“I left Bhutan in 1991 and stayed in the Nepalese camp for almost two decades. The camp situation is such that people stay in a 12×18 foot hut. In winter, you don’t have electricity. You don’t have anything. One to eight members of the family stay in there. In the rainy season, it was flood, flood, flood. It entered our hut coming up and up. We were running with our kids out the back. Another situation, we had 1300 huts, and we lost 1100 huts to a fire. After the resettlement process began, I had one of my family members in St. Louis, so I came here. Now, I’ve been here for 5 years. Life is completely different. We didn’t have rights there. Your rights are protected here. We had no right to learn our language. We had no right to culture. We had no right to religion. We had no right to freedom of movement. There are also difficulties here. Most of the people who come here, they were farmers at home. They plowed their land. So, for seniors, here is very difficult: Language, doctor’s appointments, transportation, going shopping, online banking, the Internet. It’s a completely different world. The parents don’t speak English. The children who go to school don’t speak our language now because they have quickly adapted to the culture here. The communication gap is growing. I’m the only person in my family to hold a Masters degree. My parents never went to school. Many parents have never been to school, and they cannot guide their children. If people from the community do not come together and see these problems and try to handle them, it will grow, and we will have more problems.” ~ Jagat Acharya
Jagat Acharya also Shares his Journey
