Six dozen Bhutanese refugees resettled in Atlanta
Nearly six dozen Bhutanese refugees have been resettled in Atlanta in
United States recently.
This is one of the largest resettlement efforts of Bhutanese refugees
since they began flying to the US, Australia and European countries for "third country resettlement" couple of months ago.
However, the number is just a fraction of more than 100,000
Nepali-speaking ethnic Bhutanese who are languishing in several camps in
eastern Nepal after the autocratic Druk regime of Bhutan drove them out
from their homeland.
Called the "forgotten people" by relief organisations, the Bhutanese
refugees were evicted from their land and lived homeless and stateless in
UN-run refugee camps in eastern Nepal for more than 17 years.
"We knew we were in a camp. We don't get any right and justice. And
outside people discriminate us and they did badly to us," said Sita
Timsina, a Bhutanese refugee resettled in Atlanta, to a local newspaper.
She said that for 17 years she has known nothing of life except the life
of a refugee.
When she was just 6 years old her family was forced to leave their home in
Bhutan along with thousands of Nepali speaking Bhutanese nationals, and
later ended up in a refugee camp in Nepal.
Sita said life was primitive, and at times, unbearable in the refugee camp
as she and her family called a make-shift hut of bamboo and plastic home.
But with the aid of the United Nations and other relief groups, Sita and
her family escaped that life as a part of one of the largest resettlement
efforts. Of the 60,000 Bhutan refugees allowed in the states, Sita's
family is one of 70 refugee families, who have resettled in Atlanta around
Clarkston.
"They are coming in great numbers. And their numbers are equal to refugees
from Iraq and Burma right now. And we are expecting their numbers to
increase. They just started coming this year," said Honishka Adish with
the International Rescue Committee.
Sita says she still yearns to return to her homeland of Bhutan where her
family used to earn a livelihood as orange farmers. nepalnews.com ag Sep 07 08
