INF DIASPORA INITIATIVE

SEPT 2013SEPT 2013 NNOO . 14. 14

Diaspora DigestDiaspora Digest

INDIA REVISITED

“2 million Nepali mi-“2 million Nepali mi-

grants move to India grants move to India

forfor

seasonal work.”seasonal work.” Gill, 2003

“43% of Nepali “43% of Nepali

CSWs in IndiaCSWs in India

are HIV positive.”are HIV positive.”

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

UTTARKHAND: A TRAGEDY 1

BREAKING NEWS FROM MALAYSIA

1

FACTS & FIGURES 1

NE INDIA 2

NCF SHILLONG 2

DHBS MIRIK 2

NW INDIA 3

INDIA MIGRANT INITIATIVE EDUCATION

SUSTAINABILITY

3

IMI EMPOWERING PARTNERS

2013 IMI GATHERING

4

KESHAB MIJAR’S TESTIMONY 4

SAFE MIGRATION TRAFFICKING

CCNN & GCN

5

UNITED NEPALI CHURCHES ASSOCIATION, DELHI

5

DD—BACK NUMBERS 6

WHAT THE B IBLE SAYS 6

CHRISTIAN RESOURCES CENTRE, DELHI

6

NEWS FROM NEPAL 6

CONTACT DETAILS 6

BREAKING NEWS—

FROM

MALAYSIA

CRACKDOWN IN KUALA

LUMPUR: 65 THOUSAND NEPALESE MIGRANTS RISK

EXPULSION. Asia News Net (Aug 2013)

As of next September 1, Kuala

Lumpur will begin a three month

campaign to stop and deport half a million illegal immigrants working

in the Islamic Kingdom. Nepal

fears for its citizens and has asked

for a period of time to allow migrants to be regularized.

If you know of any people, whether

Nepalis or Expatriates, working in the

Diaspora, whom we could

Feature in Diaspora Digest, please let us know.

In June 2013, a terrible tragedy occurred in

Uttarkhand. With the monsoon came cat-

astrophic flash floods and landslides. The

Indian Government deployed the army and

helicopters to rescue many who were

stranded, including Nepali pilgrims visiting

Badrinath and Kedarnath. No one knows

how many died or went missing though

Government statistics say 900 dead.

Now, we wait to see what will happen in

the flood-affected areas. Nepali migrants

are likely to be drawn to these places as

the government initiates reconstruction.

Please remember the local people, migrant

labourers and families who lost loved ones

in this disaster. May the relief projects

bring good changes in their lives

UTTARKHAND

A TRAGEDY

“78% of all“78% of all

Nepali migrantsNepali migrants

go to India.”go to India.”

PAGE 2 DD IASPORAIASPORA DD IGESTIGEST

NORTH EAST INDIA—MISSIONARIES TO NEPAL

Nepalis first started migrating to NE India in the early part of the 19th century and numbers increased as the loss

of land and heavy taxation imposed by Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana pushed them from their homelands.

The trend has continued at a lower level in the post-colonial period due to

family and social networks that had developed in the area, and increased again

for a while during the Maoist insurgency. The result is that most Nepalis in the

NE hills and some of the towns of W Bengal are migrants of several genera-

tions back who have taken Indian citizenship. They are fully integrated into

Indian society nevertheless many regard themselves as ‘Gorkhas’ because of

strong links with the Gurkha regiments which have been based in this area. For

more than 25 years they have been campaigning for a separate Indian state of

Gorkhaland. The churches in the NE of India were very significantly involved in

the early days of the Nepali church. Missionaries, especially from Darjeeling,

Kalimpong and Sikkim, together with overseas missionaries, were among those

who planted the first fellowships inside Nepal when it began to open up in the early 1950s.

Before 1952, Nepal Evangelistic Band missionaries worked with Nepali migrants in Nautanwa (on the Nepal border) Before 1952, Nepal Evangelistic Band missionaries worked with Nepali migrants in Nautanwa (on the Nepal border)

and in Shillong in the Assamese hills. From 1952, when Christians were eventually allowed into Nepal, INF has been and in Shillong in the Assamese hills. From 1952, when Christians were eventually allowed into Nepal, INF has been

involved with health and development work and supporting the growth of the national church inside the country of involved with health and development work and supporting the growth of the national church inside the country of

Nepal. The INDIA MIGRANT INITIATIVE has now taken INF back to Nepali migrants, but this time in NW India in Nepal. The INDIA MIGRANT INITIATIVE has now taken INF back to Nepali migrants, but this time in NW India in

Delhi and the KumaonDelhi and the Kumaon--Gadhwal hills.Gadhwal hills.

Nepali Christian Fellowship

Shillong, 2008

Nepali Christian Fellowship

Shillong, 1948

Sikkim

Main Nepali Population Distribution in NE India

DHBS in 2000

DHBS was established in 1954 as the first Nepali Bible School.

Until Nepal opened up in the 1990s, it was almost the only

place where Nepali church leaders could obtain Bible training

in their own language. It has now been upgraded to a college.

PAGE 3 DD IASPORAIASPORA DD IGESTIGEST

INDIA MIGRANT INITIATIVE (IMI)

In 2005, Alois von Flüe, an INF member, conducted some research and initiated a pilot project. This has evolved

into an integral mission project in partnership with local churches in New Delhi, Uttarkhand (Dehradun,

Kotdwar) and Himachal Pradesh (Shimla, Solan, Parmanoo).

IMI has just completed a three-year programme, involved mainly in facilitation, letting the local partners (Nepali

churches) implement the activities according to their needs and capacity. These have included tailoring classes,

computer classes, non-formal education, and tuition classes for the migrants’ children, as well as skill develop-

ment activities, capacity development, empowerment of the local leaders, safe migration outreach and health

awareness. It has been so exciting to see how these local partners have been transformed themselves as they

have grasped the need to help Nepali migrants. This is the most significant achievement of the programme.

NORTH WEST INDIA—MISSIONARIES FROM NEPAL

The Nepalis being reached through the IMI Programmes in Delhi and the NW KumaonThe Nepalis being reached through the IMI Programmes in Delhi and the NW Kumaon--Gadhwal hills originally come Gadhwal hills originally come

from many of the same area where INF is currently working inside Nepal: Jumla, Mugu, Bajura….from many of the same area where INF is currently working inside Nepal: Jumla, Mugu, Bajura….

EDUCATING THE

MIGRANTS’ CHILDREN

AND ADULTS

A key constraint for Nepali migrants is

their lack of education. IMI & its part-

ners try to remedy this in two ways: (1)

By providing tuition centres for Nepali

children in local communities, aiming to

foster both educational and spiritual

growth. This also helps the churches

become more involved in their local

communities. (2) By initiating NFE

classes which give women self-assurance

as they learn to read and write.

SUSTAINABILITY

To try and give some long term

benefit, local churches have

initiated some skill development

programmes with the migrants—

including beauty parlor, driving,

basic computing and tailoring train-

ing. The tailoring classes especially have helped the women in

Dehradun and New Delhi.—giving them an income generating

skill as well as boosting their self-worth. They have also been a

place where the church members have been able to share their

faith with the migrants. One lady, who attended the sewing

class in Delhi, has now returned to her home in Rolpa (Nepal)

and started a small shop in her locality: this is real success.

Sunil Thapa is studying in Class

8. When Sunil joined the

tuition centre in Dehradun he

was very shy and quiet.

Now Sunil and his parents are happy

because he has got admission in a new

English medium school which is not easy

to get. They said, “Though we both are

uneducated (Sunil’s mother, Bhumisara,

has joined the adult literacy class), we are

happy that we can send our child to a

better school.” They are thankful to

teachers and people who encouraged and

gave moral support.

Kamala attends the Dehradun literacy class regularly.

It was through that that she found self-respect.

During the last community election, she went to a

nearby polling station to drop her vote. Surprisingly,

a relative was the in-charge of the polling booth, and

knowing Kamala, he brought a stamp pad and pushed it towards

Kamala. In return, Kamala said, “Could you please give me a

pen?” Her relative was surprised but gave her a pen. She wrote

on the paper, ‘Kamala.’ Then he said, “Now, you can go,” but

Kamala said, “I have not written my full name. Let me do that,”

and she wrote ‘Kamala Devi.’

This boosted her confidence and she thanks the people who had

worked behind the scenes. “I am proud that I can read and write.

Now I can see.”

IMI GATHERING (2013) “IMI came to us as a trellis” was an insightful comment by

one of the partners in the last IMI gathering in 2012.

This year too, we were reminded in the letter from

INF’s Nepal Country Director: “Local churches serving the

local communities from their own capacity!”

All of the IMI partners from New Delhi, Kotdwar,

Dehradun and Shimla came together in Shimla on 14-15

May for the IMI Gathering, 2013. It was an inspiring and

challenging time, especially hearing different true stories

from the local partners on how they have been involved

with migrants. The gathering brought all of us into a

common platform of sharing and prayer.

“It may not be a big work; however, even this small input has also been a helpful tool to bring changes. It was heart

touching to hear how Nepalese have been stranded in the work place and have been working for survival. Many even

call on the numbers that were printed in the outreach booklet.”

Pastor Ram Singh from Shimla commented

As we watched the video “Grace of Giving” and saw how Bishop Hannington encouraged his church people

to re-build the community that had disintegrated, the one thing that was emphasized to us all during the

gathering was about “the role of the local church.” It’s all about working together, one by one, person by

person. That was incredible!

Adapted from the IMI Annual Report 2012-13 by Janak BC

EMPOWERING THE LOCAL PARTNERS

One of the roles of IMI is to empower its local partners to be-

come more effectively involved in their local communities. To

this end, several different workshops in the different centres

have been conducted:

Conflict management in Dehradun

Pastoral Care and Marriage Counselling in New Delhi

‘How to care for Teenagers’ in Shimla

Basic Health Training in Delhi.

In addition, from this year, to further build capacity, a trimonthly

news bulletin is being produced as a learning manual.

PAGE 4 DD IASPORAIASPORA DD IGESTIGEST

My name is KESHAB MIJAR. I am pastoring one of the congregations in

Delhi and also have been a core group member of the Delhi team in IMI. I

think IMI has tried to empower the local Nepali churches in order to serve the

Nepali migrants holistically. One of the things that we have learnt through IMI

is to work holistically. This has opened a platform to reach the community,

therefore IMI has bridged the gap between the community and Nepalese

churches through their initiative works. Children’s programmes are special for

the migrants as most of their parents do not have the privileges for better

education. Hence, IMI looks to support such groups of Nepali migrants.

UNCA—(UNITED NEPALI

CHURCHES’ ASSOCIATION)

There are around 36 Nepali speaking

churches and fellowships in Delhi. In 2005,

they got together to formally establish the

UNCA which now functions as a kind of

umbrella organization for Nepali speaking

churches in New Delhi and the nearby

capital regions. The first Chair was Pastor

ML Tamang, who helped to bring together

all the churches especially in prayer. The

leaders meet regularly and the association

has also initiated a youth gathering,

children’s fellowships and trainings to

empower the local leadership. Some of

the UNCA leaders are partnering with IMI.

PAGE 5 DD IASPORAIASPORA DD IGESTIGEST

SAFE MIGRATION OUTREACH IN INDIA

IMI, together with volunteers from local Nepali

churches, has conducted safe migration awareness

programmes in Delhi bus terminals and Shimla

construction sites, particularly aiming to reach Nepali

migrants. They published and distributed 3,000 book-

lets, giving information about safe migration, HIV/AIDS,

stories on trafficking and remittances, and details of

some local contacts in case of need. As a result, the

churches receive phone calls from Nepali migrants,

asking for help in advocacy and other areas.

TRAFFICKING: A CHALLENGE

One sad—and burning—issue in India to-

day is trafficking. The flesh trade is ram-

pant in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and New

Delhi. More Nepalis need to become

responsible to stop this, and as most of the

Nepali girls were/are sold by their

relatives, people at the local level need to

be made aware of this. In fact, Nepali

churches in Nepal and India are now aware

of the situation and getting involved in

various ways. Please pray for the churches

and Para church organisations who are

involved in restoring such people.

CCNN AND SGN INF has partnered with local church based

organizations: Christian Compassion

Network Nepal in Nepalgunj, and Support

Group Network in Mahendranagar to

provide safe migration and HIV/AIDs aware-

ness at their respective borders. These

partners, mobilized by INF/Banke, are now

actively implementing the work, which is

similar to what IMI does in the major bus

terminals in India.

Approximate Distribution of Nepali Churches in Delhi

Credit: UNCA but scale too small to show accurately

2

1 2

2

1

1

1

1 5

1

2

3

1

1

1

2 1

2 3

2

DIASPORA DIGEST—BACK NUMBERS

No. 1 History of the Diaspora re INF (Apr-May 2009) No. 2 Diaspora Resources in INF (Jun 2009) No. 3 India Migrant Initiative, Mitra Niwas (Mar 2010) No. 4 Malaysia Visit (May-Jun 2010) No. 5 Focus on India (May 2011) No. 6 Diaspora Resources in INF (Jul 2011) No. 7 HIMGlo Handout—Diaspora Facts (Nov 2011) No. 8 Focus on Malaysia (Dec 2011) No. 9 North West India (May 2012) No. 10 United Arab Emirates (Aug 2012) No. 11 Diaspora Resources in INF (Apr 2013) No. 12 Thailand (May 2013) No. 13 Malaysia & More (Jun 2013)

Please contact diaspora@sanjaal.inf.org if you would like any back numbers. Note that the Resources issues are cumulative.

Mitra Niwas (Hospitality Programme):

Host / Hostess—Devendra & Ram Maya Joshi

Anil Lama

Khumaltar, Lalitpur Phone: +977-1-55-70870

Mobile: 9841 026 339 or9803 424 011

Email: dvemaya@gmail.com

NeMUN:

Staff Workers—Sajit Shrestha

Ramesh Baidwar

Board Chair—Sapana Basyal EPC 2028, PO Box 8975

Khumaltar, Lalitpur, NEPAL

Phone: +977-1-55-70870

Email: nepalmigrantunitynetwork@gmail.com

DD No. 15 will be

about DIASPORA

ISSUES in general.

If anyone would like

to support NeMUN

by a membership

subscription, please let us know.

Nepal Country Office

PO Box 1230

Kathmandu NEPAL

INF DIASPORA

INITIATIVE

Phone: 00977-1-55-21183

Fax: 00977-1-55-26928

E-mail: diaspora@sanjaal.inf.org

NEWS FROM NEPAL

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS...

“...who reigned from India to

Ethiopia over 127 provinces…”

Esther 1:1

That’s just the area where most of Nepal’s labour migrants are found.

CHRISTIAN RESOURCE CENTRE—

DELHI

In urban Indian, unlike in West

Bengal and other parts of the

North-East region, it is not easy

for the Nepali speaking churches

to get supplies of Nepali

literature. However, in Delhi alone there are more

than 36 Nepali Christian congregations/churches

because of the big increase in numbers of migrant

Nepali Christians. This is the same in the other big

cities, where there are huge numbers of Nepali

labour migrants. As a result, New Suruwat, the

INF project in partnership with Delhi churches, has

opened a resource centre in order to support the

Nepali speaking churches in Urban India with

supplies of Nepali literature.

INDIA MIGRANT INITIATIVE (IMI) Mr. Alois von Flüe (to be based in Kathmandu)

imi.coordinator@sanjaal.inf.org

Mr. Janak BC (based in Nepalgunj)

diaspora.assistant@sanjaal.inf.org c/o INF Nepal Country Office

Dr. Val Inchley retires from

Nepal at the end of 2013:

INF has been searching for a

replacement Diaspora

Coordinator and are in

touch with 2 candidates.

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