My Son Asked Where Our Home was and I Didn’t Have an Answer to Give Him

My name is Ram Poudel. I was originally a refugee from Buhtan–I lived there until I was in the second grade, and then because of a social religious situation with the government, we had to leave. We first went to India, and then Nepal soon after.

My parents had said we would return back home in three months, so

I spent the rest of my childhood in a refugee camp in Nepal. I was able to attend school from grade three until grade twelve in the camp.

I started out not knowing the Nepali language, but I went to school and studied hard and learned the Nepali language quickly. I spent a lot of time reading Nepali novels, and I enjoyed writing too. In the eighth grade I won an essay writing contest and was nominated by the school to take other Nepali writing. After grade twelve I got an incentive to go study for two more years, and then I began teaching English.

There were no employment opportunities in the refugee camp, so the only option was to go to other local schools to teach. I began teaching in different areas of Nepal and moved around quite a bit.

I ended up in a part of Nepal named Dharan, and I was there for a couple of years. By this point I was married and had a family, and we stayed in a plastic hut in a refugee camp. I was busy here–teaching from about 6:00 am until 9:30 at night–but I had a very low income and could not afford a house of our own. My son started asking where our home was, and I didn’t have any answer to give him.

Then all of a sudden in 2007 we heard that the United States was taking part in a third country resettlement program. I filled out all the necessary forms with a friend, and then we eventually heard back from the Department of Homeland Security that we were selected by the United States to come reside here in September of 2008. I had to resign from my job, which was very sad.

We left the refugee camp in Nepal on September 14, 2008 and then arrived in Kansas City on September 17. We didn’t know where we were going ahead of time. There were a bunch of families traveling with us, and everyone got sent to different states, which was a little sad because we thought we would be together. I didn’t even know which Kansas City (in Missouri or Kansas) we were in until we had been here a month.

I also worked part time at FedEx Ground–interpreting and doing some of the paperwork. I started volunteering more and more, and when my wife got a job somewhere else, I quit my FedEx job so I could volunteer more. Eventually a job opened up at Catholic Community Services, and I applied and got it.

I have been here for 14 years now, and worked in lots of different departments and with lots of different programs. I’ve been promoted multiple times over the years because of my experience, and now I am a Resettlement Manager and oversee four programs: IRP (Intensive Residential Program), RNP Ukrainian Program, PCRM, Community Expenditures and Housing Program.

Housing is a nationwide crisis right now, and we have to place people in a huddle for one to two months because they don’t have a job and can’t pay for housing. Sometimes people come here thinking that America is free because that’s what they’ve been told by translators, so I’m trying to work with translators to make sure they give correct information as they interpret.

I love my job and helping take care of families.