Source: www.alaskadispatch.com
ALASKA, U.S., December 22, 2009: Leela Subba was born in Bhutan, but now he works at the Burger King on Northern Lights in Anchorage, cooking burgers and fries to help pay the rent on the four-bedroom Midtown apartment he shares with his family. When Subba was a few years old, the Bhutanese government evicted his family and others of Nepalese ancestry from the country. Subba and his family lived in a refugee camp in Nepal for 18 years before they were allowed to emigrate to Anchorage.
The Bhutanese Hindus are the newest of the waves of refugees Anchorage has welcomed. Since April, 50 to 60 Bhutanese refugees have moved to Anchorage.
The Bhutanese refugees currently living in Anchorage landed here with no relatives to explain the bus schedules or help them look for a job. In order for the State Department to send Bhutanese refugees to Anchorage, Sarah Ferguson, the local director for Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services (a branch of Catholic Social Services), had to demonstrate that the city had the lingual and cultural foundation to successfully settle them. Ferguson pointed to the fact that Anchorage has a Hindu temple as well as a relatively large population of Nepali speakers due to earlier waves of immigration from both Nepal and Tibet.
Every Bhutanese refugee gets $425 from the State Department as a “welcome to Alaska.” Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services also provides full social services for the refugees, including case workers to pick them up at the airport and help them apply for work. The agency also has money that can be used directly on behalf of a refugee, for things like bus passes or the fees necessary to get a driver’s license.
[HPI note: The US State department has strong policies against social work mixed with proselytizing. However, religious organizations are the most likely source of help to resettled refugees.]