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They don’t have to sing for supper now
DAMAK (JHAPA), JUL 14 -
Omnath Bhattarai, a Bhutanese refugee inside a camp in Jhapa, bought new clothes and a mobile phone with money that his friend Bibek Darnal sent him from the US two months ago. Darnal, who reached the US under the third country resettlement programme of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), sent $50 to Bhattarai.
Like Darnal there are many other refugees, now living in the US, Australia and European countries, who are sending money to their friends and relatives still in Nepal. This has enabled many refugee families, sheltering in seven campsites of Jhapa and Morang, to improve their living conditions.
“Food and clothes provided by donors were never enough for us,” said Naradmuni Sanyasi at the Beldangi refugee camp. “The money sent by friends and families from outside Nepal has helped sustain many families.”
Before the UNHCR introduced the third country resettlement programme, a large number of Bhutanese were doing do menial jobs so they could buy daily essentials. Even, so they
could not afford new clothes or mobile phones.
“Earlier, we had to toil hard to earn a few hundred rupees; buying a mobile phone was an undreamed of luxury when it was hard to procure vegetables, spices and firewood,” Bhattarai said.
Many refugees, who once worked as daily wage labourers, are comfortably living off the money sent by their relatives now.
“The money sent by my Australia-based brother and daughter is enough to buy myself vegetables and spices. I don’t need to work these days,” said Mansingh Magar. For nearly 12 years, Magar did oddjobs for peanuts.
Over 33,000 Bhutanese refugees have left Nepal to live in the US, Australia and European nations.
Posted on: 2010-07-15 08:31
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