Transcriber: Denise RQ Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard
Bryana DiFonzo: This is Liboria Gracci. My great-great-grandmother.
She came from Italy through Ellis Island in 1911.
She worked hard for the future that she wanted.
She learned English, volunteered as an interpreter,
she even pawned her own wedding ring so that my great-grandmother
could buy the books she needed to graduate from high school.
Many people, particularly Americans, have a similar family story to my own,
maybe with the immigrant generation
being a little closer or a little further away than mine.
This is the type of story that everyone knows.
Through my work, I meet many people who are facing similar challenges
with similar courage and skill.
But refugees have a different story.
My great-great-grandparents came here on the promise of economic opportunities,
but refugees have fled their homes unwillingly,
after experiencing violence, torture, rape, persecution, and war.
They have lost their families, and spent decades in a refugee camp,
without identity or hope.
Once they’re here,
they're often responsible for changing their neighborhoods for the better,
making our streets safer, opening businesses, promoting education.
They are changing the face of their new homes
and breathing life into areas that have fallen into disrepair.
Many established citizens are attempting to do the same things in the same areas,
and sometimes connections are made between the two efforts,
but more often, they’re not.
I believe that making these connections is crucial to creating the cities
that we all imagine.
You have to have a down-to-earth personal relationship
across communities in order for all the rest to follow.
So, eat dinner together, ask to learn some words in a new language.
Maybe go for a walk in the park
and find out they’ve never used a swing before.
Whatever it is, it needs to be natural, and normal, and honest.
Don’t force it, and be humble.
If you aren’t sure where you can start, you could try volunteering
with an organization that could facilitate your introductions.
I’ll start that process for you right now, today, as I introduce my brother Bishnu,
who will tell you his own story.
Bishnu Prasad Adhikari: Hi. My name is Bishnu Prasad Adhikari.
I am a Bhutanese Nepali from Bhutan.
Bhutan is a very small country nestling between two powerful countries:
China and India.
According to my family history,
my great-great-grandfather came to Bhutan to start farming.
My family has been Bhutanese citizens for as many generations
as Bryana’s family has been American citizens.
I enjoyed my childhood, and my school days very happily in Bhutan.
Then, after 1985,
the government began persecuting the ethnic Nepali,
forcing conformity of dress, language, and religion.
The government forced people to sign a “voluntary migration form,”
which they could not read, and by forcing them onto that form,
forced them out of the country forever.
The day they came for me still comes to me as a nightmare regularly.
I was arrested and beaten in front of my family.
That night, I had one rupee note.
You can see it behind me, on the slide, stained with my blood. I kept it -
meaning to throw it out, but never did.
My mother and my wife sat outside of the jail every day,
managing, smuggling in the red blanket, but they could not find out
if I was alive or not.
In the jail, I underwent heavy torture for 14 months,
until I wanted to commit suicide.
One night, I was tortured very badly,
and left passed out in a pool of my own blood.
No one came to help me for three days. My jail-mates thought I had died.
My family heard this rumor and they began formally mourning for me.
One day, the chief of the jail sent someone
to tend my wounds and I was able to recover.
I was able to wave the red blanket through the bars of the cell,
and then the villagers ran to my family and told them I was alive.
Then, I asked for the [voluntary migration] form
and signed it. I didn’t bring it with me,
but you can see one: my wife’s uncle’s form, in the slide.
They released me immediately, on the condition that I leave the country
and never return, on pain of death.
And one morning, we started our long journey without destination.
We crossed into India, but when they found out,
they packed us in vans and kicked us out at the border with Nepal.
They didn’t want us either.
We were packed off to an isolated part of the jungle
where a refugee camp was forming at the bank of the river.
BDF: If you have heard of Bhutan before today,
you probably have heard about
the government’s Gross National Happiness program.
This program shows that Bhutan is the first country to measure
its citizens' happiness as a key economic indicator.
Please know, that this policy is inseparable from the forcible eviction
of 1/6th of Bhutan’s population.
If there are about 300 of you in the room today, then,
if we represent the population of Bhutan at the beginning of Bishnu's story,
the 50 or so people in these first few rows
represent the number of people
who have been forced from their homes since then.
That means that over 100,000 people have stories to tell
that are just like Bishnu’s.
BPA: At the time of my eviction, I was a young man of 23,
with hopes and goals for my life.
but I didn’t have any way to achieve those goals.
In the camp, I started volunteering for the victims of torture from Bhutan,
because I was experienced.
I also worked as a camp management committee member
and as a teacher for 17 years.
I spent nearly 2 decades in the camp facing many hazardous situations.
There was substandard shelter, insufficient food, and little education.
In 2005, we lost our mom, because of simple healthcare.
In the camp, the UNHCR and many other humanitarian agencies
helped us to survive as human beings,
[for which] we are grateful and still grateful today.
I spent my best days struggling for survival,
hoping that we could return back home,
eventually realizing it would never happen.
And when the UN announced that we could resettle,
my hope for life was reignited.
Still, it was a bitterly hard choice to leave everything I knew
behind me for a second time.
I applied to come to America because America was my dreamland
when I was a young boy in my school days.
Soon I came to know Buffalo, an unknown city, with you, as my home.
BDF: Buffalo, NY is a uniquely situated city to observe what happens
when large numbers of refugees make their homes in a new place.
Right now, we're taking over 1,800 refugees every year:
that's three times as many as New York City takes.
Records on refugee resettlement show that over 20,000 refugees
have made their home here in the last 30 years,
not accounting for birth, death, or in-migration rates.
That means refugees and their families
have significantly slowed population loss in our area,
and they could even one day reverse it.
Some of the thriving communities that are flourishing across the world
are centered around people who have fled from places like Burma,
Bhutan, Eritrea, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Congo, and many others.
In the US last year, we resettled people from over 40 countries,
speaking over 80 languages.
Bishnu is speaking of the Bhutanese Nepali because they’re his own community,
but they're only one thread
in this complex tapestry being woven across the globe.
Particularly in a post-industrial city like us,
there are many challenges.
For instance, high home vacancy can create many issues.
But, it can also lead to great possibilities for people
who are starting their life from scratch.
While Bishnu’s community only began arriving 6 years ago, already in Buffalo,
there are 21 formerly vacant houses
that are now bustling and beautiful
with their proud Bhutanese-Nepali homeowners.
Lots of great work is being done at the grassroots level
to revitalize urban neighborhoods everywhere.
When we have so many problems and so far to go,
so much is possible for us.
We are all changing our neighborhoods, we're changing our cities;
not so that they look like someone else’s city,
but so that they look like us, like all of us.
And part of that landscape now
is people coming from dozens of different countries
and making a home for their children.
We have these great new partners in our dream for a brighter future.
We need to learn how we can weave our dreams together.
That won't be as hard as you may think,
because our dreams are already running parallel.
Many of the things that have been suggested
as innovative approaches to urbanism are the exact things
that refugee communities are transplanting to their new homes.
Think of things that could be at risk of dying out,
like small agriculture or skilled trades.
Refugees are bringing those sorts of skills with them,
and they can share, if we can connect.
One example of the successful connection that I’m proud to be a part of,
is a sewing cooperative that’s about to open.
Someone who volunteers in our agency leading a sewing class
is partnering with skilled refugee tailors.
This new business is going to provide modern and traditional clothing
in a collaborative environment where skills can be shared.
As citizens, too many of us have learned to stop believing in our neighborhoods,
and in our own self efficacy to overcome social inequities.
Let’s have that be the one thing we don’t pass on to our newest citizens.
Bishnu: We flew to America and came to Newark airport
on the 7th of December 2009.
I was one of the most educated men in my camp,
but when I came to the airport, I was lost.
When we were in the camp, we had no way to learn
the advanced systems and technology for this modern world.
So we stood at the side of the gate where we had arrived by,
tags hanging from our necks, and we had no idea where to go next.
A stranger appeared in front of me and asked if I was bound for Buffalo.
He also told me the gate for Buffalo had been changed to gate 100.
He called a taxi and rushed with us to gate 100.
He said his name was John.
He was the first man I faced, I saw,
when I was looking for my new home, what kind of place it would be.
And his kindly heart will live with me until my last breath.
My case manager from Journey’s End was waiting in the Buffalo airport.
He took us to our apartment and helped us (with) what we needed to do at first.
There are many things to do, right away, in our new country.
I faced many challenges and hard times when I was new here.
I know many other new people who do not speak English
may face more than that.
I feel very lucky.
Journey's End Refugee Services helped me with what I needed to do.
They sent volunteers to start our life in Buffalo in the US.
Journey’s End alone has 1,000 volunteers each year
to help the new people, like myself, to start a new life here.
Inspired by Journey’s End's help, and your help,
I started a small community group
that's called the Nepali Bhutanese Community Volunteers,
to help make our community stronger and help the new people to the country.
In 2012, I started working as a vocational trainer
and employment assistant for Journey's End.
Right now, I am helping my community members
to work here, train them how to work here, and find a job for them.
Two months from now, I will enjoy my four-year anniversary in the country.
One year later, I will be taking oath for my citizenship.
I will be having my country again.
BDF: What we do here, the way that we all leave this talk,
and live our next days, will be passed around the world
and will affect generations to come.
I’m not speaking of a “Butterfly Effect,”
but rather about the refugee diaspora watching this talk right now.
Modern technology has changed so many things about the ways
that humans communicate and society develops,
we all know that.
But think how much more heavily you would depend on it,
if you were suddenly placed in a brand new situation
you had no previous skills or experience to deal with.
Often when something happens to a member of the refugee community,
it’s passed around the internet for the group to help draw conclusions.
Particularly if this event has to do with
a very negative or very positive experience
with one’s new community, the effects can be felt around the world.
This means that when a new American community hailing from Myanmar
organizes a street festival,
if their city works with them to shut down the street
and keep everyone safe, people around the world find out about that.
And that city's reputation as a welcoming community increases.
So think of yourselves every day, like John meeting Bishnu at the airport.
Bishnu's never seen him again and probably never will,
but his name and kindness are known
throughout the worldwide Bhutanese Nepali community.
So, for our audience members today: try every day
to live up to Buffalo’s nickname as “The City of Good Neighbors.”
And for refugees and citizens listening across the world:
eat dinner with your neighbors.
Plant a community garden together.
Ask about their stories, and tell them your own.
Really think about the future that you want to see,
and then walk out of your doors and make it happen.
(Phoenetic) Timra Ti Teetta Bite Kaa Dinharu,
(Phonetic) Bhulnu ani bhulaaunu parcha
(Phonetic) Aba timi maatra bhutanki cheli hoinau
(Phonetic) Timita haami sabaiki sangini hau didi
(Phonetic) Bahini athavaa chimaki hau.
BPA: What my sister Bryana said was a line from the poem
she said in front of our Bhutanese women during (a) celebration in 2013.
It goes like this: “The bitter days you spent in your past, you should forget,
and let it be forgotten by all."
"Now you are not only the sister of the Bhutanese,
you are the sister, friend and neighbors of ours.”
When we came to the US, we came with hope.
There was a saying in the refugee camp
that “USA” stood for “You Start Again.”
We dreamed our families could be safe
and our children would get a good education here.
Now we dream, now we discovered another thing,
that is a New American Dream: to do it together,
transform the city together.
In this, we need your help.
The hope for my life was lost, and unexpectedly returned
by the great help provided by my good neighbors.
Now, we feel our life in the US is blooming, like marigolds of spring,
as in our native land.
Thank you so much. Sapaailai dhanyabaad.