Bhutanese couple finds new home, way of life in New Hampshire

BROUGHT THEM TO THE GRANITE STE.AT [LAUGHTE >>THE SMILES AND LAUGHTER ARE GENUE.IN BUT IT TOOK A LONG TIME FOR SURAJ BUDATHOKI AND HIS FEWI GANGA THAPA TO GET TO THIS POT.IN THE COUPLE SPENT PART OF THEIR CHILDHOOD IN BHUTAN, GROWING UP IN THE SAME VILLAGE. BU T THEIR LIVES CHANGED FOREVER AMID PROTESTS AGAINST OPPRESSIVE MEASURES OF THE BHUTANESE GOVERNMENT. >> ONE NIGHT WE LEFT ALL OOUR OWNED PROPERTY, OUR HOUSE, CATTLE, EVERYTHING WE HAD FOR LIVING. I STILL DREAM ABOUT THAT. AND THREE DAYS LATER WE ENDED UP IN A REFUGEE CAMP IN NALEP >> I REMEMBER MY HOUSE A LITTLE BIT AND I KNOW MUCH OFHE T REFUGEE CAMP HOW WE STRUGGDLE HOW MY PARENTS STRUGGLED FOR THE FOOD AND EVERYTHING. >> BWEETEN 1990 AND 1993, REMO THAN 100,000 BHUTANESE PEOPLE WOUND UP IN REFUGEE CAMPS IN EASTERN NEPAL, INCLUNGDI SURAJ AND GANGA. A CAMP THEY WOULD CALL HOME FOR THE NEXT 19 YEARS. >> YOU DON’T HAVE AN IDENTITY WHEN YOU BECOME REFUGEE YOU ARE STATELESS, YOU ARE COUNTRY LESS. YOU HAVE NO PROPERTY. YOU BENGLO TO NO WHE.ER NEARLY TWO DECADES LATER, THEY MOVED TO THE UNITED STATES. AND DECIDED TO LAY DN OWTHEIR ROOTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. BUT LIVING IN A NEW COUNTRY WASN’T EASY. >> WE WERE NOT TOLD HOW HARD IT IS TO START A NEW LIFE I WAS GOING ACROSS A CLIFF AND I DIDN’T SEE WHAT WAS COMING OFF. >> NOT FINDING MANY RESOURCES AVAILABLE THEY STARTED THEIR OWN ORGANIZATION CALLED THE BHUTANESE COMMUNITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE TO HELP OTHERS WHO WERE IMMIGRATING TO THE GRANEIT STATE. >> WE CAME HERE AND THERE WERE NO SUPPORTS AT THE TIMTOE SUPPORT OUR OWN COMMUNITY, BHUTANESE REFUGEE AT THAT TIME SO WE TRIED TO COME TOGETHER AS A SELF HELP ORGANIZATION THELPO OURSELVES. >> EVENTUALLY THE NAME CHANGED TO BUILDING COMMUNITY NEW HAMPSHIRBRE OADENING ITS REACH TO INCLUDE REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS FROM OTHER UNCOTRIES. >> AS NEWCOMERS TO THIS COUNYTR OR A MINORITY GROUP TO ASSTER OURSVEELS TO WHAT WE WANT OUR RIGHTS WE SHOULD KNOW OUR GH.RI NOW, AS THE WAR IN UKRAINE RAGES .ON IMAGES OF FAMILIES FLEEING THEIR HOMES STRIKES A CHD.OR THEY HOPE TO HELP THE NEXT GENERATION OF REFUGEES IN Y WAY THEYAN C >> I’M ALWAYS HUMBLE IVE ALWAYS BEEN SUPPORTED THROUGHT MY LIFE FOR 19 YEARS I SWA SUPPORTED. I WAS FED I BELIEVE I SHOULD GIVE BACK TO THIS COUNTRY. >> BE STRONG. I THINK THAT’S THE MESA WE WANT TO WELCOME THEM IF THEY NEED ANY HELP AND PP

Bhutanese couple finds new home, way of life in New Hampshire

Updated: 6:28 PM EDT May 13, 2022

Suraj Budathoki and his wife, Ganga Thapa, find it easy to smile and laugh now, but it took a long time for them to get to this point.

Suraj Budathoki and his wife, Ganga Thapa, find it easy to smile and laugh now, but it took a long time for them to get to this point.