The Road Less Traveled

There are approximately 16 million refugees on planet Earth today.  (There are an additional 26 million persons who are internally displaced, meaning they have not crossed a national border but are in hiding within their own country.) Approximately 77,000 refugees will be resettled in the United States this year, and approximately 450 of these persons will be resettled by World Relief Nashville this Fiscal Year. 

Last week, I greeted a family upon their arrival to America . This family escaped from Bhutan crossing over the border into Nepal to a refugee camp over twenty years ago.  They lived in the camp in Nepal in huts made of bamboo for eighteen years, which is approximately the average length of stay in a refugee camp.

Eventually, after years of waiting, after having their stories verified, their credentials checked and their health and employment status deemed acceptable, they boarded a plane in Katmandu bound for Delhi.  In Delhi, they had a 9 hour layover in a very crowded and chaotic airport.  From Delhi, they flew to Brussels where they changed planes again for their flight to New York. In New York, they changed planes for the 4^th time and flew to Chicago.  In Chicago, they boarded their final plane for Nashville.  When they arrived here, they were joyful and elated but exhausted, overwhelmed and hungry. Yet, even as their journey out of Nepal was ending, they would soon begin again a new journey, orientation and adjustment to life in the United States.

--Caren Teichmann

Caren is a student at Vanderbilt University Divinity School currently interning with World Relief Nashville for the 2011-2012 academic year.