The two-member Bhutanese delegation has returned from the NGO Consultations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) held from July 11-15 in Geneva.
Member delegates Parsuram Sharma-Luital JP from Australia, and Bishnu Maya Dhungana returned to respective countries on Saturday.
Luitel and Dhungana with Guterres in Geneva
While in Geneva, Luital and Dhungana called on top UNHCR officials including the High Commissioner António Guterres, and raised various issues related to the Bhutanese refugee imbroglio.
The High Commissioner is learnt to have said that the UNHCR was constantly involved in raising issue of the repatriation of exiled Bhutanese with different issues, and expressed his gratitude towards the refugee resettling countries for granting new lives to thousands of Bhutanese citizens in exile.
“The Bhutanese refugee is one of the major operations of the UNHCR. Negotiations with Bhutan are going on the repatriation,” Guterres said, according to Luital. The High Commissioner also indicated that Bhutan might accept to allow dignified return of some refugees from Nepal as he claimed that UNHCR had been in close contact with the Government of Nepal on the number of issues including their fate after closure of the ongoing third country resettlement program.
“We were given an audience by the High Commissioner. We, indeed, got an opportunity to thank the UNHCR for funding the refugee camps, and granting us an opportunity to be a part of the NGO consultations,” said female delegate Dhungana.
The Bhutanese delegate Dhungana, first from right in middle row, in the UNHCR’s NGO Consultations
The delegates said they raised a number of issues like lack of funds for huts management, cases of family separation, delay in resettlement, problems of youths, women and children, and even issue of corruptions as regards to the resettlement, and camp management.
Luital also presented a DVD of the multicultural festival organised by Bhutanese Organisation in Australia (BOA), which was one of the two best festivals rated by the Victoria Government, to the High Commissioner.
In response, the he lauded that the Bhutanese refugees’ positive story to resettlement was a good story of resettlement, and a lesson for all global resettling refugees.
The Bhutanese delegation also met the Nepalese Ambassador Shaker Biaragi , and discussed a number of issues including the cases of 174 refugees, who have been declared disqualified by the Joint Verification Team (JVT).
The Ambassador assured Luitel and Dhungana of discussing their concerns with the government officials, UNHCR and IOM in his fourth coming meeting.
Luital was a delegate of the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) while the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) funded the Dhungana’s trip.
The Druk National Congress (Democratic) observed its foundation in its office at Kakarvitta, Nepal, Sunday.
Their workers inside Bhutan also joined members of the party, said Narad Adhikari, the Party Spokesperson in a press statement.
“Offering traditional ritual ceremony the gathering observed one minute silence in memory of the known and unknown party martyrs including Gomchen Karma and specially those who spent their valuable life with the party in exile and left for the eternal world,” said Adhikari.
According to him, the Party also expressed its high tribute to its Vice-President, late Chheku Drukpa, who dedicated his life for the party that was formed with the commitment to establish multiparty parliamentary democracy in Bhutan.
Expressing the present scenario of democracy in Bhutan, based on what the insiders reported from time to time, the entire process continues to be nothing more than a drama to eyewash the international community, the gathering collectively vowed to continue with their mission strengthening and reforming the roots of democracy in Bhutan, added Adhikari.
He further said, “The party refuted the constitution written by the experts from the neighboring countries and recalled that the constitution writing committee was handpicked to window dress the media and the world community. There was no representation from the diverse population of the country.”
Party President, Thinley Penjore from the United States sent a brief message of felicitation expressing his warm Trashi Delek to all the party members present in the function.
Adhikari said his felicitation message mentioned that the democracy of Bhutan, which is only for the name sake now, had been proclaimed because of continued pressure from the people of Bhutan both inside the country and in exile.
“The evidence of struggle for democracy is the living cadres who continue to be in prison all of who had made their statements to the High Court. He urged the people inside the country to take strong and fearless stand to establish democracy of the people so that it becomes for the people,” said Thinley’s message, according to Adhikari.
The DNC-D President is also reported to have expressed his dismay for disqualifying the political parties formed by the people inside the country by the election commission while others are projected as loser in the primary election.
Thinley said that such an intention has clearly indicated that there would no free and fair election in the country, and same thing would happen in the so-called general election too.
Meanwhile, the Party also thanked its leaders and members for expressing their involvement in the celebrations of the foundation day.
After 17 years in a refugee village in Nepal, Sushil Niroula has finally found a new home, and will proudly take the oath to become an Australian citizen this Sunday.
Bhutanese-born Sushil Niroula prepares to call Australia home on Sunday, as he takes the citizenship pledge on Sunday (Picture courtesy: ABC Adelaide/Brett Williamson)
Sushil’s life began in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Growing up in a market village in Southern Bhutan, he enjoyed playing in the local forests and until around the age of 13 led the innocent, carefree life of a child.
With two older and one younger brother and one sister, parented by a single mother due to the early death of his father, Sushil’s family lived in a large house in Gola Bazar, with several of the rooms rented out.
The income provided the family with a comfortable lifestyle.
Sushil remembers the time around his seventh year in schooling as a time of great change.
During the mid 80s, the Royal Government of Bhutan introduced a unification measure, described as a ‘one nation, one people’ policy.
The multicultural population of the country was asked to adopt a national cultural dress, religious beliefs and customs.
“Socially, culturally, religiously, ethnically, everything in every aspect of life, they wanted the people of Bhutan to look [as] one,” Sushil said.
Bhutan was made up of three primary cultures from Tibet, Nepal, and India and Burma.
The Royal family’s origins stemmed from Tibet.
Sushil’s ancestors had settled in Bhutan, from Nepal, in the 1600s.
“The ruling class wanted to impose their ideas, their laws, their culture,” he explained.
Southern Bhutanese communities began to hold public meetings to protest the changes.
Soon after the protests began Sushil’s brother began to attend the meetings.
Sushil said his brother was threatened and forced to leave the country.
“When my brother left the country, my family became targeted.”
A spate of similar occurrences followed that Sushil considered ‘ethnic cleansing’.
He and his mother began to receive nightly visits from the government’s police and army, encouraging them to follow his brother and leave Bhutan.
Editor’s note: Reproduced from the ABC Adeliade with a new headline by BNS. The piece was published originally with a headline ‘After 17 years in a refugee camp, Sushil finally has a place to call home’.
An artist can become a refugee, but no power can make his or her art a refugee like himself or herself.
This particular version aptly applies to some resettled music artists as their enthusiasm toward their own creations and songs to quench musical thirst of their fellow-Bhutanese have been remarkably mounting even in the country of resettlement.
Amber Subba
Financially paralyzed Amber Subba, a former refugee from Beldangi-I Refugee Camp, never dreamed that he would be able to invest for his own album in his life though his attachment towards music was unfathomable since his youth.
The third country resettlement program that enabled him to begin a new life in the United States completely transformed his overall thinking and daily life. However, his hope for deeper attachment towards the music started multiplying – thanks to efforts of the international community that decided to rescue thousands of Amber from their ramshackle huts in the UN-managed refugee camps in eastern part of Nepal.
“I am extremely delighted at present. My new album is making a good circulation in the States, Australia, Canada and Nepal,” Subba tells, “For an individual purchase, we have fixed a net price of US $15.”
Recently, he has produced a new album ‘Amber’ that has carried his seven best compositions. Of them, two lyrics are by fellow-Bhutanese Shiva Chamlagain and a Nepalese singer Santosh Lama.
The ‘Amber’ contains vocal of Santosh Lama, who was ranked second by one of the famous television reality shows in Nepal, Nepali Tara.
“The album is a combination of various seven folk, pop and semi-classical songs,” adds composer Subba.
Music video of one of his songs ‘Narisaune Manche‘ was recently released, and is available in the YouTube.
“The response from consumers, friends and well-wishers is amazing. We are already in a pipeline to produce music videos of three more songs from my album.”
Kedar Upreti
According to Subba, the Planet3 Films, and IRCreation from the US will soon start shooting of ‘Jalera Mutu‘ and ‘Lagthyo Timi‘ respectively, while RD Production from Canada has agreed to produce a music video of ‘Raatai Vari Huri Chhalechha‘.
While, a music video directed by refugee film artist Kedar Upreti (UK) ‘Maya Yestai Rahecha’, one of the songs of young singer, composer and lyricist Rakesh Subba was released in December last year, and is a popular music video readily available for all viewers in the YouTube. Artist Subba is a former refugee from Khudunabari Refugee Camp.
The Bhutanese artists trio, Roshan Bista, Jasna Shamal and Vinod Gurung, have done modeling in the Upreti’s video.
Upreti has experience of playing vital roles in over half a dozen of movies back in Nepal, and that included a few movies on the theme of the Bhutanese refugee issue.
“This is my first work after I resettled in America from Sanischare Refugee Camp,” Director Upreti tells Bhutan News Service. “We are also planning various thematic movies to depict the post resettlement life in America.”
Back in the refugee camp, Upreti directed movies like ‘Punar Milan’, ‘Jhupadiko Jindagi’, ‘Tukreyako Mutu’, ‘Bhagyako khel’, ‘Nasha’, ‘Astitowko Ladai’, ‘Play Boy’, ‘Talash’, ‘Pabitra Bandhan’, and ‘Birsana Bhani Deu‘.
Jeevan Prakash Pradhan is arranger of the music video that was edited by Anish Thapa of the PRM Production.
Lokesh Gurung
Yet another young singer and composer, Lokesh Gurung, had just completed his ninth grade while opting the third country resettlement in Missouri.
Within three years of his resettlement, 18-years-old artist Gurung invested around US $3,200 for the production of his solo album ‘Pratiksha‘, which is a fusion of Nepali gazal songs.
“I started singing right from the age of nine,” explains Gurung. “The motivation that I have been receiving from senior artists have inspired me to come up with the album,” he adds.
According Gurung, the album is under circulation within various states in America and Canada.
The album has altogether seven songs including his own lyrics. Other lyricists included Dawa Tamang, Deepak Dasnami and Kiran Gazmere.
The Rhythmscreen Creation, a recording studio owned by resettled Bhutanese in Georgia, has done the task of recording and mixing of the ‘Pratiksha‘.
Elaborating his future plans, Gurung says, preparation for doing a music video in one of his songs in Nepal is currently underway.
“Many of our artists are compelled to travel to Nepal or India for recording their songs. This has become expensive for them, and we have emerged to materialize their dreams,” announces Kamal Rai of the Rhythmscreen Creation.
According to Rai, his team desire to promote future generations by freely producing their music videos, and recording songs.
Artist Rai has been doing his own album, which is a collection of sentimental pop, folk and modern songs, expected to be released within this year.
Nandi Kishore SiwakotiKamal Rai
While, popular artist Nandi Kishore Siwakoti says he is also planning to do his yet another album in near future.
“My first album has added more rooms of motivation for doing the second album,” says artist Siwakoti, who released his first album ‘Bhugol‘ before resettling in the United States in 2009.
Siwakoti is happy to witness growing charms for music. However, he says artists need to maintain a certain standard and quality.
“We need serious exercises, and a strong dedication in this (music) filed. Just adding an album with investments of hard-earned money is not going to take the Bhutanese artists to a desired path,” explains he.
“The new album is directed by famous Nepali composer Ranjeet Gajmere. If every thing goes as per the plan, I wish to record the songs in Mumbai,” adds singer Siwakoti, who expects to release the new album by 2014.
Siwakoti was one of the noted icons in the Mechi Tara, a mega reality show in eastern nepal and was ranked runner position among 800 contestants from four districts of Nepal.
Next, Washington-based Khem Rizal is working with Satya Acharya and Swaroop Acharya, sons of Nepalese legendary singer Bhakta Raj Acharya, for his new music album planned to be released in immediate future.
Krish RizalKhem RizalMani Sharma Rizal
Collection of songs from a large-screen Nepali film, ‘Biteka Pal’, has been in massive circulations in the United States, Nepal and India.
Khem’s brother Krish Rizal is producer of the film that awaits its release later this year, and has joint investment from Rajesh Ghatane and Rizal himself, and directed by Suraj Subba Nalbo. Babu Bogati, Keki Adhikari and Abhinash Gurung are its lead characters. Emerging artist Gurung is the son of Bimal Gurung, chief of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).
According to Krish, he is happy with wider supports that the team has been bee receiving from friends and fans as regards to circulation of the film’s songs.
Yet, another brother Mani Sharma Rizal’s music album ‘Saman‘ is also in the market. Artist Rizal has written lyrics of all songs of the album composed and sang by Nepalese artist, Yam Baral.
Kanchi Maya Subba
Likewise, Kanchi Maya Subba, a former refugee from Beldangi-I and based in Verginia, is also doing her new album. Most of the arrangement is over, and she plans to travel to Nepal sometimes later in August for recording.
Meanwhile, the ‘Bhajan Samarpan‘ is the first bhajan album produced by the Bhutanese artists from Atlanta. Kamal Rai, Kishor Siwakoti, and Bishal Gurung, among others have done the composition for the album.
Deepak Dasnami
Young lyricist and composer Deepak Dasnami’s album ‘Abroad’ is another music album based on different seven songs of modern flavors.
Nepalese singers like Yojana Puri, Tara Limbu, Rajendra Pokhrel and Min Gurung have given their melody to his songs. While, Arjun Pokhrel, Binod Bajurali and Chandu Gorkhali have done music arrangements of the ‘Abroad’ recorded at the RB Music Production, and marketed by Kripa Drishya Digitals.
“The album was produced in supports from the Bhutanese Association of Saint Louis, Everest Café, Gurung Bazaar and Radio Audio FM,” explains artist Dasnami.
The RD Entertainment, a music industry launched by resettled Bhutanese, in Calgary of Canada has been actively involved in producing various music videos.
Yet another emerging resettled Bhutanese female singer is Gopi Rasaily.
Rasaily, now resides at Akron, Ohio in the United States. She started singing from the stage programs organized in the refugee camps.
Gopi Rasaily performing with Yam Baral
Previously from Sanischare Camp, Rasaily has contributed her voice in one of the folk songs by Prem Poudyel and she has assisted Kamal Rai in his album ‘Duel Heart’.
Rasaily has performed duet with noted Nepali singing icons Yam Baral and Jagdis Samal during the live concerts held at Pittsburgh and Missouri respectively recently.
“Besides contemporary Nepali songs, I love singing Hindi songs and gazals. Now during my gratis hours I am working on Bhajaans and planning to bring a Bhajaan Album in near future. I have decided this keeping in mind to help our community listening Bhajaans during their regular prayers and religious gatherings,” Rasaily adds.
Nandi Kishore Siwakoti from South Dakota and Rup Pokharel from Pennsylvania contributed to this report.
Growing up in a country where he wasn’t allowed to chase his dream of being an artist, Nawal Khatiwada is now making up for lost time.
Nawal, in Sydney, with some of his paintings (Picture courtesy: Jenny Davson-Galle)
Mr Khatiwada, a refugee from Bhutan who now lives in Minto, is one of 30 people nationwide in the running to win the $12,000 Heartlands Refugee Art Prize 2013.
The 29-year-old grew up in Bhutan before his family sought refuge in Nepal when he was 10.
In Nepal he couldn’t enter art competitions because he would have to submit his citizenship papers. His family came to Australia in 2010 as refugees and he’s now focusing on becoming a professional artist.
A painting by Nawal submitted for the contest
His selected work, Brother and Sister is an oil on canvas painting and took him only three hours to finish. “This painting is about the importance of love, family, relationships and the productivity and beauty in life that is created and nurtured through unity,” he said. “It’s essentially about what I wish for our world and what I wish to now experience in my life and my family’s life.”
He paints between studying nursing at UWS Campbelltown. He has lived with his family in Minto for five months.
“I love this place, it’s not crowded and lots of interesting people,” he said.
The winner of the Heartlands Refugee Art Prize 2013 will be announced at an event in Melbourne on June 20.
After losing to DPT and PDP, Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) decides to join one of the winning parties although DNT claims to have approached by both parties to join them.
PDP with new members from DNT at Dechenphu
Seven members of higher profile decided to join PDP replacing the horse candidates in various constituencies. The lucky seven to replace the PDP designated candidates are President Dorji Choden in Thrimsing, Vice-President Jigme Zangpo in Mongar, Norbu Wangchuk in Kanglung-Samkhar-Udzorong, Kinley Dorji in Radhi-Sakteng, Leki Dorji in Bardo-Trong, Tshering in Panbang and Pelzang Wangchuk in Jumotshangkha-Martshala constituencies.
“It is not a decision made impulsively”, said one of the top DNT candidates for PDP.
‘We are for making a vibrant democracy and not looking for the opportunities PDP might give us. So we have decided to make a stronger voice in the parliament and not allow a single party to dominate,’ said Norbu Wangchuk.
DNT has arguably joined the PDP after it came into friction with DPT which says it is against the horse-trading of candidates. However, DNT claims that former ministers Nandalal Rai and Thakur Singh Powdyel had approached DNT candidates for their support. DNT president Dorji Choden reacts, “DPT high command is telling lie to the country and people”.
Many critics are wondering about the losing party candidates joining the winning party which actually make no sense to opt for a separate party if they want to hop from one to another in every election.
I was born in Bhutan on January 1, 1988. I studied there up to the first grade. Then, due to the political situation, we were compelled to leave our country. So, we went to Nepal in February 1993. We lived there for 19 years as refugees in the camps. It was such a miserable life. We didn’t have sufficient food to eat, no sanitation program, no good health services. It was like a hell. We didn’t have citizenship or good jobs. We raised our voices to the government to return us to our home country but it was all in vain. So at last, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) helped us to resettle in the United States.
So I decided to leave the refugee camp in order to have a good life and jobs in the United States. I decided to leave in 2008 but due to some problems our process was suspended. I was disappointed. It was a difficult task to make good decision in a short amount of time. It was difficult to arrange to leave. It was difficult journey from our country to the United States. We had to make transfers in different countries. Finally, we arrived at our destination, i.e St. Louis. I hoped it would be a better life than in the refugee camp in Nepal.
When I came to St. Louis, Missouri in the United States, my heart was full of hopes and dreams. I was so excited when I arrived at the St. Louis Airport. My relatives and social worker from the International Institute were there to receive us. I was so delighted. The social workers from the International Institute were so friendly and I was so impressed with them. Now, I have to face different problems like language and culture.
The International Institute was helping us to overcome our problems. They also provided us food, shelter, money, health services, job readiness and English language classes. It helped us to adjust to the new environment. Now, I am ready for jobs, and to face the problems by myself. I learned the English language and the history about the United States.
Now, I am searching for jobs. This has been the most challenging thing for me in the United States as well as learning the routes to get to different places. We have a good apartment to live in , a car for transportation and citizenship in the United States. I am so glad to be here in the United States. I’ll be a good citizen and help those who are in need of help. I want to give thanks to the people at IOM, who helped us resettle in the United States, and the International Institute for good assistance.
Thanks,
Mon Rai
Bhutan (Druk)
Editor’s note: This is a speech delivered by Late Mon Rai at the Thanks Giving Event at the International Institute of St. Louis in 2012. The Bhutan News Service has published the unedited version of his speech.
An unidentified gunman fatally shot a resettled Bhutanese, Mon Rai, an employee a St. Louis 7-Eleven store located on Gravois Avenue by Bates Street in south St. Louis Monday night on the job.
Mon Rai (Picture courtesy: Lokesh Gurung, Missouri)
The medical attendants from the Barnes Jewish Hospital pronounced his death immediately after he was rescued from the scene by police. Rai is the 40th homicide victim in the city of St. Louis in 2013.
The Daily RFT reported that 30-year-old Rai was resettled through the International Institute of St. Louis in September last year. He was a father of an seven-year-old son Sujal, and his wife Sushila, 25, was expecting a second child this week.
According to the report, police arrived around 12:30 a.m. in response to a call from a customer who found Rai lying on the floor bleeding. Rai was taken to the hospital and soon after pronounced dead.
The suspect, who was reported to be wearing ‘dark clothing’, has been at large, and is being hunted.
Suzanne LeLaurin, senior vice president for individuals and families at the International Institute of St. Louis, was quoted by the Daily RFT as confirming that his wife was pregnant and was due to deliver in the next day or so.
She said, “The staff, as well as other clients, are just devastated.”
While another staff at the Institute said, “He was excited to contribute to his new country,” Barker says. “He was just one of those people that you know is going to succeed in this country. He has all of the tools, not just the language skills, but the personality, the positive attitude, the eagerness to contribute.”
Meanwhile, the institute has set up an account at Southern Commercial Bank for contributions to the family. Contributions can be sent to any Southern Commercial branch, and the account is listed as “Funds for Mon Rai Family.”
Chicago, the home state of two influential presidents of the USA- Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln, has been receiving a lot of immigrants from all over the world. In 2012, mostly refugees from Bhutan, Burma, Iraq, and Ethiopia started their lives afresh in Chicago. Around fifteen hundreds Bhutanese refugees have resettled here so far. The challenges faced by the Bhutanese refugees in any state seem identical. So, I want to basically focus about the Bhutanese refugee in Chicago as a means to describe the challenges and opportunities of Bhutanese refugee resettled in America. This is based on my own experience of working as a Reception and Placement Case manager at one of the refugee resettlement agencies in Chicago.
Any immigrant faces not only employment and communications problems but also emotional and cultural shocks. Bhutanese come from entirely different cultures and environments. America is economically very competitive and it’s hard for Bhutanese to find jobs. English language is another barrier for Bhutanese to find jobs in new country. Besides being a land of opportunities, the USA is also land of challenges. Bhutanese face challenges mainly in communication and education, employments, cultural differences, integration in American society and economic needs in America.
Firstly, communication is one of the challenges of Bhutanese in early days of resettlement in America. It requires communication to do all daily activities. English is not the mother tongue of the Bhutanese. After the arrival in America, limited English or lack of English communication skills leads to miserable life. Most of the Bhutanese find really hard to communicate and buy items from grocery in early days. Lack of communication makes life harder to run daily activities. In some cases, Bhutanese speak some level of English but the American accent is different from most of the countries and lead towards the confusions and frustrations. For Bhutanese who never attended the English schools or spoke English language, communication skill is big barrier for them. Both parents and children say that learning to speak English is often the biggest hurdle in the new country. Once that is accomplished the family begin to adapt more of the American culture into their new lifestyles (Coulter 2). Often time, they start by attending English as Second Language classes to learn from very beginning. For Adult, it takes a long time to learn languages, which gives unnecessary mental stress.
Challenges are not limited to communication only but getting formal and higher education is another challenge. Continuing formal and higher education for children and adult is another big challenge. Bhutanese children under eighteen can join Public schools to complete their high school education. The high school education system in the US is different than the one run by the Caritas Nepal in the refugee camps. The United Sates use most of the technological equipments to deliver education such as audio-visual. Bhutanese children can’t use computer and other electronic equipments. They also go through transition from their home country’s education system to the US education system. Bhutanese come from yearly education system, which focuses for one or two final exams per year whereas the US semester based educational system is hard for them to understand and get success at.
Bhutanese adults who already received high school and higher degrees prior to getting resettled and want to continue education in US also face many challenges. During the certification reevaluation process, some times they won’t get any credit from back home. And even if they do, it will be few credited hours. Most of the time, adult college students need to re-take the same classes, which is frustrating and time consuming. Hinojosa, who earned a psychology degree in Mexico, is working on a GED here (Coulter 2). The GED is General Educational Degree in the US which is equivalent to High School diploma in America.
For Bhutanese adults of age 20 to 35, those with an incomplete degree due to the resettlement process, there lie real challenges to continue their education. Many present college students happen to be former students of those with incomplete degrees. So, they do not want to go to schools together with their own previous students. Indeed, it looks awkward but there are other options like online education to continue education. It is well said that education is life long process and one should not hesitate to grab that opportunity.
There is also another big misunderstanding to the Bhutanese students about differences of Community colleges and Universities. Some of the adults who already attended universities in Nepal feel that going back to community colleges is to start from zero. But difference of community colleges and University is not big. Actually, community colleges are much more cheaper and affordable than universities and also hold the same value of freshman and sophomore courses of universities.
For those who want continue education also face financial problems; and they need to get loan at a high interest rate. In my own experience as an adult college student, it is challenging for immigrant students to get in track of the US college systems and be successful. Sometimes, the schedule conflicts of job and colleges also make continuing education tough and impossible. Rohit Rimal of Chicago had to give up his dream of going to college twice due to his hectic job schedule.
It is noteworthy that all refugee college students will be eligible for financial support from federal and state government. Both educational supports are first come –first serve basis and can be filled out through web link www.fafsa.gov starting from January for each educational year. The FAFSA application automatically sends the information to state financial support. Both Federal and State grants go up to eleven thousands per year depending upon family financial status and contributions. Below are the criteria to be eligible for the FAFSA program:
Demonstrate financial need (for most programs);
Be a U.S. citizen or an eligible noncitizen;
Have a valid Social Security number (with the exception of students from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau);
Be registered with Selective Service, if you’re a male (you must register between the ages of 18 and 25). Almost all Bhutanese refuges in the US meet all above criteria. This financial support programs go up to six years. This is one of the grants (unlike the loan, grants are free and should not be re-payed.) in the US for almost all Bhutanese refugees those want to continue college education.
The US education system offers free higher education to those who have perform educational excellence and good GPA which is one of the best opportunities for immigrants to achieve success. The US education system is very practical and job oriented; and most of the time trainings are available for free and at low cost. Few Bhutanese have already became successful businessman by taking advantage of the US loan system to start business. All the opportunities are not that easily available, it requires a lot of struggle and hard work and commitment. But it definitely pays at the end. The key opportunities and success for Bhutanese are hard work, struggle and commitment. One who works hard, struggles and commits to his/her goal see the US as land of opportunities not only land of challenges definitely succeeds. It’s very easy to find challenges and problems than to find opportunities and solutions by Bhutanese.
Employment is very essential and is hard to find. As most of the Bhutanese come with very limited English and is challenging for them to find jobs in competitive market. Employers always want to hire employee with good communication skills and work history. Most of the Bhutanese lack both good communications skills and work history in their resume, which is another challenges for them in early days. Most of the Bhutanese go to English class in early years and is hard for them to manage time to do jobs. Resettlement organizations working for finding employment for new immigrants say that it is hard to find job for Bhutanese because of problems with English proficiency and work history. Majority of professionals such as doctors and engineers won’t find suitable jobs in the US because of licensing issues. Despite their advanced degrees and previous career experiences, they are compelled to work entry-level jobs in offices and hotels, working in restaurant kitchens and laboring in manufacturing plants (Bouchard-3).
Emotional and cultural shocks are very common to Bhutanese in America. Lack of communication skills and hard to find a job often lead to emotional problems. Bhutanese come with big expectations of earning a lot of money and having standard family. But they face unexpected problems in maintaining their lives.
The culture of the United States is totally different than Bhutanese cultures. The life style and society of America is free and independent than Bhutanese life style. Men and women are equally treated and given equal rights as compare to the Bhutanese cultures. Bhutanese usually observe big difference in the cultural aspect and eventually face cultural shocks also. In few cases, emotional stress and cultural shocks even lead to chronic depression. Suicide of nineteen Bhutanese is one of the results of emotional stress and cultural shocks. The Office of Refugee Resettlement mentions that suicidal rate in the Bhutanese community is the highest among the other resettled communities. Integrating into American society is long term and very challenging process for immigrants.
Employment and educational issues are short-term problems whereas integrating into American society is long term and very challenging process. Immigrants from different countries have their own festivals and social norms, which are different than American and Bhutanese festivals. Bhutanese may earn money after five-ten years but it’s hard for them to change their festivals and their social values, which make it hard for them to get integrated in to the American society. Some of the immigrants adopt the bicultural habit, which is good to overcome some challenges. Most of the Bhutanese started getting lost in the middle of integration process and end with some psychological problems. The way of integrating into the American society differs from people to people but it is very complicated and long-term process. Studies show that first generation immigrants face a hard time in integrating but second generation feels easier.
Not only integration but also managing finance is another big challenge of Bhutanese.
In initial days, it’s hard to pay rent. In long run, they earn and make good money but the expenditure increases as they try to adopt the American life style. Most of the countries in the world including Nepal and Bhutan run cash for daily financial transactions; however, the US mainly uses debit and credit cards. The American way of using debit and credit card confuses most of the Bhutanese in early days to manage their money. Often time, most of the Bhutanese rely on government funding’s and benefit programs (food stamps) to carry their daily activities. It’s hard for them to save money for their children’s colleges and other expenses in the future.
The new Bhutanese Americans have lot of challenges in the field of communication and education, employment, cultural and emotional aspect, integrating into new society and economic needs. Nonetheless, there are some opportunities as well. It’s not easy for the new immigrants to start lives in America but hard works and struggle always make it easier and successful in long term.
References
Bouchard, Kelley. “Advocates for Newcomers tear at Barriers to Opportunity.” ProQuest Newsstand. Web. 25 May 2013
Coulter, Phyllis. “Immigrant families face extra challenges while living in Central Illinois.” ProQuest Newsstand. Web. 26 May 2013.
Federal government educational site
[Born in Chirang, Bhutan, the author currently resides in Chicago, IL. He is an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and attends summer program at Northwestern University about the Refugee Status Determination Process. He has also worked as Resettlement and Placement Case Manager at a resettlement agency in Chicago for two years. ]
Editor’s note: The opinion expressed and facts presented herein are solely based on author’s findings, and don’t necessarily represent official say of the Bhutan News Service.
Lying south of Tibet, nestled in the Himalayas with interspersed valleys created by the torrential rivers and covered almost 90 percent by the subtropical and temperate forest, Bhutan was originally Lho-Mon. It is often taken conjecture that Bhutan derived from Sanskrit Bhot-anta, meaning end of Tibet. The location is respective to Tibet, hence this name, and the heritage is all rooted in Tibet for many who came to Bhutan in early centuries along with or after the refuge of Shabdrung Nawang Namgyal. It was not a Kingdom then, neither a state constructed by any dominant cohort of population. Everywhere in the history it is admitted by the writers that this land was ruled by some petty feudal lords and kings who often fought each other.
Bhutan is not definitely the country of homogenous population contrary to what was once declared “One nation One People”. There are various ethno-linguistic minorities living outside the main domain of statehood and national identity of Dzongkha-speaking Ngalong. Doyas in the south west, Brokpas in the north east, Khengpa in the central districts and the Kurteop of north east are never officially recorded as ethnic minorities, despite their typical life-style, dress and the dialect. The larger population of Sarchhops dominating the eastern districts of Samdrupjongkhar, Pemagatshel, Trashigang, Trashiyangtse are by no means the same Dzongkha-speaking Ngalongs, because they speak Tsangla, (also Sarchhopkha) a different dialect with no written script of its own. It is needless to mention the distinct ethnic and linguistic population on the south, the Nepali- speaking southern Bhutanese.
Are the Nepali (Lhotshampa) population just economic migrants? The official version of the Bhutanese government on the status and legality of Lhotshampa settlement in Bhutan has always been derogatory. The prime minister of Bhutan, Mr. Jigme Y Thinley has been trained to make the vocal remark everywhere in the formal platforms: the Nepali speaking population of south are illegal economic migrants who came to Bhutan only in 20th century largely as construction laborers and other menial works.
In his interview at UN headquarters on the eve of happiness conference in April 2011, Jigme Y Thinley stammered to provide an unsatisfactory answer to the question posed by a western journalist in the context of status of over 100,000 people evicted from Bhutan in 1990s. There he blushed and felt uncomfortable in his chair.
Historically, the migration of Nepali speaking population towards the east of Teesta River took place since mid 16th century. By nature of hard working as herdsmen, craftsmen, pastoralists and agriculturists, they occupied almost every fertile land available and used forest for cattle rearing with practice of shifting cultivation in some isolated forest land. Many reached to the far east of Assam, now the district of Darbanga, Udalguri, Tejpur, Sadhya and even Manipur. In the fertile valleys and plains of Brahmaputra basin, these migrant Nepali/ Gorkhali thrived on agriculture and animal husbandry.
Bhutan is not an exception when there was no clear boundary demarcation and most plain land south of the Himalayan foothills remained virgin.
Although, the first official settlement of Nepali families in Bhutan is said to have taken place during the time of first Dharmaraja, Shabdrung Nawang Namgyal, after a formal accord was signed between him and the king of Gorkha, the evidences are still the subject of aggressive research and publishing. One, Dr. Suman Dhakal, mentions in a journal about the recurring visits of Bhutanese lamas to Gorkha and Kathmandu valley . The date is 1640 AD when Shabdrung himself visited Gorkha and took along with him some Gorkahali families to settle in the west Terai. The renovation and establisment of Drukpa monastery in Swayambhunath by Shabdrung, the gift of land and some gompa to Shabdrung by the Shah kings of Gorkha and Malla kings of Kathmandu are evidences carefully omitted in the present relationship between Bhutan and Nepal. The 19th ssue of the Druk Losel, a Nepali bulletin published in Bhutan carried that historical fact of ancient Bhutan-Nepal relationship( the date 1624), and that immediately became issue for the closure of Druk Losel.
On the basis of this, it is quite certain that the larger group of Nepali immigration in Bhutan took place in 17th century when the British Empire in India was vying to expand its influence in Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet. With the signing of Treaty of Sinchula in 1865, the Duars no longer belonged to Bhutan, but the settlement of Nepali migrants in this area continued to move back and forth between what was called Bhutan and the British India. It also appears that some of the Bhutanese subjects maintained loyalty to both Bhutan durbar and Delhi durbar. This is proven by a historical account of extradition impasse of one Akal Singh Limbu, a revenue officer of Bhutan (see Sinha, AC or Hutt, Michael).
The same year, British made recommendation for fixing the boundary line. A boundary survey began in 1867 which included all tribal population of Duars in India, excluding the Bhutanese cultivators. So it can be argued that the inhabitants of the plain duars and hills interchanged over time with no barriers for their movement either way.
The Bhutan durbar was in dire need of continuous source of revenue, particularly the cash revenue. The annual subsidy of Rs. 50,000 in lieu of the annexed Duars by the British was a meager source. Thus the cultivation of fertile lower valleys and plains was most necessary, the cultivators mostly immigrating from the Duars, Sikkim and Nepal. The highlanders (Buddhist Drukpa) not coming down to settle gave sufficient space for the newcomers to occupy land for cultivation. It was in fact promoted or the immigration simply not checked by the Bhutanese authority.
The construction of fortresses (Dzong) in strategic locations by Shabdrung Nawang Namgyal and later by other Deb Raja and incarnate lamas could have been possible only through a continuum of labor recruitment. The new settlers were undoubtedly the human force for building such majestic fortresses in mountain tops or besides the rivers as can be seen today. So whether the immigrants were simply the Nepali/Gorkha from Nepal and Sikkim, or other ethnic minorities of the plain Duars, they must have paid revenue and contributed to the construction of physical structures as demanded by the dual system of government. This is obviously omitted from most history of Bhutan.
It is not just the immigration into Bhutan. Emigration out of Bhutan to neighboring Indian states and to Nepal has indeed taken place. A significant number of Nepali population settled in Samchi, Chirang, Sarbhang and Dagana had migrated out to Assam, West Bengal and Nepal when they foresaw no better prospects of their economic or social prosperity in Bhutan. For example, a Village Development Committee in Jhapa, Budhabarey, includes many houses whose present residents or their ancestors had migrated out from Bhutan in 1960s and 1970s. Emigration from Bhutan was also due to the forms of conscripted labor imposed by the government on every household domiciled in Bhutan, whether legal or illegal. But such out-migration was again controlled or monitored and many such migrants tell their story of having sneaked out of Bhutan with no notice to the authority.
So the rhetoric of Bhutan government that illegal immigration of Nepali workers in Bhutan is a stereotype to project the economic conditions in Bhutan being better than anywhere else, which is an absolute farce.
On Census and Population The oldest population estimate of Bhutan based on crude empirical guesswork is that of Capt. C J Morris’ who found a total of 3,00,000 Bhutanese in 1932 of which 20% of them (60,000) belonging to Nepalese origin. ( Sinha, AC : 177)
Since then various figures have been estimated and presented to world forums. The population figures are upgraded or downgraded according to the purpose for which it is taken. One such manipulated population figure was claimed on the eve of application to UNO membership in 1971, which was fixed at 1.3 million. The same Royal Government claimed only 600,000 to be its population in 1990 with 3% annual growth. Even after seven years, it quotes the same figure as its national population (Amnesty International 1998:3).
AC Sinha, an Indian researcher writes in his book, Himalayan Kingdom Bhutan: Tradition, Transition and Transformation:
In the information booklet, “Bhutan: Himalayan Kingdom” published in 1979, the population of the country is given as 1,200,000. Not surprisingly, the population of Bhutan in 1988 was estimated to have grown to 1,375,000. However, in the end of 1991, Bhutan completely revised its numbers, claiming the population of only 600,000.
In fact, the same 1979 population figure was given out in Dhaka SAARC summit in 1992, with the old population figure of 120,000 white out and 600,000 hand-written.
There was no system developed to enumerate the census of the country scientifically and on periodic basis. Census was normally annual and involved simply the head count on the basis of gender and age. The census officials deputed to the villages were mostly temporary staffs with little or no training required for the census procedures. So errors were very likely in the result of census; in many cases the officials failed to make a complete and comprehensive list of the household members, dropped out some names, misspelled family names that later became issue for denationalization. The above ambiguous figures suggest of such slipshod work in census enumeration. The registered census data was never made public and kept secret to conspire. There are enough rooms to suspect that it was premeditated and deliberate.
The first official census was carried out in 1969, which recorded a total human population of 10,34,774. Similarly land under cultivation was 812382 acres and total livestock population of 291291 (Hutt, Michael: Unbecoming Citizens).
During 1988 and 1989, the census teams reached to southern villages almost every month which candidly categorized the citizens into seven groups and declared many as non-nationals or illegal settlers.
Tek Nath Rizal, Dr. Bhampa Rai, Late RB Basnet and other senior government servants from southern Bhutan argued that there could not be so large illegal residents after having thoroughly scrutinized census in 1985 and given the citizenship cards to landowners and break-away family extensions with no ownership of land and property. Rizal himself appointed as labor recruitment officer while serving the National Assembly, explains how the recruitment and sending off of laborers was channelized during the peak of road and other construction works.
According to his description, a liaison office was set up in Phuentsholing to register the details of laborers being taken in to the work site that it would be easy to send back any laborer after his/her period of contract finished. The laborers were not allowed to move freely on their own and were guided to and from the liaison office in Phuentsholing.
At one point of the history, government circular was read aloud in the block meeting in all villages of border area to report any visitor from outside, if the visitor is staying overnight. Any relative of the southern Bhutanese coming from India or Nepal who wished to stay for a longer period had to get permit from the local sub-divisional officer and the host had to be responsible for any offense committed by the guest. Even the taxpayer Bhutanese domiciled in the country for generations had to obtain a travel document (called Rahadani) while going from one part to another part of the country. It was effective all through the 1980s.
A case of one woman committing suicide in Tsirang in 1988 after she was declared non-national by the census team was the hot cake that turned Tek Nath Rizal’s high profile to a dissident and stunning blow of opposition to King Jigme Singye Wangchuk.
So the chances of illegal immigration to that volume of 100,000 in the face of such strict measures in the southern border can be expected to be negligible, despite the Royal government’s claim of immigration lately through the porous Indo-Bhutan border.
The Ethnic boundary The Dorjis and Wangchuks colluded for the settlement of Nepali speaking people in the south with the aim of increasing tax revenue and also feed laborers to the ongoing development works, particularly building the road network.
It was not the time for all those settlers to guess any foul play or suspect the grand design of eviction to come a hundred or two years later, for they were all busy clearing the virgin forests transforming to agriculture land and pay revenue to Paro Penlop or Trongsa Penlop. Whether the settlement was encouraged under Dalchan Gurung’s contract or under Jhulendra Bahadur Pradhan, it all concentrated in the south gradually spreading from Samchi to Chirang, Dagana, Sarbhang and finally to Samdrupjongkhar.
Jhulendra Bahadur Pradhan was popularly known as Neoly Babu, as he undertook the settlement of Nepali raiyats in the vast fertile low land of what is now called the Bhangtar (very recently changed to Samdrupchholing). Neoly villages were very prosperous in agriculture.
What later appeared a wrong policy, hindering the integration of northern Drukpa and southern non-Drukpa population under the Bhutanization program, was this segregation of ethnicity, discouraging intermix of culture, language and more importantly the farming practices. Both parties remained skeptical and over-conscious about the dilution of their ethnic heritage, while the “Bhutaneseness” was determined only by the more conservative nature of northern Drukpa culture. Subsequently, every aspects of the southern life became ostracized as alien to Bhutan and even alleged to be more closer to India than Bhutan.
Some tell-tale stories are abound in the society about such demarcation of ethnic boundary between the Bhotia and Nepali raiyat arbitrarily outlined for the purpose of non-interference to each others’ domain of settlement, grazing and pastureland.
The Kalimpong agents of Bhutan Durbar, Kazi Ugyen Dorji, his son Sonam Tobgay Dorji and his son Jigme Palden Dorji (assassinated 1964 in Phuentsholing) had all played instrumental role in settling as many Nepali speaking population as possible in order to make the land productive, increase the revenue, pay voluntary labor and protect the southern border of Bhutan. They all enjoyed the fiefdoms in southern Bhutan from which they collected taxes on land, cattle, houses and orchards or other special plantation. But they apparently did not bother to pave the way for healthy interaction and interchange between the typical northern Buddhist culture and southern alien Hindu culture.
Writings of both Michael Aris and Michael Hutt do not reveal any symptomatic progress towards interaction between north and south. Leo Rose too identified this policy of isolating southerners from northerners which ultimately produced negative impact in the Bhutanese polity, later 1985 onwards.
Despite such restriction of intermixing and isolation, the various ethnic groups living spatially in different geographical settings, had not been belligerent to each other and no such inter-ethnic conflict among the population noticed throughout the history.
