“A completely different world”
Just like Chamlagai, 17-year-old Yjwal Pradhan and his 13-year-old sister Susanna relocated to Charlotte in 2009 from another refugee camp in Nepal.
They are part of a generation born in the Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal. They lived, played and studied growing up in a camp, and though they left their camps occasionally, they never truly experienced life outside – until they moved to Charlotte.
When they arrived, they faced "a completely different world," Yjwal Pradhan says.
The plane ride from Nepal was trying: a 15-hour trip with four connecting flights. It was their first time on a plane, which was exciting yet scary.
Susanna Pradhan recalls, "I thought that America didn't exist. I thought that those people who came to America, they just disappeared."
“Everything's new”
As refugees arrive at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport from all over the world, a case worker from Catholic Social Services' Refugee Resettlement Office is there to greet them. Usually the incoming families don't have much with them – they step off the plane bewildered, disoriented, tired and unable to speak much English. Many of the planes arrive in the middle of the night.
Chamlagai remembers being very concerned about where his family was going, what they would eat and where they would work.
"We did not know where to go. We were told that somebody would come and pick us up from an agency. And we were given a bag where it is written 'IOM' ('International Organization for Migration') and somebody from the agency will recognize us, and we were given one badge which says 'I don't speak English' and has information about us. It was very scary."
The case worker comforts them and takes them to a simple apartment already furnished for them (from donations by people across the Diocese of Charlotte). Beds and sheets, dishes, tables, couches and more are there.
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Chamlagai recalls, "When we get inside the apartment it was night time and there was already one Bhutanese family resettled [that] the case worker asked to prepare food for us so that the food was ready." After a long flight with unfamiliar food, it was a great comfort to find a meal they were accustomed to, "our food to eat."
That night his family showered and experienced a new standard of living.
"We have never used electricity, never used the kind of stove that we have here. Never used, never seen! And door, lock system, the restrooms, the air-conditioning – everything's new. Refrigerator, we never used refrigerator. And bed, we had bamboo beds (in the camp), and when I sleep for the first time on the bed that we have I felt very nice that time. It felt very good. And the room was full of furniture. We had one kitchen table, chairs, TV...first time I had TV."
But the case workers don't just drop them off into a new place to live. They support them for months afterwards – providing help with social services, health care referrals, Social Security cards, job leads and more. They help them navigate a grocery store, learn what insurance is for, get the kids settled into local schools, and find English language classes.
After Chamlagai had taken English classes, he began to worry about employment. "I was worried about jobs, at that time we did not know that CSS was going to help us to get the job. The CSS caseworkers told us that they are responsible for finding us jobs. I felt very secure at that time. Before I was feeling unsecure about jobs, where to go, what to do. There were different kinds of worries in the mind, but after they told me that I stopped worrying. Linda Campbell (with CSSRRO) found me a job in a warehouse, (a) distribution center."
Six months after working in the warehouse, Chamlagai learned how to put together a resume and applied for a job opening at the Refugee Resettlement Office. After a few interviews, he was offered the job.