Empowering the Bhutanese Refugees in San Antonio

Vital Stats

Hamsadhwani G

San Antonio, TX

  • people helped350
  • People Doing It 3

The Problem

I was first introduced to Sewa International by a family friend in September of 2009. I started volunteering with the Bhutanese refugee project on September 19th, 2009 and ended my project on September 25th, 2010. Before working in this project, I had no idea these people were here in San Antonio or that there is such persecution in Bhutan. These Bhutanese refugees were expelled from Bhutan as a result of a process called Bhutanization. Bhutanization is the formal name for the policy the king of Bhutan put forth in order to expel the Lhotshampas, who are originally of Nepali origin, out of the country. These Lhotshampas were sent to camps set up by UNHCR in Nepal. Since these camps were not enough to sustain the refugees, many countries began to accept them. 60,000 are being sent to the USA; 2,000 are being sent to San Antonio, Texas. When I lived in San Antonio, I realized that it was a diverse community. However, not a lot of people know of the Nepalese or Bhutanese cultures because there are not a lot of Nepalese or Bhutanese people in the USA. What I thought to do was empower them and to get more recognition for their culture. No one knew of this cause so I wanted more people to know about it so that they could help.

Plan of Action

My plan of action was to hold charity events so the Bhutanese community could be more recognized in San Antonio. In September, I collected school supplies for the refugee children. I also made this page: http://www.causes.com/causes/462957 This page was made to get more people to know about this cause and to help out. From January of 2010 to September of 2010, we planned Dashain, which was very hard to accomplish since I didn't have many people working with me. The Lhotshampa youth were very stubborn, but we struggled and got it done. Dashain was a cultural charity event held on September 25th, 2010. We got some word out about the Lhotshampas but not as much as I wanted. I wish there were more people helping me, but c'est la vie. Through my research and my work, I made lots of friends though and I learned a lot about myself and about charity work. Now I am writing my extended essay (EE) for IB about Bhutanization in the area of human rights. Although I do not volunteer with Sewa International anymore due to the fact that it is faith-based, I learnt everything I know about charity work from this experience and I am extremely thankful for this opportunity.
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Human Rights

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