14 June, 2013 9:01AM ACST



  • Print Print page
  • Email Email this
  • Permalink Permalink
  • Share

Sushil's life began in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Growing up in a market village in Southern Bhutan, he enjoyed playing in the local forests and until around the age of 13 led the innocent, carefree life of a child.

With two older and one younger brother and one sister, parented by a single mother due to the early death of his father, Sushil's family lived in a large house in Gola Bazar, with several of the rooms rented out.

The income provided the family with a comfortable lifestyle.

Sushil remembers the time around his seventh year in schooling as a time of great change.

During the mid 80s, the Royal Government of Bhutan introduced a unification measure, described as a 'one nation, one people' policy.

The multicultural population of the country was asked to adopt a national cultural dress, religious beliefs and customs.

"Socially, culturally, religiously, ethnically, everything in every aspect of life, they wanted the people of Bhutan to look [as] one," Sushil said.

Bhutan was made up of three primary cultures from Tibet, Nepal, and India and Burma.

The Royal family's origins stemmed from Tibet.

Sushil's ancestors had settled in Bhutan, from Nepal, in the 1600s.

"The ruling class wanted to impose their ideas, their laws, their culture," he explained.

Southern Bhutanese communities began to hold public meetings to protest the changes.

Soon after the protests began Sushil's brother began to attend the meetings.

Sushil said his brother was threatened and forced to leave the country.

"When my brother left the country, my family became targeted."

A spate of similar occurrences followed that Sushil considered 'ethnic cleansing'.

He and his mother began to receive nightly visits from the government's police and army, encouraging them to follow his brother and leave Bhutan.

A road to nowhere

At the age of 13, Sushil, with his mother and remaining older brother, fled Bhutan to search for his exiled brother.

His younger brother and sister remained in the country.

Sushil left with only what he could carry - a single bag of clothes.

He was unable to carry his pet cat.

A choice he still regrets, some 20 years later.

"We had no hope; nowhere to go."

From Bhutan they travelled to India.

At the India border they were refused asylum and trucked to Nepal.

Upon arriving Sushil and his older brother and mother were given food and water and managed locate his other older brother.

Armed with a few pieces of bamboo and a plastic sheet, they were sent off to build a new home.

Sushil still remembers the loneliness and isolation he felt after leaving his home in Bhutan and his cherished pet.

For the next 17 years he survived on donations from UNHCR, living day to day with an uncertain future.

His family continually pleaded to gain permission to return to Bhutan.

The requests were refused.

They were given two other choices, either assimilate into a local community in Nepal, or seek asylum in Australia.

A new beginning

Sushil still remembers the exact date he arrived in Adelaide.

"It was the third of March 2009 when I left Nepal to fly for Australia."

It was the first time he had ever been in a plane.

It was also the second time he had left all that he had known, in hope of a better future.

When he arrived in Adelaide, Sushil was greeted by two friends that had recently arrived from refugee camps.

"When I saw those people, it was some sort of new hope."

Sushil had come from a world of survival to a world of surplus.

His eyes soon became bigger than his stomach, and he was keen to try all that was on offer.

"Doughnuts and cakes," he answers with a laugh as he thinks about the foods that first caught his eye.

From a world of savoury and salty foods, sweets were an exciting discovery.

A new home

Sushil is visibly moved as he speaks about his new home in Adelaide.

His voice becomes shaky.

His eyes begin to fill with tears.

It is an outpouring of emotions and pride for the first place that Sushil believes he can honestly call home.

Since he arrived in Australia, Sushil has worked hard to pay back what he said was the gift the country has given him.

He has also been joined by all of his brothers and his mother, with his sister marrying and staying in Bhutan.

Sushil now works as a bi-cultural case worker for the Australian Refugee Association, is a public relations officer for the Bhutanese Australian Association of South Australia and is currently organising a Bhutanese soccer championship which will be held during the first week of July in Adelaide.

"I feel like I can do something here; more and more I can contribute."

After four years of living and working in Australia, Sushil will become an Australian citizen this Sunday.

He will be one of 184 Bhutanese people attending the ceremony from 10:30am at the Woodville Town Hall.

It will be the first time he has been classified a citizen of any country in the world.

The first time he officially will be able to call a country his home.

"I have to thank the people of Australia and the government of Australia for making me proud.

"I now have a sense of belonging."