Aimed at promoting Nepali culture and tradition, the Bhutanese Nepali Community of Columbus (BNCC) organized a cultural event on Saturday in Columbus.
Artists in the stage
Chaired by BNCC ad-hoc committee chair Tara Dhungana, the event was a mix-bag of cultural dances, songs, and other performances.
Bhutanese artist Arjun Rasaily and folk singer Prem Raj Khatri also presented their songs during the event.
The Thunder Dragon Youth Club choreographed the cultural performances during the event where Dr JS Jindal was present as Chief Guest. Other guests were the superintendent from Columbus City School, and Charlie Nicholas from the First Community Church.
Meanwhile, BNCC also announced its election will be held November 28 coinciding the ‘ Thanks Giving Day’.
The organization also honored senior citizens Govinda Dhital and Naina Kafle, and appreciated the Columbus Soccer Team for securing winner trophy in the Inter-State Soccer Tournament in Cleveland last month.
The South Asian Bazaar, Pathivara Jewelers, Sangri-La Grocery and Indo-Pak Grocery sponsored the spent.
At least 21 exiled Bhutanese were reported to have sustained injuries when a LPG cylinder exploded while they were battling to contain an inferno in Sanischare camp on Sunday evening. Of the injured, at least five persons were reported to be critical.
Refugees battle to contain fire (Photo: Hem Giri/BNS)
The injured refugees were rushed to Damak-based AMDA Hospital for treatment, informed Camp Secretary Champa Singh Rai.
The inferno that was first witnessed at 7:30 pm gutted at least three huts from Sector K-3, while another three were dismantled while bringing fire under control, according to local journalist Gopal Gadtaula.
The camp authority is yet to figure out actual cause of the mishap, and damage.
A daylong first literary symposium in Diaspora organized to promote Bhutanese-Nepali literature jointly by the Organization of Bhutanese Communities in America (OBCA), Bhutanese Community of Connecticut, and Bhutanese Creative Group of Springfield Massachusetts completed Saturday Hartford City, Connecticut by honoring at least three litterateurs.
Those honored in recognition of their contribution towards the Bhutanese-Nepali literature included the Bhutanese Gazal writer Seru Rai ‘Udash’ from Georgia, BNS Editor and Founder of Bhutaneseliterature.com Ramesh Gautam from Norway, and Ruhai composer Ashok Rai from Texas.
Meanwhile, BNS, in a congratulatory note sent to its editor Gautam this morning, stated that the news agency was very proud to have him in the team. “we are very fortunate to have you in our team,” reads the note.
The program that was chaired by Padam Bharati started by lighting candles followed by a welcome speech by one of the OBCA Board of Directors Dilip Dahal, and a cultural dance by young Bhutanese artists. Singer Govinda Phuyel was chief guest of the symposium where Karna Gurung, JN Dahal and Aita Rai, among others, were some of the guests.
The symposium also featured Kathmandu-based litterateur Dr Govinda Raj Bhattarai, Ramesh Gautam from Norway, and Prakash Dhamala from Adelaide of Australia via Skype.
The program continued with speeches from Ghanashyan Khadka, President of Nepalese Association of Connecticut, and former OBCA chairperson DJ Khaling from Atlanta, Georgia.
Organizers and artists (Photo: Chuda/BNS)
OBCA Treasurer Aita Rai told Bhutan News Service that the program was organized to promote, preserve and protect the Nepali language, culture and literature. He also announced that OBCA’s next program would be to organize an interstate soccer tournament.
Meanwhile, President of Bhutanese Community of Connecticut Rup Bharati said, “The Bhutanese culture, tradition and literature are at the stage of isolation. This kind of program will encourage the youths to learn, preserve, and pass the unique assets to generations.”
Participants of the symposium (Photo: Bhuwan/BNS)
The Global Bhutanese Literary Organization (GBLO), Bhutanese Creative Connection, USA, White Himal Television, Bhutan Lekhak Munch, Gajal Munch Bhutan, International Nepali Literary Society New York Chapter, Bhutaneseliterature.com, Rubai Munch Bhutan and Bhutaneseartist.com contributed towards making the symposium a grand success, informed one of the organizers Karna Gurung.
The program was mixed up with cultural dances, speech and presentations from various literary person.
Around 150 individuals attended the event that also saw release of ‘Trikon’ – a collection of Nepali Ruhai by Dharmendra Timsina ‘Tshitij’, JN Dahal and DP Dulal.
(Bharat Tamang and Nanda Lagoon from Scranton, PA also contributed to this report)
Hari Prasad Subedi, the first Bhutanese applicant for naturalization from Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been denied the U.S. citizenship on the ground that his act of obtaining the voter’s registration card by participating in a registration drive last year is against the law.
Hari Subedi with his four-years-old son
35-years-old Subedi sat for citizenship examinations on September 19 this year, did excellent, and hoped to be a new American. However, his dream shattered when he received a denial letter a week later.
“During my interview, I honestly admitted my mistake that I committed since I was ignorant of law of the land. Based on her advice, I also cancelled my voter registration card by visiting Bernalillo County Elections Bureau on the same day, and even submitted an official letter certifying that I didn’t cast my vote,” said Subedi.
“I didn’t choose to lie the interviewer by hiding facts, and even said sorry for my ignorance. But, a bitter decision was made against me,” added Subedi.
Subedi informed the Bhutan News Service that the denial letter explained that he failed to establish as a “person of good moral character”, and his registration to vote was an illegal act.
“Since you have not established that you are a person of good moral character because of the fact that you registered to vote, you are ineligible for naturalization,” the denial letter stated.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in its website states, “Registering to vote or voting in a federal election is a crime if you are not a U.S. Citizen. Non-U.S. citizens, including permanent residents (green card holders), who vote, or register to vote, in a federal election also can be denied naturalization and/or removed (deported) from the United States.”
Subedi is of the opinion that he did a mistake, and regretted for that by explaining every fact to the interviewer.
“No one is above law,” admitted Subedi. However, I feel that I was punished for a mistake, and revealing all facts behind it.”
According to Subedi, he has started collecting letters from his co-workers, employers, and friends explaining his actual moral character.
“These letters will truly explain about my moral character,” said Subedi, who plans to submit all those letters to the immigration official during a hearing that he has appealed for.
“Based on my appeal, the officials are working to schedule a hearing,” Subedi added, “I expect that its date would be confirmed in a week or two.”
Subedi is a supervisor of disabled adults at Adelante Development Center’s document imaging center, and also a cashier at Wal-Mart.
He is also the Chairperson of the Bhutanese Social Services of New Mexico. The state has resettled around 150 Bhutanese.
Subedi, who was resettled to the United States on July 31, 2008 from Goldhap camp, was evicted from Gelephu, Bhutan.
The Subedi couple have a four-years-old son, and are also expecting another boy soon.
According to Subedi, however, his wife has not applied for the citizenship as she decided to wait for sometimes.
In an attempt to figure out future strategies of BNS, TP Mishra moderated a panel discussion in Pittsburgh, PA on Oct 14, 2013. The panelists were RP Subba (Virginia), Tika Acharya (New Hampshire), Bhagirath Khatiwada (New Hampshire) and Kishor Pradhan (Pennsylvania).
The all-volunteer Bhutan News Service hosted a training session in Pittsburgh last weekend. Exiles from Bhutan make up the largest population of refugee newcomers to that city, so it’s a logical location.
About 83-thousand refugees, resettled from camps along the Nepali border in a dispute that dates back over 20 years, are scattered around the world, but the majority (70-thousand) have been brought to the US in the last six years.
BNS is an online-only concern, with contributors sending in reports from around the world. While, its Chief Editor, Buddha Mani Dhakal, resides in Kentucky. The idea is to keep the refugees connected as they’ve been resettled, both with news of what’s happening inside Bhutan, as democracy takes root there–and with information about what the refugees are facing as they build new lives. Suicide, for one thing, is high among the relocated refugees.
Of course, the information exiled Bhutanese are most interested in is whether officials in Bhutan will engage in discussions to resettle them in-country, or to even acknowledge their existence. (Most Bhutanese dispute that the people in question were ever actually citizens.) That kind of news is rare.
Since I first went to Bhutan to volunteer with the first non-governmental radio station Kuzoo FM in January 2007, I’ve slowly unearthed the previously little-told story of the southern Bhutanese. Just as I felt privileged to volunteer with young journalists at the dawn of democratic rule in Bhutan, (as the media landscape was just beginning and a newly drafted Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press), I feel lucky to be in touch with the refugee population, too.
Today (on October 13), in a session we held via Skype, I had the curious responsibility of explaining to the group (from my home in Los Angeles) what media are like today in modern Bhutan. See, many of the younger contributors to BNS have never set foot in the country–they were born in refugee camps. None of the constituency has been there since long before 1999, when TV was first introduced into Bhutan. I felt an awesome weight on my shoulders, for having witnessed and experienced what I have as a third party.
After 30 years in journalism, I’m often cynical about the state of the profession. But knowing this group of people, who take the incredible responsibility of informing the world about their situation and using media as a glue to hold them together, makes me feel the incredible power of communication. I believe that power will yield some sort of resolution to this long-standing dispute, hopefully sooner rather than later–as Bhutan changes, as the world changes, as we all change.
(The writer, who is also the author of ‘Radio Shangri-La, is a radio journalist based in Los Angeles, California. She blogs at Lisanapoli.com. The write-up has been reproduced with permission from the author. Click here to read the same piece in her blog.)
The Bhutanese Community in California (BCC) honored senior singer Pratap Subba amidst a cultural event in California, Sunday.
Rajen Giri honors singer Subba
BCC Chairperson, Rajen Giri, presented commendation to singer Subba for his contribution to Bhutanese Nepali music industry. Artist Subba has recently arrived in the United States opting the third country resettlement program.
“The program was a great success with huge turnout of community members. The Bhutanese musicians from New Hamshire, Utah, Arizona and Texas joined the local band to add flavor to the festive mood,” stated BCC in a press statement.
The organization hoped that such a kind of program would foster brotherhood, tolerance and inculcate sense of rich cultural heritage especially in the young generation.
The program was a cross cultural rendezvous with representatives from different faiths, non-governmental organizations and community groups.
The Bhutanese Community Resource Center (BCRC) celebrated its third anniversary with a fusion of different cultural performances in collaboration with a Bhutanese students’ club of Foster High School on Saturday in Washington.
Yug Dabadi, the Chairman of the BCRC board, officially welcomed the guest and audience to the program where Barun Biswa and Tulasa Ghimirey from the students’ club presented its activities to the audience.
The event that ran for four and a half hours included staging of cultural dances, songs, and some parodies presented by artist from different cities of western Washington.
Along with cultural event, BCRC also honored individual Bhutanese and their work in the field of education, arts and motion pictures.
Among those who were felicitated included ‘Dusky 1990’, an entertainment media group formed by some young Bhutanese in Washington, lyricist Khem Rizal, a young Bhutanese writer and lyricist who recently released his new music album ‘Pahilo Bhet’ and a book named ‘Kinarako Chhal’, Birendra Khadka, the Executive Producer of the movie ‘Desh Khojdai Janda’ and Krish Rizal, the Executive Producer of the commercial Nepali movie ‘Biteka Pal’. They received certificates of appreciation and gift cards.
The Seattle 4 Culture and Seattle’s People Fund sponsored the program that was insured the Refugee Women Alliance (ReWa).
King Jigme Khesar Wangchuck and Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay attended Dashara program organized at the Hindu Temple in the capital Monday, and received blessing and Teeka from Hindu priests.
The monarchs, PM Tobgay and Minister Dhungel attending Dashain celebrations in Thimphu
The Prime Minster also attended Durga Puja celebration on Sunday. He twitted that the King also offered Teeka and blessings to Hindu priests.
A crowd of around 200 Lhotsampas received the King, Queeen Gyaltsuen, PM Tobgay, and Communications and Information Minister DN Dhungel along with senior government officials yesterday. Except three Hindu Pandit every Lhotsampa present at the event was seen on Gho and Kira.
Meanwhile, the tenth day of the Dashain festival was celebrated all over the countries of resettlement by exiled Bhutanese with much enthusiasm. While, some of the community events are being planned for this week to mark this year’s Dashara.
The BNS team that was in Pittsburgh also joined Durga Puja celebration organized by the Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh (BCAP) on Monday.
Our reporters say they saw many resettled Bhutanese visiting their seniors for receiving Teeka and blessings in various states of America.
BNS has been informed that similar celebrations have taken place in Norway, Netherlands, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Denmark, Australia and Canada.
Similarly, report from Beldangi said that refugees were seen less festive during this Dashain.
“It is natural that their enthusiasm for celebrating the festivals have relatively been declined,” said one Ganesh Gurung.
According to Gurung, the resettlement has segregated families, and there was no meaning for celebrating festivals with enough enthusiasm.
One of the local entrepreneurs, who has been running a money-transfer booth for last five years, said the remittance flow into the refugee camps was almost half of the last year’s transactions this year.
Editor’s note: Most of the photographs used here are taken from the Facebook page of the concerned person, while the audio report is from the BBC Nepali Service, Kathmandu.
The three-days long national level workshop entitled ‘The Mission Pittsburgh’ of the Bhutan News Service (BNS) successfully completed in Pittsburgh, PA on Oct 13.
The workshop was a brainstorming session for the BNS volunteers and participants. Friends and volunteers from various states including cities of Pennsylvania gathered in Baldwin Library for the first day of the session.
BNS team with some of the guests
While for the second day, the participants drove to downtown Pittsburgh at the DHS building, to sit down and chalk out the future strategies of BNS.
The first day was mostly the day of presentations from community leaders and friends of BNS.
Radio journalist Lisa Napoli from Los Angeles, CA and Lonnie Isabel, Director of International Reporting Program at the City University of New York facilitated the training on the first day followed by a couple of presentations and some informal discussion sessions.
BNS contributing editors RP Subba and Bhagirath Khatiwada, Executive Director of the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire Tika Acharya, and Padam Rizal, who has been writing Dagapela series for BNS, also presented their papers during the workshop.
The second day started with the discussions among all the participants about the proposed short and long term goals by the BNS. Major highlights of the event were blogged live throughout the workshop.
Some of the major suggestions/recommendations made by the panel discussions that need to considered by BNS include:
Registration of BNS sooner than later
Exploration of the option of registering BNS not just in United States, but also to see if other countries have more flexible laws
Addition of more manpower to the team; setting up representative in all places where Bhutanese dwell
Adoption of strong editorial policy sooner than later
Establishment of relationship with other giant media bodies that eventually can train and support BNS, among others.
Inclusion of more news materials in Nepali language
Exploration of revenue sources such as paid ‘matrimonial & obituary column’
Documentation of more history/culture
Improvement of language and words selection both in news and other analytical pieces
“This discussion came forth with the immediate need and research about the registration process, strong editorial policies, and also partner with the media organizations in local, regional, national and also international level,” said Editor-In-Chief Buddha Mani Dhakal.
We extensively discussed on the recommendations made by the participants and the resolutions have been taken to have strong editorial policies further, added Dhakal.
“The event was possible because generous contributors funded this event. I like to thank every donor for joining the mission,” Dhakal added.
The Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh (BCAP) hosted the ‘Mission Pittsburgh’. Speaking at the closing ceremony, BCAP President Kishor Pradhan said the Pittsburgh community was proud to host the historic event of the Bhutan News Service.
“We are glad that BNS decided to hold its first national level training and networking workshop in Pittsburgh. We are really proud to host such a program of the exile media hub,” said Pradhan.
Representatives from the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire (BCNH) mentioned during the closing session that they were willing to locally host the similar kind of workshop for BNS the next time it is decided.
Click here to see the list of the sponsors of the event. Click here to see the LIVE reporting of the event.
