Bhadra has been forced by the Association of Medical Doctor for Asia (AMDA) Nepal to tender her resignation despite her strong desire to continue leading a medical team for the exiled Bhutanese, but the Bhutan News Service was unable to verify this from the AMDA Nepal. However, it has been revealed that another staff at the same Project has also been disgraced since the AMDA Nepal has already announced vacancy of his post along with Dr Bhadra’s without informing him about this. Vidhyapati Mishra on last Friday talked to Dr Bhadra on various issues including the actual reason behind her resignation and her two-year-long attachment with the exiled community. Excerpts:
BNS: How do you review your leadership at the PHCP-BR?
Dr Bhadra: I think that I have been an efficient leader for the Primary Health Care Project for Bhutanese Refugees. I have really enjoyed my tenure of serving the Bhutanese refugees and the satisfaction of a job well done. I have a democratic leading style and I believe that all staffs of the AMDA PHCP- BR, regardless of whether they are Nepali or Bhutanese, are of equal importance for running the Project in a successful manner. A lot of inspiration has come from the dedication my staffs have shown to their work. I hope that I have been able to make some positive changes in running the program, rendering better services for the refugee population.
BNS: Why have you resigned actually?
Dr Bhadra: I have resigned because I felt that my working ethics and principles do not match with that of the AMDA Nepal authorities.
BNS: How do you rate the health status of Bhutanese refugees?
Dr Bhadra: Generally, the health status of the Bhutanese refugees is well above that of the Nepalese population. But, I also believe that, it is not sufficient to be complacent just because we are providing better health services than the Government of Nepal. We have the funding and the resources to provide Primary Health Care in the best way and it is the AMDA PHCP-BR’s moral and programmatic duty to fulfill these responsibilities.
BNS: What are the achievements during your official tenure at the PHCP-BR?
Dr Bhadra: I think one of my biggest achievements during my official tenure at the Project has been the change I have brought about in the pharmacy management. We went from using drug procurement budget to pay for extra referral costs to actually using the allocated drug budget to purchase drugs. I started a monthly drug distribution schedule. Now, therefore, there is a much better drug availability in the camps.
Teaming up with the UNHCR’s Rianawati (Head of Sub-Office, Damak) and Diane Goodman (Deputy Resident Representative) we expanded the Medical Referral Guidelines to include/cover pregnant mothers (without refugee status) and accident cases outside the camps in the Jhapa and Morang district.
The PHCP-BR infection prevention practices were also vastly improved upon. I started a 360 staff evaluation and complemented that evaluation with rewards for those staff with outstanding performances. I also started a Team Building Exercise for all staffs where there were team-building exercises among them and rewarding of the staff.
I worked closely with the UNHCR and TPO colleagues to establish a Suicide Prevention Protocol. In coordination with Rianawati, I hosted a retreat type coordination meeting with UNHCR colleagues who have the most interactions with the Project staffs. I helped to give body and permanence to the establishment of the PHCP-BR Staff Council. The Staff Council wishes to work for the good of all concerned staffs at the Project.
BNS: Any interesting moments while serving the refugee community, and the worst one?
Dr Bhadra: I have had so many interesting moments while serving the refugee community. I think for me the best moment was when all the Camp Secretaries honored me in January 2011 thanking me for my dedication and commitment to serving the refugee population. For me the worst moment (or rather a series of events) was when one of the PHCP-BR staffs verbally abused a refugee staff member. I was very annoyed and embarrassed by that staff’s behavior. I felt ashamed that another Nepali staff was behaving in a manner that was in direct conflict of the Project’s working ethics.
BNS: Your last message for the Bhutanese community?
Dr Bhadra with her medical team in Beldangi-II camp during the celebration of World AIDS Day 2011
Dr Bhadra: I would like to wish all the Bhutanese community the very success in every decision and action they undertake. I would like to remind the resettling youths to give themselves time but to pursue their education because that is what will make them leaders of the future. I also would like to tell those who are awaiting repatriation that their dedication and zeal are admirable and I hope that their efforts come into fruition one day.
I would like to emphasize that though there are 24-hour health care services in the camps, it is also each and every person’s responsibility to take care of themselves and also their community. I have enjoyed working with such a strong and dynamic community and this has been the source of my inspiration to apply for a job, and then work at AMDA for the past two years. Lastly, I would like to say, thank you for your support, your love and your teachings. Being with you has made me a better person.
