Feb 8,Adelaide: Bhutanese Australians are excited when government acknowledged their small contribution for the Victoria bushfire victims.
In the official Summer newsletter published by Department of Immigration and Citizenship(DIAC) it mentioned a small contribution of $2500 made by then recently resettled Bhutanese from refugee camps in Nepal. ‘We are excited to see our very small donation acknoledged in the list of those who contributed millions to the Victoria bushfire Victims’, says Parshuram Sharma(Luitel) who played major role during the collection drive. Bikram Adhikari,who had voluntarily coordinated to collect donations in Adelaide opines that the national acknoledgement of their small donation has made every Bhutanese proud and makes their attachment to the mainstream Aussie society even stronger.
Bhutanese community resettled in different parts in Australia since 2008 including Adelaide ,Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne ,Sydney and Albury Wodonga had made their donation accessible to the fire victims through Australian Red Cross .
A senior Centrelink multicultural officer had read out the condolence message to the victims of King lake city, the place worst hit by the fire in which Bhutanese had written ‘ We are here to laugh when you laugh, and cry when you cry, and together we stand as Australians to rescue you from this dreadful event by participating in the rebuilding process in every way possible’.
The bushfire that broke out in February 7, 2009 left 173 people dead and 414 seriously injured which is remebered as Black Saturday in the Australian history.
By Ichha Poudyel, Australia
