Australia: Bhutanese refugee woman found dead, hanged

Who knows what was going on in this poor woman’s life.  One report I saw mentioned possible suicide.  The story reminded me of another story I heard about a Bhutanese woman right here in the US.   Here is the whole short article from Adelaide where the cause of death is still under investigation:

Adelaide,October 7: Mon Maya Ghimirey,29, a Bhutanese refugee resettled in Adelaide in Australia was found dead today afternoon in Marion .She was spotted hanging in the garage of her tenant house at around 4.30 pm local time when her children had gone for outing.

Ghimirey was resettled from Sanischarey Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal on March,2009 .

She is survived by two under-aged children of her own and two step children.The cause of her death is not yet known.

This is the story that was relayed to me, and the question my friend asked:   This friend had an occasion to be in the apartment of a recently resettled Bhutanese refugee in a major US city.  The apartment was in the worst neighborhood in the city and the woman, alone it seemed, was fearful of setting foot outside.   It was discovered she wasn’t alone but was living with a girl (hiding in a closet) perhaps in her late teens who appeared to be mentally impaired.  My friend asked, what sort of life does this woman have?  Would she not have been better off in the UN run camp where she had lived for nearly two decades among her own people and her own culture?   What would America be able to do for her?

Reforms needed!

I raise this because I want readers to at least consider for a moment that willy-nilly hauling people to the US (or any westernized country) may sometimes not be the best thing for the refugee.  And, I propose that the US State Department set up a return program where after a certain time to adjust any refugees wishing to be returned (as the Iraqis have been doing recently) to their original location be provided airfare to do so.   Some of that airfare cost should be picked up by the volag that resettled the refugee in the first place.

Recently I wrote about the good and bad resettlement story from the Bronx and just now went to check Journalism in Exile to see if he had more on the woman in Australia.  Nothing so far on Australia, but in his latest post he does report that the NYPD has made a concerted effort to protect the 170 or so Bhutanese refugees living in one building in the Bronx.

A large number of new immigrants (like we Bhutanese refugees in Bronx, NY) dwelling in the same building could sometimes turn out to be a point of attraction for those involved in taking best-advantage of their innocence and struggle during their initial days. Visits of police authority officials, no doubt, will discourage those elements from attempting to fraud/attack or sometimes daring to occur even unexpected crimes on new immigrants. Thanks to NYPD for your visit in our building.

In July we told you about a promising young Bhutanese man being murdered in the parking lot of his apartment building in Jacksonville, here.

The US plans to resettle 60,000 Bhutanese (really Nepalese) from camps in Nepal over 5 years.