Journey from Bhutan to U.S.A.

I left Bhutan in 1992. I was 8 years old. I went to Nepal with my family. I stayed in Nepal as a refugee for 19 years. I passed S.L.C. (10th grade) there in Nepal. My community and I struggled to return to our motherland various times. But no one cared about our struggle. We had a miserable life in Nepal in the refugee camps. We felt depressed and hopeless.

In 2009 were were informed that 60,000 Bhutanese people who were residing in Nepal would be accepted as refugees to the USA. Representatives of the US government came and asked us if we wanted to come to the USA. My family and I said yes. We were then photographed, interviewed, and given a medical check up. We were unsure about what to expect in the USA, but we were hopeful about our new life there.

We finally all have been allowed to come to the USA. My family and I arrived in Austin, Texas, on September 3, 2009, after taking 6 different airplanes. We first flew from our village to Kathmandu, then to Abu Dabi, then to London, then Newark, then Dallas, and finally from Dallas to Austin. It was quite a long trip! I live with my mother, father and brother in an apartment in East Austin.

Hi

My name is Ganesh Acharya. I was born in Bhutan. The government of Bhutan persecuted us and drove us out of Bhutan. I came to Nepal with my family. I lived in Nepal as a refugee for 19 years. The Nepalese government would not give us citizenship, even though we are ethnic Nepalis. After that the US government accepted me as a refugee to that country. Now I am living in Austin, Texas with my family.