An unplanned meeting at a friend’s party led to Meera Karajgikar’s volunteer work with London’s Nepalese community, assisting Nepali and Bhutani refugees adjust to life in Canada.
An employee of Western since 2004, Karajgikar met Indu Tamang, a 34-year-old Nepali refugee, at a friend’s house on a December evening in 2009. She was immediately struck by Tamang’s strong desire to find work and jumped at the chance to help. Using her connection to Western, Karajgikar put Tamang in touch with Western’s Department of Animal Care and Veterinary Services, which led to part-time cleaning work.
“When I first met Indu, I was impressed by her cheerful smile, enthusiasm and hard work. When I got to know her more, I realized the most important thing for her is to get a real job. She was very thankful that she came to Canada and she wanted to stand on her own feet,” said Karajgikar, who currently works at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry as an Undergraduate Administrative Assistant, Division of Orthodontics & Paediatric Dentistry.
Since, Karajgikar has since expanded her involvement in helping Nepalese refugees by teaching women the importance of self-sufficiency through employment. Now a full-time employee of Hudson Boats, a local manufacturing company, Tamang, who worked as a beautician in Nepal, has become an ambassador for the London Intercommunity Cross-Cultural Learning Centre.
In addition to acting as a conduit for work opportunities, Karajgikar helps with the day-to-day activities refugees face, such as learning English and completing citizenship, banking and driver’s license documentation. After learning their primarily rice-based diet has led to prolific diabetes within the community, Karajgikar arranged workshops on healthy living and cooking, including how to make chapatis (Indian bread) and the importance of incorporating fruit and vegetables into the diet.
Although the ultimate goal is to support a successful assimilation, Karajgikar stresses to the Nepal women the importance of self-sufficiency and the importance of independence.
“I can help them apply for a mortgage, and accompany them to the bank to open an interest-free savings account, but I want them to understand why it is important for them to maintain their independence,” she said.
With most of the men finding work at meat factories, most of the women are finding work as cleaners. Karajgikar encourages them to expand their goals and think in terms of starting their own cleaning businesses. With the help of her friends, Karajgikar went so far as to host a one-week cleaning workshop for the women, with videos on proper cleaning techniques and providing opportunities to practice their cleaning skills in her own home and those of her friends.
In addition to the earthquake this year, the history of unrest in Nepal has added to the initiative to bring 10,000 refugees to Canada.
The conflict between the Nepalese and Bhutani people began in the early 1900s and escalated in the 1990s. The Nepalese community in Bhutan supported the anti-monarchist party; the Bhutanese government branded the party as a terrorist organization. As a result, more than 100,000 people were forcibly evicted from Bhutan by the military.
When they arrived in Nepal, the Nepalese government refused to accept them back, instead, set up refugee camps with the help of the United Nations. During the civil war between the Maoist rebels and the government of Nepal between 1996-2006, more than 15,000 people were killed and approximately 150,000 people displaced.
In order to better assimilate the refugees to Canada, the Canadian government changed the policy to allocate each group of refugees to a specific city to better organize the assimilation process. London was selected to receive Nepalese refugees and has, to date, welcomed approximately 700 Nepali and Bhutani families, with that number growing steadily.
Although the work is satisfying, Karajgikar noted it is not without its challenges, citing the coordination of time, occasional communication confusion, and the need to reinforce motivation.
“The Nepali people are very hard-working and do not want to become a burden on the Canadian government. However, because many of them are born and raised within the refugee camps, they are unaware of the opportunities that exist for them here and I have to keep them motivated to continue learning,” she said.
Karajgikar maintains the most rewarding part of the work for her is helping the Nepalese women learn the basic fundamentals of a completely new way of life in Canada and help them discover the unlimited potential that awaits them here.