IRC in Bhutan
Freelance photographer and journalist Misha Cohen has a great piece in the Huffington Post about the International Rescue Committee’s work in Bhutan.
You can read an excerpt below, and learn more about the International Rescue Committee here.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC), a humanitarian aid agency that assists refugees, is one of a handful of organizations that has partnered with the State Department to resettle the Bhutanese in the U.S. Uma and her family are among them.
On a snow filled day last February, Uma, now 32, with her husband Chet Nath Timsina, 39, and their 5-year-old son Kushal Timsina, reached refuge in New York City – seventeen years after Uma and Chet Nath were exiled from their homes in Bhutan.
The couple lived in a refugee camp with their family in an eight-by-fifteen foot double hut, shared by 13 people. Denied the right to work, they were unable to earn money to provide for their needs. “Education was the only wealth we could accumulate while in exile,” says Chet Nath. He and Uma received their bachelor’s degrees while there, traveling by bus to their classes in neighboring India.
After living in the camp for twelve years, limited to the sparse food rations (rice and potatoes) provided by non-profit agencies, and without the finances to support their siblings’ education, Chet Nath and Uma left the camp to find work. Although refugees are not permitted to work in Nepal, the couple found jobs as English-speaking teachers in private schools. Undetected by the authorities, they lived and worked in Nepal for five years.
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December 27, 2009 at 10:30 am
Interesting story. It’s such a culture shock to read about immigrants marveling at the constant electricity. IRC is doing great work and it’s inspirational to read about the excitement of little Khusal living his new life. It is shameful how Bhutan treated its Nepalese minority and I’m enlightened to read about their struggle that gets so little press coverage in the news.
February 20, 2010 at 8:44 pm
IRC is definitely an outstanding organization, though your title suggests they work in Bhutan, which is not true. They do not currently work in the country. They do however work in Nepal, where the Bhutanese refugee camps reside.
Another fact: the United States has no diplomatic ties to Bhutan.