Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Om Dhungel with James Button, NewSouth Books, $32.99
“I lost my possessions, my salary, my status, my career, my country. And in that fall, I gained everything.” Heartening sentiment from one man who has come through hardship — and made a difference.
Bhutan to Blacktown tells Om Dhungel’s remarkable story — his journey from a remote village to a senior position in the Bhutanese Civil Service, to life as a human rights activist in Nepal and, eventually, to his work as a community leader in Blacktown, western Sydney.
Every step prepared Om for the central role he would play in settling more than 5,000 Bhutanese refugees, in one of the most successful refugee initiatives in Australia’s history.
If people know one thing about Bhutan, they know it is the land of gross national happiness, a Buddhist Shangri-la hidden in the Himalayas. Forced to flee Bhutan as a refugee, Om Dhungel is today an award-winning community leader in Western Sydney.
In the Foreword, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese describes Bhutan to Blacktown as “a great Australian story.”
Written with Walkley Award-winning journalist James Button, this is a story of tenacity and effort, humour and inextinguishable optimism — and how nearly being deprived of everything shaped one man’s character and fate.
“It is above all one person’s story, an attempt to share what I saw and learnt during my struggle shared by so many migrants, to bring my family together in one place, my search for belonging.” Nevertheless, he does propose ways to improve the country’s refugee and migrant programs to the benefit of the wider community.
Om does not believe most refugees are vulnerable. No one who has not been a refugee can understand the resilience that is born out of that life. Om believes those who have “survived being expelled violently from their homes, who have been forced to wander and wait for years, are more likely to be strong and fragile when they emerge in the quiet streets of Australia. They don’t need charity, they need inspiration.”
This book tries to show how that motivation might be found.
