- Martha Bayne
- Damber Pokhrel, Menuka Kafley, and Kushma Pokhrel at the FamilyFarmed Expo
Between 2007 and 2009, after 17 years of negotiations in which 100,000 Bhutanese lived as refugees in camps in Nepal, the UNHCR resettled more than 25,000 to third-party countries—including the U.S. So far about 600 have landed in Chicago—mostly concentrated in Albany Park, Edgewater, and Rogers Park.
I’m not going to detail the range of problems they, and other new refugees, are facing here (*you sigh with relief*). But let’s just say that, in the hierarchy of issues underfunded, understaffed resettlement agencies like the Heartland Alliance are dealing with, community food security—the access to affordable, nutritious, culturally appropriate food—isn’t high on the list.