MY LIFE

My name is Nirmala Regmi and I was born on January 31st
1990 in Bhutan, a tiny kingdom that shared common border with India and China. I remember very little about Bhutan but I came to know that most of the people are living under poverty. I was a mere child of one when my parents were forcefully evicted from the country in 1992. My father was imprisoned for 18 months and was physically and mentally tortured. My father used to teach in a government school in Bhutan but he was imprisoned for no reasons. Like my father, hundreds of innocent people were imprisoned, tortured and killed in Bhutan jail.
The day after my beloved dad was released from the jail; a bunch of soldiers came to our house and threatened us pointing guns at us to leave the country if we had to save our life. Therefore, to escape from the death, my parents decided to leave the country in a summer night of April in 1992.
We arrived in Nepal via India with a long, difficult and scary journey. I along with my four sisters, two brothers and my parents arrived in Nepal and the personnel of Nepal government directed us to go to a refugee camp. We finally settled ourselves in a refugee camp where life was awfully hellish. Due to lack of pure water, hygienic food and basic living environment, the camp became a breeding place for diseases like cholera, malaria, diarrhoea, jaundice and tuberculosis. Hundreds of children lost their lives due to lack of treatment and care. Many died due to cold weather and some died because of hunger. We were lucky that we managed to remain away from such diseases in the camp. I lived in a hut made of bamboo sticks and a plastic roof for eighteen years and winter and summer used to be very cruel. With the donation from the USA, the EU and the UN, we got a golden chance to attend school in the refugee camp. School was the only good thing I had there. My teachers were impressed with my honest, sincere, punctual, creative and hardworking character. Cooking was the most difficult in camp due to lack of firewood and it used to take almost two hours to get a jar of drinking water. Life was just a hell and hopeless. All my beautiful childhood was wasted thus living with very limited resources. I saw good toys, tasty food and good clothes only in some books and in my real childhood even I never had a Barbie girl in my hand.

I used to think the difficulties and miseries were all meant for me. But we had to be and were satisfied with what we had there. My father was a teacher in the refugee camp and taught voluntarily for almost eighteen years. He was Nepali Resource in CARITAS-Nepal, sub-office, Jhapa and was popular in the refugee camp schools. On January 16 2008, he made us orphan and went to heaven due to brain stroke. The death of my beloved dad put an end to all my happiness and the day after his death, my life became difficult and discouraging. My dad had a dream to come to the USA but he passed away after being qualified for the Department of Homeland Security interviews and this story often makes me very low. I am living with my widowed mother, two brothers, and two sisters. Life is not easy for me and great challenges are lying ahead of me. Finding college and managing finance for my brother and sister is another challenge. With the help of IOM (International Organization for Migration) and refugee resettlement office, I arrived in the USA on June 18 2008.
Getting admission in Druid Hills School is the biggest hope for me. I have a dream to be a successful woman and I have a dream to work with the most vulnerable refugees around the world. I know the pain of being a refugee and I want to work with the refugees closely if I get an opportunity. For that, I need care, love, encouragement and opportunity.
Nirmala Regmi
05-03-2009
Atlanta, Georgia

Tags: Bhutanese Literature Nirmala Regmi