Amol Vichare, a civil engineer and SEWA USA volunteer, made a very innovative and purposeful presentation on low cost housing. The Bhutanese delegates evinced a lot of interest in affordable housing options through Habitat for Humanity. Another volunteer, Gaurav Verma, highlighted the benefits of leveraging environment-friendly resources in America like recycles.org and freecycles.org to procure computers for school children (as a pilot project in Atlanta, it has produced encouraging results).

The presentations were followed by workgroup sessions. Here the delegates were segregated into regional groups and asked to identify the three top resettlement problems in their respective zones. The issues prioritized as most important were - Youth Development, Preservation/Adaptation of Ethnicity, Employment / Income Generation, Women’s Issues, Housing, Education, Health Insurance, and Safety.

The delegates then discussed potential solutions to these issues. Ralph Parker, an American resettlement volunteer, stressed the need for generating more emergency funds to combat the growing resettlement challenges. Ganesh Ghimere, a Bhutanese expatriate and lawyer, provided Nepali translations for all announcements.



The Bhutanese refugees have a tremendous urge to be independent and self-sufficient. This was substantiated by their abiding interest in areas such as Culture Preservation, English Learning, Housing Assistance (so as to own houses eventually), and self-employment opportunities through setting up of small businesses and mentorship with entrepreneurs.

After a hectic day of deliberations, the participants witnessed fun-filled cultural programs in the evening – kids’ performances, veena recital, ethnic Bhutanese dances, and bhajans.

At the end of the first day of the conference, SewaUSA volunteers had a strategy evolving session conducted by Professor Sreenath (President, SewaUSA) of CASE Western University, Cleveland.

The second day of the conference commenced with a Yoga and Pranayam session conducted by Swami Narayanji.

Prof. Sree Sreenath gave an exclusive presentation on “Project Krishi”, elaborating on various experimental agricultural and marketing initiatives and object lessons learned in Cleveland, OH. Naveen, a young volunteer and agricultural engineer from Auburn University, GA, pledged his support to the Bhutanese to help them connect with academicians, and provide consultancy to interested Bhutanese farmers in the Southeast.
 

The following three landmark resolutions were then passed by the conference delegates:

We appreciate and commend the leadership efforts of US Govt, UNHCR, resettlement agencies, dedicated individuals, spiritual organizations and temples of Dharmic traditions to resettle Bhutanese families.
We reiterate our support to the Bhutanese refugee families irrespective of their religious belief, ethnicity or political affiliation.
We support the efforts of Bhutanese refugee families in practicing their culture, arts, language and religion.
Prof. Dwivedi, an emeritus Professor from Howard University, Washington DC, shared his experience about America being a land of opportunities and the latent potential of Project Krishi to transform the refugees’ quality of life. He exhorted the Bhutanese “You need to have your American dream and work towards it”.

The Regional Director of Toastmasters Club encouraged young delegates to cultivate public speaking skills and explore scholarship opportunities through the Toastmasters Club in America. Five Bhutanese high school students participating in the conference was a noteworthy feature.

Khem Adhikari, from Texas, while speaking about his experience of attending the conference, stressed the need of the Bhutanese community to preserve and perpetuate their Hindu roots in America by deriving inspiration from the Vedic Shastras .

Professor Sreenath concluded the conference with a spirited valedictory speech thanking all the delegates and SewaUSA volunteers. All participants expressed their willingness to attend a sequel conference the next year. It was evident that the positive aura created by the conference had tremendously impacted the attendees. Beyond doubt, the conference paved the way for a lot of much-needed interactions amongst Bhutanese community leaders to collaborate and learn from one another. A copy of Hindu Panchang and Bhagvad Gita in Nepali were given away as gifts to all the delegates.

The conference was supported by VHPA, TAMA, Chinmay Mission, Shiv Mandir, Global Mall, Art of Living, GAPI, Toastmasters, and Hindu Temple of Atlanta. Many of the delegates attended the conference personally inspired by Pradeep Limaye and his networking efforts. Pradeep Limaye is a retired Control Systems Engineer from India, had spared four months of his invaluable time to organize this conference.