The Childrens Forum - Nepal (1998 - 2009)
Location: India and South Asia, Nepal
Keywords:
Project Background
Working in collaboration with the Bhutanese Refugee Support Group and using images and stories created by participants in the Children’s Forum, PhotoVoice has launched a new website to raise awareness of the plight of Bhutanese refugees and to advocate for a just resolution to the refugee crisis: www.bhutaneserefugees.com
The website gives a history and background to the refugee crisis, an explanation of the efforts over the last fifteen years to find a durable solution, information on the current situation inside Bhutan, and plots the global diaspora of the Bhutanese refugees. There is also an interactive personal tour of the camps given by the young people involved in the Bhutanese Refugee Children’s Forum.
Also available is a booklet telling the story of the camps and featuring the work of the Children’s Forum; order a copy
Background
The rose class - 3 photos showing the project Improbably, the isolated Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan generates one of the highest numbers of refugees in the world as a proportion of its population. Staggeringly, one sixth of Bhutan’s peoples have sought asylum in neighbouring Nepal since 1991 when popular demonstrations and a change in citizenship laws led to the expulsion of large numbers of ethnically Nepali Bhutanese from their homes by government authorities.
For over 16 years, seven refugee camps in the eastern lowlands of Nepal have been home to a population of over 105,000 Bhutanese refugees. More than half of this figure is under the age of 18, the majority of whom have never known a life outside the camps. Despite high-levels of sanitation, healthcare and education, the refugee camps are dogged by rising rates of mental illness and suicide prompted by years in limbo and of political stalemate. Despite 15 rounds of bi-lateral talks between Nepal and Bhutan there is still.no firm prospect of a resolution in sight
With conditions in the camps deteriorating, the Bhutanese refugee crisis rarely making it into the international media, the recent political upheaval in Nepal, and the Bhutanese government dragging its feet in relation to seeking a durable solution to the problem, the refugees feel unheard and marginalized.
Recently, the US government has agreed to grant asylum to 60,000 of the refugees. Other countries have also expressed an interest in accommodating a proportion. Some of the refugees are opposed to resettlement, believing that by accepting the offer all the refugees will lose the chance to ever return to Bhutan. Others, worn down by the endless years of stalemate in negotiations, are eager to accept offers of resettlement if the conditions are deemed reasonable.
As well as providing vocational training the Children’s Forum gives the young refugees a means of communicating with their peers, their community and local and international audiences – a platform from which they can demand to be recognised and remembered.
The Project
Art ClassIn 1998, Tiffany Fairey, PhotoVoice’s co-Founder, arrived as a social anthropology student in the Bhutanese refugee camps with the aim of setting up a photography project for the refugee children.
She established the Rose Class, a project that allowed the participants to express their hopes and fears through photography, art and writing. The project aimed to build confidence, increase skills and provide a platform for these young people to communicate to their community and international audiences their stories of growing up as refugees.
From its humble beginnings working with the group of 13 children that made up the Rose Class, the project has now involved over 3000 refugee youth. During its initial years the project survived on limited funds and was driven by the energy and enthusiasm of a small group of young people. In 2002 the Rose Class was renamed the Children’s Forum after PhotoVoice started working with local partner, The Lutheran World Federation. In 2003 PhotoVoice secured Comic Relief funding enabling the project to expand.
Children’s Forum Committee outside the new buildingProject activities are varied. In addition to photography workshops they have included camp events and exhibitions, workshops with local Nepali children, video documentaries on child trafficking, camps wall bulletins, writing and journalism workshops and 9 month art courses. For the last 5 years the young people have also published a monthly newspaper: 2000 copies of which are read by the Bhutanese refugee community both inside and outside of the camps. A number of the original participants now teach and co-ordinate activities for the younger ones.
More recently the focus of the Children’s Forum has shifted to providing the participants with vocational skills with which they can earn an income in the future.
Anil, the trainer, using the darkroomIn collaboration with local photographic labs in Nepal, the project is running a vocational photography programme and has recently opened an office and Photo Centre in the camps. The Photo Centre houses a community photo library, a darkroom and a studio that will enable the young people to run a photographic business and generate a sustainable income stream for the project.
Many of the young people have been able to use the skills gained beyond the project. One of the original participants works as a journalist while another runs an art business. Some young people have also generated income from their skills to fund their further education.
The work produced by the Children’s Forum has been exhibited around the world including in Kathmandu, London, Paris and New York,. The project has received significant press coverage in both print publications and tele-media including on the National Geographic, The Observer, BBC online and Radio Nepal.