Author: Diwas Timsina

My name is Bandhana Phuyal. I am 13 years old and currently attend middle school as an eighth grader. I was born in a country called Nepal in a refugee camp, but my parents were from Bhutan. I was born in a country where there was no hope of living a better life. We were under a roof where we never knew when the wind would blow it away. Our food was given to us by the government but it was unhealthy, and our education was not good either. In 2008, when I was 8 years old, the United States government started to accept Bhutanese refugees to their country, so my parents thought about our future and decided to leave the refugee camp and come here for a better life.

On May 7th, 2008, we arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We didn’t know anything about the language barrier, how to use things in the house, or where to buy food from. For a while my family and I regretted coming America; we thought everything was too difficult and we were so lonely and scared. Still, we knew giving up was not a good idea so we tried hard to adapt to our new country- its rules and its people. After five months, I started going to school from the second grade. I barely understood anything the teacher was saying, but there was a class called English as a Second Language (ESL) that I was placed in. After a year I was able to communicate with American people and made lots of new friends; that was the proudest thing for me.

By then my parents had learned basic English and found jobs, and most of my family had come to the United States, so my parents were happy. We never expected this life where we have our phones in our hands 24/7, the technology and everything else. I’m so happy that life gave us another chance to make it better. Today I’m so proud to represent myself and my country through Children of Shangri-Lost, and I would like to say thank you so much for giving me this chance.

I’m a girl with a dream of becoming a doctor and I hope to contribute to making a better society. I am not afraid of falling down and getting hurt. In fact, I have the courage to take big steps and do something in life. I’m a girl who believes in confidence and hope.

My name is Tulshi Dahal and I am a 17 year old former Bhutanese refugee currently living in Atlanta, Georgia. I was born on the 5th of January and raised in a refugee camp in Morang, Nepal. My family and I came to the United States of America in 2008. We were resettled in a great Atlanta neighborhood called Kristopher Woods. We have been in the United States for over 6 years now. The first school I attended was Freedom Middle School,  and I am now a senior at Tucker High School where I play soccer for the school. I also played soccer with an organization called Fugees Family for over two years. Fugees Family is a group of youth from several different country, who were also refugees. I have always wanted to be an automobile mechanic, and now that I am in this country I have many more opportunities to be one, and I am working hard to become who I want to be.

Children of Shangri-Lost (COSL) heartily thanks CMU FORGE  for inviting us to be a part of their annual Bhutanese-Nepali cultural night on November 14, 2014.  This is the second year that CMU FORGE has organized this event to celebrate Bhutanese-Nepali culture by inviting all Bhutanese living in Pittsburgh to join them and share. Over 25 Bhutanese community members, mostly students, were present at the event.

FORGE, which stands for Facilitating Opportunities for Refugee Growth and Empowerment, is an active student volunteer group based at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. FORGE helps resettled refugees in Pittsburgh to acclimate to their new surroundings by providing in-home ESL tutoring, taking refugees on field trips/appointments, teaching about American culture, organizing events like this and much more. For the last two years they have been very successful in organizing an educational summer camp (PRYSE Academy) for the enrichment of refugee students in Pittsburgh.

On November 14, the COSL team actively participated to provide additional color to the event. The event included Nepali food, music, dances, games, and much more. Among many other activities, COSL gave cooking demonstrations, teaching how make momo (dumplings) to non-Nepali audiences. It was a great event that demonstrated cultural tolerance and compassion for other cultures. On the behalf of whole Bhutanese community, we would like to thank CMU FORGE for actively engaging Bhutanese students in events like this to make us feel at home in Pittsburgh!