Basically Nepalese were encouraged to come to Bhutan in the 1930s to collect tax. They never fully integrated; never learned local languages nor had any positions in the government and were indistinguishable from the Nepalese people in Nepal. then in 1980 the government decided to kick them out and Nepal didn't want them either.
Now the UN set up camps for these citizenless people in Eastern Nepal. I had a chance to visit 3 of the camps near Damak, Nepal called Beldangi 1, 2, and 2 extended. The main purpose for my visit was to photograph the food distribution by the UN which is hampared during strikes.
After I talked to Eva _____ at the office in Damak she agreed to let me go to Beldangi but not the other ones... the day I arrived was the first day they were starting 1/2 rations because of the low funding received this year: this is mainly because the camp is becoming smaller and smaller; Bhutanese are choosing to go into Nepal illegally and work, go to western countries (organized by I.O.M), and possibly return back to Bhutan.
The camps have been around for quite some time (around 20 years?). A lot of the people have spent their entire lives in
the camp. Because the number of people at the camp are dwindling and the economic crisis, the donors are giving less and less.
For this reason I went to the camps by bicycle and not in a UN vehicle. Almost immediately I had a huge mob of people following me, curious about what I was doing. I had to keep a few people with me who spoke english well enough so that I could communicate and keep them back when I wanted to take a photo. It was an interesting process. Day 1 I got the distribution and basically just walked around the camps. I made it back by nightfall around 7:00pm.
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