Bhutan continued: how to pressure refugees to resettle

Earlier today I told you about the Bhutanese  (Nepalese) refugees we are bringing to the US  over the next five years—60,000 in all!   We also reported in several previous posts over the last year that many refugees were reluctant to sign on, not knowing what to expect from life in the US.   Well, get this, the United Nations is helping them along with their decision by showing photos of already resettled refugees practicing their culture in America.    You can bet there are no photos of unhappy refugees—unemployed and living in poverty.

KATHMANDU, April 25 (Xinhua) — The photos of Bhutanese refugees resettled in the third country of the United States have been exhibited in Bhutanese refugee camps in Jhapa and Morang districts in eastern Nepal, according to local media on Saturday.

The photos taken by Kashish Das Shrestha in New York cover a variety of topics and even show refugees enjoying momos and other Nepali delicacies there, local newspaper The Himalayan Times reported. 

“I saw photos of resettled refugees having momo in the United States at the exhibition,” said Debaka Rai, a refugee in Beldangi camp, Damak of Jhapa district, some 300 km east of Nepali capital Kathmandu, adding “the photos also shown that the marriages of the resettled refugees in third countries are performed as per our traditions and customs in.”

The exhibition titled “Home” was organized by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the refugee camps. Shrestha captured the photos during six months in New York.

It just occurred to me that we have been wondering aloud why so many Iraqi refugees, who are now disillusioned with their lives here, tell a uniform story of being told how great everything would be in the US if they signed up for resettlement.  Maybe this is how it’s done!

“The exhibition was organized to put to rest the confusions and doubts of the refugees regarding resettlement,” UNHCR-Nepal acting chief, Dian Goodman said, adding “the refugees are fee [free?] to take up the opportunity, however, we are not pressurizing [lets hope the writer means pressuring ?] them.”

Pressurizing or pressuring, either way it doesn’t matter we get the message; both are pretty despicable if the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is distorting the picture of life in America.

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