Bhutan to Blacktown

Name: Bhutan to Blacktown
Brand: Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand
SKU: 9781742237893
Price: 37.99 NZD
Availability: InStock

Losing Everything and Finding Australia

By Om Dhungel and James Button

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Summary

Bhutan to Blacktown by Om Dhungel and James Button is a compelling memoir that chronicles Om Dhungel's remarkable journey from Bhutan, where he became a refugee, to building a new life in the diverse suburb of Blacktown, Australia. This story highlights resilience, community spirit, and the pursuit of belonging and identity in a new country. Through personal reflections and experiences, the book offers insight into the immigrant experience and the power of perseverance.
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Format: Paperback / softback

$37⁹⁹

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Bhutan to Blacktown

$37⁹⁹

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you are interested in personal stories of resilience, cultural identity, and the immigrant experience. It offers a compelling narrative about overcoming adversity and the journey of a refugee, shedding light on the challenges and triumphs of starting anew in a foreign country. It provides profound insights into different cultural landscapes and the strength found in community and perseverance.

Bhutan to Blacktown

Om Dhungel was forced to flee Bhutan as a refugee, eventually arriving in Australia - this traumatic upheaval brought a surprising blessing: what Om learned about life when he lost everything except life itself.

Description

I lost my possessions, my salary, my status, my career, my country. And in that fall, I gained everything.

Bhutan is known as the land of Gross National Happiness, a Buddhist Shangri-la hidden in the Himalayas. But in the late 1980s, Bhutan waged a brutal ethnic-cleansing campaign against its citizens of Nepali ancestry, including Om Dhungel and his family.

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 5000 Bhutanese refugees, in one of the most successful refugee initiatives in Australia's history.

Written with Walkley Award-winning journalist James Button, Bhutan to Blacktown is a story of grit and struggle, humour and irrepressible optimism - and how losing nearly everything shaped one man's character and fate.

'What you hold in your hands is a great Australian story.' - Foreword by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

'A heartbreaking story of exile, with a stirring Australian ending.' - George Megalogenis

'Om Dhungel's journey of the heart and soul, from the fields of southern Bhutan to the streets of Blacktown, Sydney, is a journey from which we can all learn, regardless of our origins.' - Michael Hutt, Professor of Nepali and Himalayan Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

'Om's optimism and tenacity helped him travel the harrowing path of a stateless person to build a new life for himself and his community. By telling his inspirational story and shedding light on the resettlement experience of Bhutanese refugees in Australia, Om brings the issue of refugees and the conditions for their successful integration in their new countries to a wider audience.' - Bhim Subba, author of Himalayan Waters and former Director General of the Department of Power in the Government of Bhutan

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Bhutan to Blacktown chronicles Om Dhungel's profound journey from Bhutan to Australia, offering insights applicable to people from diverse backgrounds. His narrative of overcoming the challenges of statelessness, supported by optimism and determination, highlights the inspiring resilience and successful resettlement of Bhutanese refugees in Australia.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781742237893

Publisher: NewSouth Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 May 2023

Country: Australia

Imprint: NewSouth Publishing

Contributors:

With James Button

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 135.0mm

Height: 210.0mm

Weight: 272g

Pages: 288

Collections

Biography & Memoir Education & Reference James Button Non-Fiction Om Dhungel

About the Author

Om Dhungel arrived in Australia as a student in 1998 before being granted a refugee visa in light of the Bhutanese Government's persecution of the ethnic Nepalese of southern Bhutan. As inaugural president of the Association of Bhutanese in Australia, Om played a critical role in the settlement of 5000 Bhutanese refugees in Australia. Before coming to Australia he was a senior civil servant in Bhutan's Department of Telecommunications, then, while a refugee in Nepal, general secretary of the Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan and co-editor of The Bhutan Review. In Australia he worked for ten years as a business analyst at Telstra, and today sits on the NSW Ministry of Health Advisory Committee, the NSW Police Multicultural Advisory Council, the Blacktown Multicultural Advisory Committee. He runs Om Dhungel Consulting.

James Button is a former journalist and Europe correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is the author of Speechless: A year in my father's business and Comeback: The fall and rise of Geelong, and has won three Walkley awards and a Melbourne Press Club Quill for feature writing. He is a freelance writer and editor.