Ohio sees growing Bhutanese refugee population; immigrants adjust to US life, buy homes

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  • By MARK FERENCHIK and ENCARNACION PYLE The Columbus Dispatch
  • First Posted: January 03, 2015 - 11:49 am
    Last Updated: January 03, 2015 - 11:53 am


COLUMBUS, Ohio — Bhim Bastola has been in the United States for six years and in Columbus for two.

But he and others in the city's growing Bhutanese Nepali community already are buying houses, even though many work in low-paying jobs.

They are learning the language and navigating cultural differences after living for years — decades, for some — in refugee camps in Nepal, on the other side of the world.

Bastola and his wife, a home health aide, bought their house in September. Like most refugees, they first lived in apartments, but they realized quickly that "at the end of the day, there's no equity," he said.

Still, he said, he comes from a savings-oriented society whose members are "credit-averse" and hesitate to ask for help.

"Most people don't like to get big loans," Bastola said.

Bhutan is an independent kingdom in the Himalayas.

Although it doesn't share a border with Nepal, it is close enough that Bhutan's monarchy felt threatened by the onslaught of ethnic Nepalese and thus drove many into exile. About 80,000 of Bhutan's ethnic Nepalese have been resettled in the United States.

Ohio officials said that 1,737 Bhutanese refugees have been placed here since 2009, including 425 this year.

The population has increased as family members and others have arrived in Ohio from other parts of the United States.

Tara Dhungana, employment-services program manager for Community Refugee and Immigration Services, said the Bhutanese population in Ohio could be close to 15,000.

Jennifer Johnson, the state's refugee coordinator, said that number is probably too high, but "it's hard to track secondary migration. We don't have a good mechanism of tracking those" who come from elsewhere in the U.S.

For now, most of the refugees still live in apartments, said Bastola, who runs an Asian grocery. But more are saving to buy their own houses — one of many signs that the immigrants have been successful in adjusting to a new life in the U.S.

Many buy homes with extended-family members, pooling money to make down payments, said Durga Timsina, an agent with Carleton Realty and himself a member of the community.

"They always have three or four people working in the family," Timsina said. They save money and take out conventional 30-year mortgages.

Timsina said he has sold homes to about 14 Bhutanese families. While many families first settled in apartments along or near Morse Road in the Northland area, about 50 families have purchased homes in or near Reynoldsburg, he said.

Why? Better schools and newer, larger houses, he said.

Timsina, 38, moved to central Ohio from Georgia in 2012. He lives at an apartment complex and is looking to buy a house in or near Westerville.

He is a partner with Bastola in the South Asian Bazaar, a Morse Road grocery that sells everything from clothes to diapers to dry goods.

Their wives are sisters.

Bastola, 42, leads the Bhutanese Nepali Community of Columbus. He also prepares taxes, having studied to become a certified public accountant in India before migrating to the U.S. in 2008. He settled in Cincinnati, then moved here in March 2012.

Although his bustling store caters mostly to the Bhutanese Nepali community, he also attracts African-American, Burmese and Indian customers in what has long been becoming one of Columbus' most diverse areas.

Ganesh Dhami and his family used to live near Bastola's market, but they recently bought a four-bedroom house in Pickerington with the help of Dhami's parents.

"We could never have done it alone, but with help from my parents and a brother and sister, we were able to save enough money to make it happen," Dhami said.

His wife works part time at a day-care center and he juggles two jobs — working for a hotel during the day and at a shipping company sorting boxes at night — to pay the mortgage, but it's worth it, he said. His parents live with the couple and help care for their three children, ages 3 to 10.

Once they're more financially comfortable, Dhami hopes to give money to a cousin, Siddhartha Subedi, so he can buy a home, too.

"We're family; we look after each other," Dhami said.

http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/sto...nese-Refugees/