Background

Anita was born in March 2002, and grew up in Jhapa, Nepal. That is where the two refugee camps that her family lived in are located. Her parents were forced to leave Bhutan, and so they were not allowed to be residents of Nepal or Bhutan. She lived with her mom, big sister, and little brother, because her dad lived and worked in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.

She came to Vermont in May of 2014 with her mom, dad, sister, and brother. She now lives in Winooski, and has been here for four years.

Childhood in Nepal

Anita grew up in the Goldhap refugee camp, where she lived for six years. She liked it a lot because the people who lived there were really friendly and very kind. She played outside with her siblings often, and would also hang out with her friends and sleep at their houses. She had lots of friends in Nepal, and that is one of the things that she misses most, now. Her favorite food was "[dumplings], yeah I ate a lot of dumplings."

She spoke Nepali, the official language of Nepal, but also some Hindi because her aunt lived in India, and she had the chance to visit her several times.

One time when she was young, she and her little sister got lot lost in the woods. "We just little so my sister didn't know how to walk and me just a little walker and then we lost like three hours. And then my mom is really really worried about us." Then they came to a place with many pigs, near to where their uncle lived, so they found him and he brought them home.

In 2008, a large fire swept through the camp, and her house caught on fire and burned down. The fire affected many other people, too, leaving over 3,500 refugees homeless. Her family had to leave for the Beldangi camp, where they stayed until they moved to the US.

One of the biggest challenges Anita faced when moving here was language. She spoke no English until she moved here, so at first it was very difficult to understand what people were saying. It took her about a year and a half to be able to fully understand the language. Her friend who moved here prior to when Anita did helped her with translating, and now Anita speaks quickly and fluently, but it has taken a lot of practice.

Anita says that her life now is very different from her life in Nepal, because in Nepal she just played outside a lot, and now she is much more responsible. She tries really hard with whatever she does, so that she can "be something for them, for my parents." Anita has a lot more motivation to try harder now.

She has a green card, so she is not a citizen yet, but plans to become one soon. If her parents become citizens while she is still a minor, she automatically becomes one as well, but if they don't she'll have to do it herself. They will soon find out if her mom received citizenship.

When asked what is most important to her about Nepal, Anita quickly responded: "There's only one thing--I'm from Nepal. That is really important, I'm proud of my country"

Anita's life still has influence from Nepal. She still eats lots of dumplings, and she still celebrates some Nepalese holidays, but her family also celebrates Christmas and Thanksgiving. She gets to visit her family in the US often, and she hopes to visit Nepal in 2019.

Overall, Anita is glad that she moved to Vermont, "I like Vermont [more] than [any] other place."