Refugee Camps

Our original intentions were to volunteer for a whole month at the refugee camps in Nepal. Unfortunately the IOM (International Organization for Migration) who was running the camps doesn't accept volunteers.... who would have thought they wouldn't "let"us volunteer?? Julia tried for months before we left to get the information we needed- but she got the run around, so we just showed up anyways =)
They really liked us at the IOM office and said it was fine to visit. So we did. Quite an experience! Some of these people had never seen a white person in their lives! Which was evident by their responses. Funny story: We were all sitting inside one of the huts and a women brought her baby into the room and it took one look at Christina and it's eyes widened in horror of her very white face and it BURST into tears!! Haha everybody had a good laugh.
Long story short- these refugees were kicked out of Bhutan 18 years ago and have been living in these camps ever since. There are about 91,000 of them total. The camps we visited (2 of 7) had around 15,000 each. There is no hope for them to go back to Bhutan and the Nepal government doesn't want them there.... so their only option is to resettle in a 3rd country- which is how they end up in places like Oakland California where Julia works for a non profit that helps them find jobs, get medical, an apartment, etc.
So, we brought the gifts for them from their relatives that have resettled in California, talked with them, had a lot of great conversations- some of them speak some english- the rest we could only communicate to thru smiles and hugs... and our own learned Napali words such as "Dhanyabat" which means "Thank you"
They served us larger than life portions of food. In their culture it is an insult to not finish your entire meal. It was enough food for me to eat breakfast lunch and dinner combined! There were times where I was getting nausias because I was reallllly stuffed but had to keep eating! It was delicious food - rice and bok choy and dal and potatoes and chicken... mmmMMm. They served us warm milk strait from the goats udder that tasted like macaroni and cheese! LOL
They were incredibly hostpitable to us. It was a little overwhelming and not what we came there for! We came to serve and instead ended up being the ones gettiong served! They were delighted by their foriegn guests... fascinated by their new visitors from America. They told me I looked like Brittany Spears and asked me if I knew Tom Cruise!!
They have no running water or electricity. Their large families live in small huts made of bamboo and palm leaves. When a family leaves to resettle (its a loooong process of paper work) the IOM knocks their huts down and turns them into gardens.... mostly growing lettuce.
We visited for 1 week.


This is us inside one of the families huts eating a form of ramen noodles with fresh cilantro- you should really try it!

One of the families had a friend who was a tailor and he made us each matching shirts, by hand, took our measurements with a tape measurer and everything! Talk about custom fit. UN-BELIEVABLE. One of the coolest gifts I've ever gotten.

The children followed Christina everywhere . She is the most exotic of the 3 of us- being 5ft 10 and very fair complexion- blonde hair blue eyes. People are very short here, even the men, Christina could count on 1 hand the amount of guys that have been taller than her.

Playing with the kids... you can see some of the huts in the backround

They only have one size bike here!! SO funny to watch these little kids that can't reach the peddles so they sit not on the seat but in the bars!