A journey of faith

They were forced out of their native Bhutan because they were Christian.

They spent 17 years living in a Nepali refugee camp before immigrating to the United States. They lived for a miserable, fearful time in Atlanta.

Now the members of the Monger family has landed in Lakeside, where they have found a home and the promise of a new future in the Flathead Valley.

Bal and Kamala Monger and their 6-year-old son Deepak followed their faith to Lakeside last month, leaving behind a crime-ridden area of Atlanta where they had been resettled 18 months ago.

After living 17 years in a Nepali camp for Bhutanese refugees, Bal and Kamala, both 34, immigrated to the United States hoping to live the American dream. Instead they lived in fear after getting robbed a week after setting foot in the United States.

“Many of the people were not of good character,” Bal said of the impoverished ghetto where they lived. “If you had money, they would take everything.”

Bal and Kamala prayed for deliverance and it came in the form of Kerry Neve, a Bible teacher with Youth With A Mission who grew close to the family while teaching in their refugee camp. She said she was deeply moved by Bal and Kamala’s forgiving spirits and their story.

“I had never met people who were persecuted for their faith,” she said.

A devout Christian, Bal was a farmer forced from Bhutan, a majority Buddhist country. He said neighbors discovered his family celebrating Christmas in secret in 1992 and reported the transgression to police.

“They arrested us — they tortured me,” Bal said.

After three days, the government officials gave him a stark choice — leave Jesus or leave the country. He was torn because he loved his native land, a tiny country wedged between India and Tibet.

“Finally, for Jesus, I left the country,” he said.

Due to religious and ethnic tensions, one in six citizens fled Bhutan in the early 1990s, creating 108,000 refugees in United Nations refugee camps in Nepal. The Bhutan government maintains those expelled were illegal Nepalese immigrants who had fled years of civil war in Nepal.

For years, the governments negotiated, raising hopes among refugees like Bal that they would soon return to the land they say was their home since the 1800s. But it was not to be.

Neve recalls first meeting Bal on a bus from Katmandu when she first arrived in Nepal in 1999 as part of the Titus Project. Conditions in the camps appalled her.

“It was shocking. The huts are all squeezed very tightly together,” she said. “The walls are woven bamboo with newspaper for insulation. The roofs are straw and plastic and the floors are mud and cow manure.”

Families as large as 12 people lived in tiny huts of just a few hundred square feet.

According to Neve, the people had to continually rebuild the huts as weather took its toll. There was no electricity and families had to retrieve water by buckets from a central well available three times a day.

No refugees were allowed to work so they could not support their families or build a future. But that was the least of the troubles faced by the refugees.

“Elephants would come in and kill people,” she said. “A lot of people were killed by cobras.”

Yet, Neve was amazed at the joy with which Bal and Kamala and other Christians lived and their lack of bitterness toward those who had subjected them to such suffering. She had planned to stay two months on her first trip but ended up staying four months.

“I felt they were teaching me so much,” she said. “I think they were living the faith better than I was. God touched my heart with this group of people.”

Finally in 2008, several United Nations member countries agreed to take about 60,000 refugees. The majority resettled in the United States in various areas around the country.

When the family first received permission to immigrate to America, Neve tried to bring the family to Montana but was turned down by the State Department because the state has no resettlement program or office here.

Atlanta had public transportation, English classes, low cost apartments and jobs for people with limited or no English.

“It was good because they were able to receive help there,” Neve said.

But the government provides just four months of financial help so new immigrants must find work quickly.  The government also requires refugee immigrants to pay back the cost of their airfare to America. Bal and Kamala owed $3,941, a debt they have reduced to $2,300.

“I think it’s great our government does this but it’s no free ride,” Neve said. “Once they get here they want them to get on their feet and support themselves.”

In Atlanta, Bal earned $8 an hour at a pallet factory and Kamala worked at a chicken processing facility for $10 an hour. Kamala often put in 48 to 50 hours a week while making a two-hour commute.

“There are lots of jobs in Atlanta but the lifestyle is terrible,” Bal said.

Neve said she visited them in Clarkston in the heart of Atlanta. Although a world traveler, she was frightened there. Bal and Kamala kept their dream of moving to Montana as they stayed in touch with Neve.

They asked her to help them move and learn how to get established here. Neve said it was exactly what they had done for her as she faced the unfamiliar living conditions of the Third World in Nepal.

All the facilities, from the hole-in-the-floor stand-over toilet, to buses teaming with people and livestock, presented a challenge to the uninitiated.

“They taught me how to cook food, how to get from place to place and how to speak Nepalese,” Neve said. “I’m happy to help them in the same kind of way.”

She admits that she had deep reservations about helping the couple move to Montana because of the high unemployment rate and cost of living in the Flathead. Overwhelmed by fears, Neve nearly told the family to stay in Atlanta.

“How could I get a car, how could I get an apartment, jobs?” she said. “I got people together to pray with me.”

Neve decided to “let go and let God.” Just before they arrived in April, an apartment opened in Lakeside, a couple from Youth With A Mission donated a 2001 Ford Escape and several women provided all the furnishings and stocked the cupboards with food.

Bal and Kamala did much to help themselves in preparation for the move.

“I’m really proud of them for saving so much money — he’s someone who thinks about things,” she said. “They put away anything they could. That’s how they’re making it so far, by savings.”

Even through the family arrived in a terrible snowstorm on April 13, they have found Lakeside a welcoming community. Bal said everyone speaks to them by name at Blacktail Grocery Store and the bank, which are both within walking distance.

“It’s very good and peaceful here,” Bal said. “It’s beautiful.”

The Mongers have attended the Lakeside Community Chapel and the Lakeside Baptist Church. Their son Deepak goes to kindergarten at Lakeside Elementary School.

“He’s very excited — he has made lots of friends,” Bal said with a smile. “He does good. He speaks good English. He’s teaching us.”

Kamala now understands English but does not speak yet. Bal understands and speaks halting English. Both expect to master the language so that they may pass the citizenship exams after they have been here for five years.

“We’d like to make citizenship in the U.S.,”Bal said. “We love our country but there is no freedom there.”

Neve said Bal has experience in health care, specifically in dental assisting. They have been volunteering in the kitchen at Youth with a Mission since they arrived.

 Until they improve their language skills, Neve hopes they can find jobs that don’t require a lot of speaking interaction like hotel cleaning or some other type of labor.

“They have good recommendation letters from previous employers,” she said. “They are hard workers — on-time workers. They’re faithful and diligent.”

As Kamala brewed cups of spicy, creamy Nepali tea, Bal expressed appreciation for all the community has done to help them achieve their dream of moving here. He expressed complete faith that they will also find work soon.

“God has provided everything we need,” he said.

Neve asked that anyone who can help the couple find work contact her via her cell phone 425-446-2453. She echoed Bal’s gratitude to the many people who stepped up to help so far.

“This community has blessed them and they have a lot to give to the community,” she said. “They have so much to teach us about how to go through hard times but not be bitter.”

A video of their story can be found at www.dailyinterlake.com.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.