Sangita Chauhan a young lady from Bhutan was expressing her dilemma. “I don’t know who I am? Am I Nepali, Bhutani Or American? “It was so confusing for her, similar Identity crisis found with most of the youths from this Bhutanese community in Arizona and all over USA which are around 90,000. To understand Sangita’s issue we need to dig little bit into the history of Bhutanese whose identity kept changing from time to time.
Bhutanese refugees are Lhotshampas (“southerners”), a group of Nepali language-speaking Bhutanese people, including the Kirat, Tamang, Magar, Brahman, chettri and Gurung peoples. their traditions belongs mainly to non-Abrahamic religions, following the same culture that is followed by Hindus & Buddhists all over the world These refugees registered in refugee camps in eastern Nepal during the 1990s as Bhutanese citizens deported from Bhutan. As Nepal and Bhutan have yet to implement any agreement on repatriation, many Bhutanese refugees have since resettled to North America, Australia and Europe under the auspices of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Sewa International Bhutanese Refugee Empowerment Project:
Bhutanese refugees started arriving in the US in 2008 and are nearly 80,000 in number at present distributed across many US states. With 45% illiteracy, scant knowledge of English, limited skill set, and highest suicide rate among all ethnic groups in the US, the demographic is a challenge to deal with. Sewa International designated this project as a flagship from 2008-2013 and focused significant staff and volunteer effort towards this project. Women empowerment, skill set improvement, job and vocational services, improving life skills, education and emergency services were some of the innovative projects that Sewa international Chapters took in all over USA including Phoenix, Arizona.
Bhutanese Youth Heritage Camp – Saturday, January 27, 2018
Sewa International team along with its youth volunteers organized a full day heritage camp for Bhutanese Youth in collaboration with Bhutanese Community in Arizona (BCA) & Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Arizona (HSS) Vibhag inWashington Activity Center, Phoenix on January 20th, 2018 from 9AM to 3PM.
ShakarRam Thyagrajan, HSS west zone youth leader from LA initiated the camp activities with fun games enough to make everyone warm in suddenly changed weather into windy and cold. After that, youth rejuvenated themselves by very relaxing & refreshing Yoga session conducted by Shampa Chatterjee.
A Young Bhutanese & talented youth Prithvi Chauhan was the Master of Ceremony. Mrunal Koranne, HSS Volunteer helped in execution of the various planned activities started with Ice-Breaker introduction of each other.
All the youths participated in group discussion on the topic of “Our identity,” where they themselves discussed similarities & differences in Nepalese & American culture, at the end few youths gave outcome of their discussion to whole audience. This activity itself helped them to discover their own identity.
Retired professor and senior member of Bhutanese community Prem Adhikari & BCA Secretary Tekman Pariyar gave extremely informative & useful presentation on topic “Our History.”Almost all youths were thankful to know their own history and also understood how their forefathers struggled to retain their culture and how it is important to not to forget own roots, culture and contribute to greater American society which provided shelter & opportunity with freedom & better life.
After delicious lunch break. Prominent Indian Scientists Dr. Jaiprakash Shewale, whose research helped to establish a standard in FBI to solve the rape cases, gave beneficial presentation on career guidance explaining the interview process, resume making and how to prepare for the same with useful tips.
Education Specialist Dr. Nidhi Gupta, an educator from Roosevelt School District # 66 conducted workshop on how to write formal letters effectively by incorporating I3RC Strategy. This skill will not only boost up their morale but will also help them in becoming an effective writer.
Priya Kulkarni, a hard working volunteer and active HSS Shakha member shared safety tips while handling social media in personal life.
In Culmination Ceremony Bhutanese youth presented very beautiful Cultural dance in traditional Bhutanese costumes & songs which received with lots of applaud & cheers from audience. Few participants gave feedback about their whole day experience and what they learned in this camp, they were very much thankful to Sewa International for this camp.
Juliana Davis, Refugee health coordinator was the chief guest for this program and she was amazed to see the type of programs & activities organized and to see the colorful culture of Bhutan and appreciated the efforts taken by Sewa International to uplift the refugee community.
Concluding remark was conveyed by Aravind Swami through the message that today’s youth should not forget the sacrifice done by their fore parents to retain the values & culture by spending around 20 years in refugee camp and try to continue carry the same in America which provides opportunity to maintain the same and it’s not really a melting pot as thought earlier. Also he explained how the camp activities were focused on all round development of youth in terms of Physical, Mental & Spiritual development which helps to develops leadership qualities and helps to contribute in American Society.
Around 30 Bhutanese Youth from age 14 to 28 years participated, Whereas 20 volunteers helped in conducting various activities. The camp was visited by prominent visitors from society including Shyam Byra (Sewa International Advisor), Arvind Bhuskute, Sara Hamal (Nepali Samaj Leader).
Sewa Youth Volunteers Muskaan Daryani, Aditya Sivakumar, Akhila Bandlora & Shephali Singh helped in setup, arrangements, Food Serving & Clean up activity through the day. With the help of Sewa Volunteers Ritu Daryani, Vinod Thakur, Jyotsna Bitra, Manisha Singh, & Rupesh Chavan.
The entire camp was organized & planned under the guidance of Sewa Phoenix Chapter Coordinator Prasad Koranne & HSS Chief Executive of Arizona Aravind Swami with the help of BCA Board members Somraj Gurung (President), Bikram Kshetri (Vice President) Tekman Pariyar (Secretary) Malati Rai, Aasha Rai Timisina, Garja Khatiwada, Bhuvan Rai.
Sewa International is also thankful to Bhutanese Youth volunteers Arjun Khatiwada, Shruti & Sudesh Pariyar, Geeta Gurung, Amisha Gurung, India Kuikel, Indira Banset, Roshan Siwa, Rajesh Thapa, Sangita Chauhan, Pucar Rai & Mian Rai. These are all youths helped in planning and making the camp very successful & enjoyable.
Prasa Koranne
Sewa Phoenix Chapter Coordinator
For more camp pictures & videos please visit https://www.facebook.com/SewaPhoenix
To know more about Charity organization Sewa International please visit www.sewausa.org
