Ganesh and Partima Kafley married shortly before they left Bhutan in April 1991. They resettled in a Nepalese refugee camp, where they lived and raised a family for 18 years.

They left in response to the January 1989 decree from King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, requiring all residents to wear the traditional Bhutanese dress and speak Dzongkha.

Kafley said the rule about language affected the older population of Nepalese speakers in Bhutan. For example, though Kafley’s mother was born in Bhutan, she spoke Nepali. This made it difficult for her to find work or run errands because, and as a student, Kafley was not always available to accompany his mother to translate.

In 1990, Kafley was part of a large group that peacefully protested the restrictions on dress and speech. Many of his friends were killed or caught and tortured by the police, and many women were captured and raped.

Shortly thereafter, Kafley and his wife Partima left for Nepal, where she became a teacher. They could not live in Bhutan for fear of persecution, and because they were not born in

Nepal, which was experiencing a civil war, they were not recognized as citizens. They became stateless people, belonging in neither Bhutan nor Nepal.

The lived in a refugee camp where they were given bamboo and plastic to build a home. They lived with approximately 14,000 other refugees in that camp, which Kafley said was one out of seven in the area.

Their home had two rooms and was approximately 10 feet by 12 feet and housed six people. Kafley said fires broke out in the camp about once a year, and some people lost what little they had, including their documentation.

Kafley said it was frustrating to live in the camp. Although their four children had access to school through the tenth grade, due to the location of the camp, Kafley said it was difficult find work. Supplies came every 15 days, and roll was called. If someone was not there, Kafley said that they were considered residents and were taken off the list for supplies.

In 2008, the family was given the opportunity for third party resettlement. Kafley said he heard from Catholic Charities’ representatives June 23, and he filed the paperwork the next day. Just over seven months later, the Kafley family arrived in the U.S.

Kafley remembers his time in Butan before the refugee camp fondly.

“Before 1990, it was heaven,” he said. “I left with a tear in my eye.”