Bhutanese Refugees Find a Place to Call Home  - Continued      So what's the history of the Bhutanese refugees? How is it that they came to arrive in Penn Hills? According to the Cultural Orientation Resource Center at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C., the history of the Bhutanese refugees began in the late 1800s when their ancestors began immigrating to southern Bhutan (near India) in search of farmland. For years, the Lhotsampas ("people of the South") and the Druk Buddhist majority in the North lived for the most part conflict free, the Lhotsampas retaining their highly distinctive Nepali language, culture and religion. Under Bhutan's Nationality Law of 1958, the Lhotsampas enjoyed Bhutanese citizenship and were permitted to hold government jobs.      As the Lhotsampa population grew, however, Bhutan's king and the ruling Druk majority became worried in the 1980's that the demographic shift could threaten their majority position and traditional Buddhist culture. The Druk imposed a number of policies aimed at unifying the country under the Druk culture, religion and language. Such policies imposed the Druk dress code and customs on the Lhotsampas and prohibited the use of the Nepali language in schools. New eligibility requirements for Bhutanese citizenship were imposed that deprived many Nepalis of their citizenship and civil rights.      The Lhotsampas' efforts to organize politically and protest the policies eventually led to violent clashes with the police and army and massive arrests. Many Nepalis were arrested and tortured and their property was destroyed. In December of 1990, the authorities announced that Lhotsampas who could not prove that they had been residents of Bhutan in 1958 had to leave. Tens of thousands fled to refugee camps in Nepal and the Indian state of West Bengal, where they have lived until 2007 when the United States launched a program to resettle them here. These refugees are unable to return to Bhutan or to settle permanently in Nepal. For political reasons Nepali government policy denies the refugees two basic rights that are prerequisites for local integration: freedom of movement and the right to work and earn a living.      Jewish Family and Children's Services (JFCS) is the Pittsburgh organization coordinating resettlement efforts in Pittsburgh. Through a contact with Zion member Terry Tague, JFCS obtained rental housing on Frankstown Road and Terry put JFCS in touch with Zion for support for the families as they became acclimated to their new life here. Essentially they arrived in Penn Hills with the clothes on their backs and were given preliminary funding to last for the first month or two until JFCS found jobs for them. One of their first requests was for an international calling card so that they could call other family members "back home." A Zion member donated this and it was quite a heartwarming sight that evening at the Zion office when the Rai family members spoke to their relatives in Nepal letting them know (10 days later) that they had arrived safely in the United States.            Since then, five other families have been placed in apartments on Frankstown Road. For the past 17 years they have lived in refugee camps. Unable to return to Bhutan and not permitted to integrate into the local Nepali culture, these families, like an increasing number of others, have decided that their most realistic possibility of starting a new life is to resettle in a third world country like the United States.      They are welcomed by the United States as victims of political persecution and given support and the opportunity to work to build a new life for themselves. Several now board a PAT bus at 6 a.m. five days a week and transfer downtown to be at their minimum wage jobs in Northside by 8 a.m. They return home around 6 p.m. or later on weekends since they have at times had to wait two hours for buses on weekends. Several who are not working on Sundays worship with us. Says 22 year-old Hari Maya Rai, "We are grateful for the chance to work and learn. People here (at Zion) have been so kind. Thank you for all you have done for us."      A special forum for church representatives and leaders of community organizations will be hosted by Zion on September 30 at 7:30. Speakers from JFCS will be present to help increase awareness of the refugee program and discuss how we as a community in Penn Hills can help integrate the Bhutanese into our community and respond to their needs. Please join us. If you are interested in helping to meet the refugees' needs, call Cheryl McDonald at the church office. For more information about the resettlement program visit the Cultural Orientation Resource Center website at www.culturalorientation.net.