Holidays Gift for the Kids of Bhutanese Refugees.
Dhruva Thapa
January 10, 2009
Holidays are always dear to all of us because during holidays we expect to get gift and even we share gift to each other. This is a most popular tradition during Christmas festivals. Most of the big stores open up with their generosity to blow out their sales and we see all the stores, hotels, restaurants get full during the holidays and it continues till we celebrate New Year eve. We see most of the People get excited and really very busy for talking and planning their holidays. Giving and taking gift is one of the hot topics during holidays,
But what about for those who are new to this land of opportunity, who never share and enjoy the beauty of their holidays whether it is their own cultural holidays or any other. We canīt even imagine how hard the life in the refugee camps was. I am talking about the life of Bhutanese community who spent more than one and half decade in refugee camps of Nepal and now they are being re-settled in different parts of the world. These people are just coming out of the camps and searching for new horizons, new dreams and visions in foreign land.
Since 1991 they are spending their life as a refugee in Nepal, India and many country of the world. They are being taken care by United Nations High commission for last 15 years. Recently they are being sent to different parts of the world for permanent settlement. USA has offered around sixty thousand refugees to resettle in different States of US. And like wise six other nations including Australia, Canada, Netherland, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand have offered to resettle around ten thousands each. I have met and seen many newly resettle Bhutanese community in Oakland and Alameda of Northern California. Similarly they are living in other states of US too. In this area they are being taken care by their own organization named Bhutanese American Community Center, International Rescue Commission and time to time street level health project, Sahayeta.org, and some other local organizations are offering their helping hand.
During holidays season they were really new to this land and quite unsure how to start their life in this land of opportunity, their kids were greeted with toys and gifts supported by Kathy Ahoy of Street Level Health Project. They conducted a toy driven event in Oakland on 12/12/08 with Bhutanese American Community center and sahayeta.org
This organizations had jointly organized a flu vaccine camp in Oakland a month ago, especially for the newly resettle Bhutanese Community living in Bay area, California. The event was a great success according to Ashish Hada who was quite excited to help those newly resettled Bhutanese community here in Bay area. He added we have to work for those who really need our help and support and right now we think they deserve to be cared and focused as they are new and making new hopes and dreams after living more than seventeen years in refugee camp of Nepal. Similarly Nisha Thapa, a nurse practitioner student at Samuel Merritt College, who volunteers at Sahayeta.org, described her organization as a grassroots level Nepalese organization with goals to provide help for their Nepalese community, especially those who need medical care.
According to President of BACC Mr. B.B. Thapa, all the Toys were donated by Salvation Army, Catholic Charity, International Rescue Committee and Refugee & Asylee Student Assistance Program of Oakland Unified School District. Executive Director of the community Mr. Ananta Gurung added there were hundreds of toys collected and approximately there were 40 refugee children present between the ages of one to eighteen years. Most of the children were seen so excited to get those lovely toys in their hand which was just their day dream to get such lovely toys when they were in different Refugees camps in Eastern Nepal. According to the organizers the program was a grand success and they are so really thankful to all who helped to make this event successful.
A brief introduction of BACC.
After its instigation in 2006, by the Bhutanese residing in Northern California (Bay Area), BACC has been well known to the Bhutanese and other communities throughout the world for its selfless service to the community. It is formed with the mission to help and promote the Bhutanese community in the main stream of the United States of America through education, advocacy and services. Within its few years of subsistence, BACC has organized several community related events which benefited the Bhutanese community in general including newly arrived Bhutanese in the United States under the refugee resettlement program. BACC has also built strong relations and worked together with the several Non Profit organizations such as, Catholic Charity, the Motherland Nepal, the Shayate group, Hamro Samaj, International Rescue Committee, the Bhutan News Service and more. It has also equally built great dealings with the governmental organizations such as County Health Department, State Health Department, School Districts, and Social Services agencies in order to better serve the Bhutanese community in the US.
A brief introduction of Sahayeta.org
According to the website of Sahayeta.org, this organization was created by individuals who shared the hardship and struggle in America. The members were mostly international students, refugees and new immigrants from Nepal. They serve with a vision to create a Network of Nepalese Community in the Bay Area to truly serve as a support system to those struggling to assimilate in this "foreign" environment. They help connect individuals to the community to preserve and celebrate Nepalese heritage and culture. They also hope to support causes in Nepal to further education, health, and childrenīs right, elderly rights and women empowerment.
According to them so far Sahayeta.org has organized a fundraising picnic event in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The purpose of this event was to raise money for an elderly home (Pashupati briddashram) in Nepal. They have provided Free Health Screenings (Blood Pressure tests, Blood Sugar measurements, and Body Mass Index measurements) by medical health professionals. The team has also supported to raise fund for the Childrenīs Medical Aid Foundation (501(c) 3 which is a non-profit organization in Nepal. Furthermore, Sahayeta.org has also donated cookware, utensils and clothes to the newly arrived Nepalese Bhutanese Refugee families. The team is planning to organize Medical camp during 27th ANA Convention one of the biggest event of Nepalese in USA which is going to be held in San Francisco Bay area on the weekend of July 4th 2009.
These organizations are among the few in our bay area community who have really come forward and helped individuals and families of Nepalese community and we are proud to have them to serve us. With a little service to the community we can see the happiness and pleasure within ourselves and other individuals. The joyful expression in the children faces were worth watching in the Toy drive event. According to these two organizations, they are willing to work with different organizations that exist in our Nepalese community to better serve us. Likewise, different organization in our bay area community should come together and help promote such events in future and develop some more
But what about for those who are new to this land of opportunity, who never share and enjoy the beauty of their holidays whether it is their own cultural holidays or any other. We canīt even imagine how hard the life in the refugee camps was. I am talking about the life of Bhutanese community who spent more than one and half decade in refugee camps of Nepal and now they are being re-settled in different parts of the world. These people are just coming out of the camps and searching for new horizons, new dreams and visions in foreign land.
Since 1991 they are spending their life as a refugee in Nepal, India and many country of the world. They are being taken care by United Nations High commission for last 15 years. Recently they are being sent to different parts of the world for permanent settlement. USA has offered around sixty thousand refugees to resettle in different States of US. And like wise six other nations including Australia, Canada, Netherland, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand have offered to resettle around ten thousands each. I have met and seen many newly resettle Bhutanese community in Oakland and Alameda of Northern California. Similarly they are living in other states of US too. In this area they are being taken care by their own organization named Bhutanese American Community Center, International Rescue Commission and time to time street level health project, Sahayeta.org, and some other local organizations are offering their helping hand.
During holidays season they were really new to this land and quite unsure how to start their life in this land of opportunity, their kids were greeted with toys and gifts supported by Kathy Ahoy of Street Level Health Project. They conducted a toy driven event in Oakland on 12/12/08 with Bhutanese American Community center and sahayeta.org
This organizations had jointly organized a flu vaccine camp in Oakland a month ago, especially for the newly resettle Bhutanese Community living in Bay area, California. The event was a great success according to Ashish Hada who was quite excited to help those newly resettled Bhutanese community here in Bay area. He added we have to work for those who really need our help and support and right now we think they deserve to be cared and focused as they are new and making new hopes and dreams after living more than seventeen years in refugee camp of Nepal. Similarly Nisha Thapa, a nurse practitioner student at Samuel Merritt College, who volunteers at Sahayeta.org, described her organization as a grassroots level Nepalese organization with goals to provide help for their Nepalese community, especially those who need medical care.
According to President of BACC Mr. B.B. Thapa, all the Toys were donated by Salvation Army, Catholic Charity, International Rescue Committee and Refugee & Asylee Student Assistance Program of Oakland Unified School District. Executive Director of the community Mr. Ananta Gurung added there were hundreds of toys collected and approximately there were 40 refugee children present between the ages of one to eighteen years. Most of the children were seen so excited to get those lovely toys in their hand which was just their day dream to get such lovely toys when they were in different Refugees camps in Eastern Nepal. According to the organizers the program was a grand success and they are so really thankful to all who helped to make this event successful.
A brief introduction of BACC.
After its instigation in 2006, by the Bhutanese residing in Northern California (Bay Area), BACC has been well known to the Bhutanese and other communities throughout the world for its selfless service to the community. It is formed with the mission to help and promote the Bhutanese community in the main stream of the United States of America through education, advocacy and services. Within its few years of subsistence, BACC has organized several community related events which benefited the Bhutanese community in general including newly arrived Bhutanese in the United States under the refugee resettlement program. BACC has also built strong relations and worked together with the several Non Profit organizations such as, Catholic Charity, the Motherland Nepal, the Shayate group, Hamro Samaj, International Rescue Committee, the Bhutan News Service and more. It has also equally built great dealings with the governmental organizations such as County Health Department, State Health Department, School Districts, and Social Services agencies in order to better serve the Bhutanese community in the US.
A brief introduction of Sahayeta.org
According to the website of Sahayeta.org, this organization was created by individuals who shared the hardship and struggle in America. The members were mostly international students, refugees and new immigrants from Nepal. They serve with a vision to create a Network of Nepalese Community in the Bay Area to truly serve as a support system to those struggling to assimilate in this "foreign" environment. They help connect individuals to the community to preserve and celebrate Nepalese heritage and culture. They also hope to support causes in Nepal to further education, health, and childrenīs right, elderly rights and women empowerment.
According to them so far Sahayeta.org has organized a fundraising picnic event in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The purpose of this event was to raise money for an elderly home (Pashupati briddashram) in Nepal. They have provided Free Health Screenings (Blood Pressure tests, Blood Sugar measurements, and Body Mass Index measurements) by medical health professionals. The team has also supported to raise fund for the Childrenīs Medical Aid Foundation (501(c) 3 which is a non-profit organization in Nepal. Furthermore, Sahayeta.org has also donated cookware, utensils and clothes to the newly arrived Nepalese Bhutanese Refugee families. The team is planning to organize Medical camp during 27th ANA Convention one of the biggest event of Nepalese in USA which is going to be held in San Francisco Bay area on the weekend of July 4th 2009.
These organizations are among the few in our bay area community who have really come forward and helped individuals and families of Nepalese community and we are proud to have them to serve us. With a little service to the community we can see the happiness and pleasure within ourselves and other individuals. The joyful expression in the children faces were worth watching in the Toy drive event. According to these two organizations, they are willing to work with different organizations that exist in our Nepalese community to better serve us. Likewise, different organization in our bay area community should come together and help promote such events in future and develop some more