stories

today i had the honor of listening to a man tell his story. . .

i had attempted to research the history of bhutan and nepal online, but nothing i read compared to what i heard from the bhutanese man who welcomed me into his home. as i sipped on traditional Bhutanese tea that his wife prepared, i listened as this gentleman embarked on his story of life in Bhutan, the history of Bhutan, life in refugee camps, and resettling in the United States.

A basic history (as i know it...) - in about the mid 1800s there was a large migration of people from Nepal to Bhutan (Bhutan was looking for workers, much like migrant farmworkers here in the U.S.). In 1989 (i think?) the ruling government of Bhutan decided that they were going to make everyone living in Bhutan like them (in terms of speech, dress, etc.). In essence, what followed was an ethnic cleansing. And needless to say, thousands of people who were (dating back to the 1800s) Nepali (but who had lived their whole lives in Bhutan) were forced out of the country. If they did not leave, they risked imprisonment, torture, and often death. These people fled to Nepal, and after much hardship refugee camps were set up in Nepal. It would be 17 years until other nations would offer the option of resettlement.

I urge you to read this brief article from CNN that discusses the history of the Nepali people in Bhutan, and the resettlement of the refugees. A small glimpse of this article from March 25, 2008:

Bhutanese refugees began arriving in the United States on Tuesday,
the first wave of what the United Nations describes
as one of the world's largest resettlement efforts.

The U.S. has offered to resettle 60,000 of the estimated
107,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese origin now
living in seven U.N. camps in southeastern Nepal --
their home for the past 17 years. Six other nations --
Australia, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, New Zealand and Denmark --
have offered to resettle 10,000 each.

At the end of his story (that included much more personal stories than what i can share online), I sat, amazed. Somewhat speechless for a little while. I was amazed at what he and his family had gone through. I was amazed at where he had ended up. I was amazed by his willingness to open his home to me and share his story with me. And I was, and am, grateful for the context that he offered me, someone who (i must admit) didn't even know Bhutan existed, as I now work daily with refugees from Bhutan who share much of his same story.