Nepal provided haven for bhutanese refugees for almost 20 years. But, in return, I have found many bhutane living in USA and canada belittling Nepal. Is not this an act of ingrattitude?? What is your experience?

They aren't only Bhutanese refugees - they are Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin.

Considering that even ordinary Nepalese find many faults with our systems of governance and other institutions, I wonder what difficulties these people might have to had to go through.

I would disagree "Commando"; >>>They aren't only Bhutanese refugees - they are Bhutanese refugees of Nepali origin.<<<; their language might be Nepali but not their ORIGIN ..If you ever be in Bhutan, even Nepali speaking Bhutanese don't like Nepal in the first place, quite similar to Darjeeling.

That is why they demand separate Gorkhaland, which would still a part of INDIA, and never in favor of calling themselves a part of NEPAL ..

I have met this one guy who had gone through hell and talked to me as if I were to blamee for his unfortunate situation etc  ...He kinda blamed every Nepali and Nepal  ( Timiharu le garera Timi haru ko desh)   . I told him  to focus his anger on the government of Bhutan, but he told me, he grew up in Nepal refuge camp where it was like hell. SO i asked him why not go back to Bhutan and fight? you guys had enough men to start a fight. I forgot his exact response it was lack of money leadership etc and I asked him why you have a beef for Nepal and nepali?? He said because we Nepali people and our government did not do anything for them and let them live in hell "we are Nepali origin too" and blah blah blah and he gave me every hardship story. I listened for a while and then I told him that I felt sorry for his bad living state and no human should go through BUT I told him Nepal is a very poor country and your refuge life is no different from the millions of poor in Nepal so what did you expect being a refugee a poor country?  You were raised in Nepal and seem to be angry at Nepalese people and forgot what got you there in the first place. AND only of the bad situation in Nepal you got refugee asylum in USA, remember that.............................That shut him up, yes I feel sad for the Bhutanese People of Nepali origin. I always thought they were angry at Bhutan but this new generation seems to be angry at Nepal and Nepali more. Ive met many other bhutanese people some of them are friendly and some angry. Ke garne, its not their fault BUT that doesnt give them any right to insult Nepal and Nepali.

If Nepal had closed border then what would they do? India never allowed them to shelter in India. Despite being grateful they insult nepal.

First and foremost FK BHUTAN, those mini skirt wearing mountain monkey pets of India are the ones to be blamed if anyone should ever be blamed.

Nepal has provided shelter to the Bhutanese refugees, however the lack of sufficient food, water and basic necessities in these camps have been a constant reality.  People in these camps have been taken advantage of, horrific stories of women  resorting  to sell their body while horny basterds as far as  Kathmandu traveled to these camps for a cheap fk they can muster, were few stories that were not  uncommon. That is just a small sample  of the harsh realities that refugees have had to face when settling in a Nation like Nepal whose own future floats in uncertain waters. 

Yes, Nepal did take them in and that is a good thing, No people should not be angry at their frustration for if you were to be in a similar situation it probably would have made more sense.

I have read and heard from so many Nepali didi bhai daju bainis about how life in US is harsh and how much they hate US, even when there is  so much available. Now think about how it must have been for someone who grew up in a refugee camp with so little to go around with in a very harsh condition.

I agree : more than 90% of refugees under 40 years age have extremely negative feeling towards Nepal and nepalese people. This is because of the flow of wrong information / unmet expection and bitter experience while they were enclosed in camps in Nepal.  They forgot Nepal did not open boarder for Bhutanese refugee, India dumped them in Nepal.  But this "Nepal-hating-generation" does not know the Bhutanese atrocities. They just know the discrimination toward them in Nepal, the trouble from nepalese police, and the greedy nepalese society.

I sent about a dozen staffs to eastern Nepal in 1999. These staffs badly consumed girls from the refugee camp taking advantage of their poverty.  Some educated bhutanese wanted to work genuinely, but they had to struggle a lot, hide identity, or beg mercy of some others from the local area. People treated them worse than untouchable. I felt so bad knowing about that.  Later in 2006-2007, people were competing to marry girls from the refugee camp as they knew these people are going to get green card / residence permit of developed countries. What a low mentality of the society?

From the beginning, Bhutanese leaders were aware that Nepal is not capable to help them, Nepal won't be lifting up from their problem. But, due to politics, money-play, and high-level diplomacy,  they provided sponsored wrong information to the general refugee mass , -- we will solve this problem with the help of Nepalese government, we will solve this problem with international help, we have Nepal in our side etc. -- which might have helped to keep their hopes alive.  However, the truth was something else.

Bhutanese establishment clearly wanted to keep them out of country so that others remaining in Bhutan will live in constant fear. India wanted to keep them out of Bhutan to make their hydropower deal on Bhutanese soil and check some terrorist organization close to Bhutanese boundary. We have seen that the Bhutanese refugee leaders were divided. May be, some of them were even secretly working for India and Bhutan. That is why, there was deadly fights outbroak even in their refugee camps.

On the other hand,  Nepal government did never have a clear interest or policy on the Bhutanese refugee issue. Sometime it acted to please India, and sometime to avoid international pressure. Probably Nepal government was more on bringing UNHCR and aids for the refugee camp, where the corruption is unchecked. the decision making body were more on the backdoor financial gain. I never felt, Nepal government put its genuine effort on solving the problem. It just wanted to linger it as long as possible so that the top-rank officials could milk out their share.  Nepal government, however, kept showing interest and thereby providing a false impression that Nepal government is trying to help and solve the Bhutanese refugee problem. This was a fake hope. Had the general refugee mass knew they would never succeed to return back, or they would be living 2 decades in limbo from the beginning, the Bhutanese refugees would have voluntarily surrendured to Bhutanese king.

Nepal government has actually made huge mistake in dealing with Bhutanese refugee problem. The government should not have restricted them in camps. They should be allowed to work / earn and live free life as other Indian immigrants, who claim themselves as Madhesi. If they were given the chance, they would have a different story.

Also, the other thought coulb be: Nepal government probably was afraid of nepalese-origin refugee from other parts like mijoram, asam, or even from darjeeling if they see bhutanese refugee getting accepted in Nepal. Our government is more happy to see people going out rather than people coming back. That is why, we supply manpower to everywhere in the world.

Very good point sukla, i totally forgot about the whole run for the green card fiasco where Nepalese were paying Bhutanese refugees to document them as their child in order to get green card.

Why were these refugees not allowed to work or hold any businesses much like Tibetan refugees in Nepal? Were they allowed to go out of their camps to settle else where or were they required to stay within the camp boundaries? Much like most Indian Nepalese from Darjeeling and surrounding areas were allowed to come to Nepal to work, mostly teaching profession from what i have seen,  and start schools and businesses, were Bhutanese refugees not allowed to do that as well?

 If I was in Government where I could decide things, I would have given those 4 million citizenship to Bhutanese refugee rather than to those Illegal immigrant from India. Would have told them to run the industries, plough the land, and I bet they are hard working people and much, much, much better than them Illegal Indians. 

Thopa, I would do the same if I were at the powerful position. At least, we would have no national threat from them. But the question lies, if they  would accept it.

And, if I were a bhutanese, I would be greatful to Nepal as she despite being a poor country  provided at least shelter and basic needs.I have seen how miserable conditions those refugees were in when Indian trucks dumped them in Kakarbhitta. Very few were fully clothed and had slippers on their feet. I personally know many bhutanese who worked as teacher and masons. Nepal did everything she could do for them.

@ commando

Yes,  we do not like the system and governance in Nepal. But, it does not mean we hate and deprecate Nepal. We love Nepal no matter how she is.

Jai Nepal

Here is what i would like to say:

1. Bhutanese refugees (most of them) though lived in the camps in eastern Nepal, had better access to food, education and health services compared to the Nepalese population residing in remote Nepal like Rolpa and Mustang.
2. They were provided fuel, food and clothing for free of cost by UNHCR. While, majority of nepalese pop. suffered to meet their ends, bhutanese refugees enjoyed more services. Ever heard of such refugees dieing of Cholera or Femine?
3. Bhutanese refugees were of International concern, so they obtained more aids to run programs inside the camps.
4. Many Bhutanese refugees did obtain Nepalese Citizenship and started purchasing Land and Houses. They sold their properties and appeared to be real refugee after the third world county resettlement kicked in.
5. Though, the gvernment employment was not allowed, most of them worked for private employers like in schools, construction, INGO's, local clinics etc.
6. The loots and fire the occued inside the camp was evoked by no other than the refugees themselves.
7. Not all hate Nepalese, only the literate ones do. They believe that Nepalese and the gov't deceived them. These are the same people who had spread rumor that 3rd resettlement is a bad idea and everyone should return to Bhutan; however, they themselves  secretly were processing their cases for 3rd world resettlement.

"Khutta tanne" prabriti ho. After they got here, they realized that Nepalese residing in US have moved forward, obtained colege degrees and the best jobs out there. They realized they could do nothing with there 3 years degree and started complaining. Jealous Bastard!!!

 @Gorkecowboy,

That is how you or I would think of "our" country. Nepal wasn't their country and many of these refugees spent a huge portion of their lives in refugee camps. And then they come to US. I guess life is still hard for them, but they have access to so many things and more freedom now. Most of them were born in Nepal, and many might already have no memories left of Bhutan, but their memories of the time spent in Nepal is fresh. Seeing how many of the people I know are racists back home, I can imagine the discrimination these people might have had to go through. I would not support their behavior when it comes to their talking about Nepal in a bad way, but I can clearly see where they are coming from, and hence they have my full sympathy.

@ Unicorn,

You see the last names of most of these refugees - they're all what you would find in Nepal. It's a fact from what I've read that the refugees are people of Nepali origin (~100-200 years ago they had migrated to Bhutan)