CVR-IIINSTXTUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS

March 1991Kathmandu, Nepal

EXXLE$ FROM THE LAND OFSURVEY OF A TIBETAN REFUGEE COMMUNITY

By Carol Rose

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INTRODUCTION

This report summarizes the findings of a survey conducted inthe Jawalakhel refugee community on the outskirts of Kathmandu,Nepal Some of the Tibetans surveyed live within the Jawalakhelrefugee settlement Others have left the settlement and now livein the surrounding community of Lalitpuro

By distinguishingwho haverefugeesresults icamp settsuggest sbecome ecbe encourneeds ofpeople th

between refugee camp residents and thoseleft the camp, this survey provides a unique look at howmake the transition out of refugee settlements Thendicate both positive and negative impacts of formalings on refugee populations Specifically, the resultsome of the factors that determine why some refugeesonomically self-sufficient and how this independence canaged Finally, the report attempts to give voice to thethe Jawalakhel community as expressed by the Tibetanemselveso

Car-f-lo @-is an ICWA f-4i-lowWr-f[lng on ie -Cuures Of--and--CfiY-fi-Asia

Since 1925 the Institute of Current World Affairs (the Crane-Rogers Foundation) has provided long-term fellowships toenable outstanding young adults to live outside the United States and write about international areas and issues. Endowedby the late Charles R. Crane, the Institute is also supported by contributions from like-minded individuals and foundations.

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TIBETAN REFUGEES IN NEPAL

Forty years ago, the People’sRepublic of China invaded Tibet,declaring it to be a historicalpart of China. Following a popularuprising against Chinese rule in1959, an estimated i00,000 Tibetansfled their homeland for theneighboring countries of Nepal,India, Sikkim and Bhutan.

The majority of the refugeessettled in India, where Tibet’sspiritual and political leader, TheDalai Lama, established agovernment administration in exile.More than 20,000 Tibetan refugeesfled instead to Nepal.

Like most forced migrants, theTibetans arrived in Nepal largelydestitute. They had been nomads,farmers or traders in a countryfamous for its isolation andcultural xenophobia. Few of the

Religion plays a key role in arrivals spoke Nepali, or hadTibetan life. Families experience in any work other thantraditionally send one son to the yak-herding or subsistence farming.monastery to become a monk.

Those who brought valuableswith them often were driven to exchange them merely to obtainfood. Many of the early arrivals in the border area betweenTibet and Nepal were compelled to beg, while others worked asservants or manual laborers for subsistence wages. Unaccustomedto the warmer climate and lower altitude of Nepal, many died fromcholera, dysentery, typhoid and malaria.

Despite widespread media coverage of the 1959 Tibetanuprising against China and subsequent flight of the Dalai Lama toIndia, it took more:than a year for the international community<oprovide assistance to the refugees flooding out of Tibet.Spurring efforts to assist the refugees in Nepal were FatherMarshall Moran, a Jesuit priest, and the Swiss geologist, ToniHagen. Hagen in late 1960 secured extensive monies through theInternational Committee for Red Cross (ICRC) and was appointedchief of ICRC’s relief program in Nepal. Soon thereafter, heprocured from the government of Nepal land at little or no costupon which he established four "temporary" settlements for theTibetans. The first camp was organized in 1961 at Jawalakhel, adry patch of land on the southern edge of Kathmandu.

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The creation of camps set apart from the Nepali communitymade it easier for foreign assistance organizations to provideaid to the refugees. But the isolation of the Tibetans from thehost community also was endorsed by the Dalai Lama, who saw thecamps as the best way to preserve Tibetan language and culture

durin what was expected to be a short stay before their returnhome.

The initial focus within the camps was on housing, healthand sanitation. Most settlements provided housing, a primaryschool, limited medical care and work. But early on, the scopeof international assistance programs expanded to one of "makingthe Tibetans economically self-sufficient and integrating theminto Nepal. ’’

Assisted by the Swiss Association for Technical Assistance,the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Nepa,liRed Cross, the Tibetan community in Nepal built housing, primaryschools and health clinics. They established cooperatives whererefugees could buy commodities at lower prices, and in ruralareas they attempted to develop subsistence agriculture.

By far the most successful program, however, was thepromotion of carpet-weaving factories. Once a skill reserved fora small artisanclass in Tibet,mass-productioncarpet centers ateach settlementbecame a vitalsource of income andstability for therefugees. By 1966,the Carpet TradingCompany in Kathmanduwas established toprovide exportchannels for carpetsto western markets.

Twenty fiveyears later, the14,000 Tibetans inNepal have emergedas all

Carpet production has become the key source of incomefor most Tibetans. llere, a Jawalakhel resident spinswool at the camp Handicraft Center.

Ann Armbrecht Forbes, Settlements of Hope., Cultural Survival, Inc.-,Combridge, MA., 1989, p. 38.

Quoted from a 1964 agreement between the Swiss and Nepalese governmentsofficially documenting the role of Swiss aid. Forbes, o_ cir.

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extraordinarily successful andcohesive community. They comprisea powerful economic block throughtheir creation of and dominanceover the carpet weaving industry,which now ranks as the secondlargest source of foreign currencyin Nepal surpassed only bytourism.

Hundreds of private carpetfactories have sprungup aroundthe country, often managed byTibetans who hire Nepalese to dothe laborious work of weaving. Inaddition, Tibetan shops,restaurants and hotels have spreadthroughout the tourist areas ofNepal.

In 1972, a Tibetan-managedcharity called the Snow LionFoundation (SLF) was establishedto provide on-going support forthe Tibetans’ social, health andeducational needs. International

Free primary education is provided aid agencies based in Nepal areto employees of the IIandicraft not allowed to assist theCenter. Here a Tibetan youngster Tibetans. But the Foundation isleads her kindergarten class through eligible to receive foreigna recitation of the Nepali alphabet, assistance directly from overseas,

which is uses to administer 13schools, various scholarship programs, assistance to the elderly,health and sanitation. Seed money for the foundation came fromthe Dalai Lama’s administration, the Carpet Trading Center, theSwiss Development Corporation and other international agencies.

Despite these programs, economic independence has not cometo all Tibetan refugees. Nearly one-third of the Tibetans inNepal contine to live in 12 refugee settlements spread aroundthe country. Marly of the settlement residents live insubstandard housing, where space constraints create serioussanitation and health problems.

Michael G. Keller, Tibetan Woman and Children in Nepal" A PreliminaryRepo[t on the C0ndlti0ns Affectin(] the Health and Welfare STatus of the TibetanCommunity in Nepal., Unpublished report prepared for UNICEF/Nepal. October-November 1990.

Office of H.H. the Dalai Lama’s Representative in Nepal, see Keller,0p. cit. Appendix A.

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In addition, while primary education is now available to allchildren in Nepal, school fees remain an obstacle to post-primaryeducation for many Tibetan (as well as Nepali) children.

THE JAWALAKHEL SETTLEMENT

Jawalakhel, once accessible by a single dirt road, nowsits on a main thoroughfare in one of Kathmandu’s most populousareas called Lalitpur. Around 275 Tibetan households live in oraround the Lalitpur area, which includes the Jawalakhelsettlement. Of these, approximately 200 families live in thesettlement, while the remaining 75 households either rent or ownhousing in neighborhoods that surround the camp.

Since 1968, administration and management of the Jawalakhelsettlement has been handled solely by Tibetans. The settlement isdominated by its "Handicraft Center," which consists of a carpet-weaving factory with facilities for cleaning, washing, dying, andballing the wool/yarn.There also are roomsequipped with weaving loomsand areas for trimming,packing and storing finishedcarpets. There are threeretail shops on factorypremises, as well as officesthat handle carpet exports.

In recent years,employment at the center hasbecome a requirement formany entitlements, includingrentfree housing in thesettlement, subsidizedmedical care, free primaryeducation for one’schildren, and old-agepensions.

"Dirt Makes Sickness" signs posted aroundCamp housing is free if the Jawalakhel re[uqee settlement. Despite

at least one member of a such admonitions, space constraints createfamily works in the carpet serious sanitation problems in the camp.

These figures approximated from an informal tax-roll and a list ofworkers at the Jawalakhel settlement handicraft center. Hesiop, op. cit. cameup with almost identical numbers in her April 1989 survey, which counted 209families living in the settlement and approximately 70 in the surroundingLalitpur area. See Pauline Heslop, Assessment of the Tibetan<Primary HealthCare/T.B. Control Projects in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal. Unpublished report.April May 1989.

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center. Some carpet factory workers have moved out of thesettlement into the outlying community, retaining theirsettlement house and charging rent to other refugees in the camp.

Housing within Jawalakhel settlement consists^brick masonry,with uninsulated tin or tile roofing and earthen floors.Most families have one r two rooms, each measuring i0’ by 12’ toaccommodate 4-6 people. Electricity is generally available,but there is no indoor plumbing. Public water taps and latrineseach serve large numbers of people in the camp.

A new health center recently has been constructed near thecarpet factory. Jawalakhel settlement members, if they areHandicraft Center employees, receive full reimbursement for theirmedical expenses. Outsiders pay "cost" for all medicines, aswell as visit and laboratory fees,

Jawalakhel settlement residents over age 61 who have workedin the carpet factory at least i0 years receive a pension of i00rupees a month. Factory workers over age 66 receive a pension of300 rupees a month. At present, approximately 60 of the 950residents of the settlement receive pensions.

A new primaryschool (grades KG5) recently has beenbuilt at Jawalakhel.In March 1991, therewere 358 studentsand nine teachers inthe primary school.In addition, thefirst and onlyTibetan high school(grades six throughi0) recently wasestablished inKathmandu, with acapacity or 500students.

School feesincreased in

Good reasons to smile" This Tibetan couple leftJawalakhel camp to open their own carpet factor and

February 1991. The sales shop.

Keller, op. cit., p. I0._

Interview with Lobsang Nyima, general manager of the JawalakhelHandicraft Center.

Report to the XVlll General Assembly of the Snow Lion Foundation. 1990.

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cost of tuition for grades kindergarten through five is 1,200rupees (US $38) a year, or 7,800 rupees (US $244) a year if boardis included. Fees for the high school are 1,440 rupees (US $44)yearly tuition, and 8,400 rupees (US $263) including board.Parents also have to buy textbooks, uniforms, and pay admissionand other school fees. Families that cannot afford school feesmay receive partial assistance from the Council for TibetanEducation, sponsored by the Dalai Lama’s government. Primaryschool is free only for children of Jawalakhel whose parents workin the carpet factory.

It must be stressed that each of the 12 refugee settlementsin Nepal is self-governing, and not all provide the same servicesas those found in the Jawalakhel camp. Residents of otherrefugee settlements in Nepal must obtain letters ofrecommendation from the Dalai Lama’s government representative inNepal and a letter of "no objection" from their present camp inorder to move to Jawalakhel. There is. no formal procedure foraccepting new residents into the settlement. Those withrelatives in the settlement usually approach camp leaders(elected every three years), while those who arrive with norelatives are assigned to a settlement by the Dalai Lama’sgovernment representative in Nepal.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

The Tibetan community in Kathmandu assisted a great deal inthis survey. Vital background information was provided by thedirector of the Tibetan Welfare Office in Nepal, Mr. PaljorTsering, and the general secretary of the Snow Lion Foundation,Mr. Karma Tashi. Local Tibetan officials in Jawalakhel,including Mr. Tsering Tobgyal Rusur and Mr. Lobsang Nyima,supported the survey effort by giving the authors full access tothe carpet factory and settlement, and by providing crucialinformation on the organization and operation of the HandicraftCenter and its relationship to the settlement.

Two lists obtained through the Jawalakhel Handicraft Centerand local Tibetan officialS provided the basis for systematicallysurveying the Tibetan population in Jawalakhel. One listincluded the 193 Handicraft Center employees the majority ofwhom live in the Jawalakhel settlement. Another listed the 78non-settlement Tibetan heads of households in Jawalakhel, basedon the exiled government’s voluntary tax roll. Starting with arandom name on each list, every nth name was selected apredetermined number of respondents was selected from each list.

Lobsang Nyima, op. cit.

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In order to ensure adequate representation in the surveybetween refugees living in the settlement and those who had movedout of the camp, the survey design was to sample these two groupsseparately. Since the lists did not correspond exactly withsettlement resident and settlement-departer populations, twentyrespondents were surveyed on each list with the goal of findingten respondents that fit into the two desired categories. As aresult, from a total of 39 useable surveys, twelve respondentswere settlement residents working in the Handicraft Center, andeleven respondents were former settlement residents now inprivate business. Another ten respondents had never lived in thesettlement. Characteristics of the respondents are given inFigure i.

Two Tibetantranslators, one a campresident, were ofinvaluable assistancefor identifying,locating andcommuni’cating withsurvey respondents,many of whom spoke onlythe Tibetan language.These assistants wereinstructed to letrespondents answer allquestions freely, andto avoid "puttingwords" into theirmouths.

Surveyquestionnaires werepre-tested and

Private Employment

Never Resident Former Resident

Current Resident 8

//

12 2

Current 8eeldent Former Reeldent

Handicraft Center Employment

Figure i. Number of survey respondentsby employment and residence insettlement

modified. Individual surveys lasted from 20 .minutes up to onehour. Heads of households or their spouses were surveyed. Onlya few Tibetans refused to participate in the survey for health orother personal reasons. Of the forty Tibetans surveyed, however,all were enthusiastic and. willing respondents., answering allquestions. Only one survey was discarded because of therespondent’s inability to provide information Concerning rent andincome, etc.

The survey focused on three general areas: (I) backgroundand flight from Tibet; (2) educational background, employment,and residence history since leaving Tibet; (3) and expectationsand desires for their children growing up in Nepal. About halfof the survey consisted of questions with qualitative ordescriptive rather than quantitative answers, such as why did yousettle in Nepal, do you prefer living in the settlement, what are

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the most important subjects for your children to study in school?Although open-ended, answers to these questions were grouped intocategories listed on the survey form. In this way commonresponses could be counted.

COMPARISON OF SETTLEMENT RESIDENTS AND SETTLEMENT DEPARTERS

In the three decades that Tibetan refugees have spent awayfrom Tibet and their varying degrees of integration into the hostcountry provide a unique setting for looking at how refugees makethe transition from refugee settlement to self-settlement in aparticular location. As noted above, 12 of the 39 respondentswere settlement residents currently employed in the HandicraftCenter, and Ii were settlement departers employed in privatebusiness. Comparing these two groups provides the basis forconsidering the process of and motivation for departure from thesettlement.

Demoqraphics and standard of livinq

The survey results show no statistically significantdifference in the ages of the respondents (who in most cases wereheads of their respective households), despite the expectationthat settlement departers might be a younger group on average.This result is consistent with the findings of Heslop whoanalyzed a census of Jawalakhel in 1989 which found that

settlemen and non-settlement residents had similar demographicprofiles. The average age of heads of households amongsettlement residents and settlement departers found in thecurrent survey are shown in Table i.

Table i. Average Ages of RespondentsGroup Average High Low

Settlement Resident

Settlement Departer

47 74 23

41 50 31

In addition, the survey results show no difference betweenthe two groups with regard to when they departed Tibet. Nearlyall respondents in these two groups who fled Tibet left between1957 and 1962. Thus the survey results indicate that settlementresidents and settlement departers are approximately from thesame one or two generations of people who fled Tibet as childrenor young adults.

I0 Heslop, op. cir.

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Number of respondents by group10

1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 25Years spent in refugee settlement

Resident Departer

Figre 2. Duration of residence in refuqee settlement

There is no consistent pattern in the number of years spentin refugee settlements among those who eventually departed fromthe settlement. Two stayed in the settlement for over 25 yearsbefore leaving, while three spent ten years or less. Themajority, six, spent between ii and 20 years in refugeesettlements before departing. The majority of respondentscurrently residing in the settlement have been there for greaterthan 25 years. In other words, given the thirty years that haveelapsed since they left Tibet, settlement resident heads ofhouseholds have lived virtually their whole lives outside ofTibet in the refugee settlement. The distribution of /lumber ofyears lived in the refugee settlement is given in Figure 2.

Average household size is significantly larger forsettlement departel-s as shown in Table 2. Yet, the degree ofcrowding, in terms of number of persons per room per household,is three times higher in the settlement.

Table 2. Average IIousehold size and Average Number of Personsper RoomGroup Household Slze Persons/R6om

Settlement Resident 4 3.6

Settlement Departer 7 1.2

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Survey results concerning household size are perhapsindicative of diverging patterns of behavior between thesettlement residents and settlement departers. Departers’households include extended family members, while settlementresidents’ households are nuclear in composition. Specifically,73 percent of settlement departers’ households contained one ormore extended family member (i.e., grandparents, siblings, niecesor nephews, grandchildren, etc.), while 83 percent of settlementresidents’ households had no extended family members.

Moreover, by studying census data, Heslop recorded a crudebirth rate between May 1988 and April 1989 of 14.3 per 1,000 forJawalakhel Settlement residents, approximately half that of thecrude birth rate of 27.8 per 1,000 for Tibetan residents livingin the Lalitpur areafl (The census excluded Tibetans who hadNepali citizenship.) Although further study is required,taken together these findings are a tentative indication thatspace and economic constraints experienced in the settlement havehad an impact on household composition and family size.

While all respondents have electricity, plumbing in thesettlement consists of outdoor and communal water faucets andlatrines. In contrast, I0 settlement departers (91 percent) haveprivate indoor plumbing facilities.

Employment and income

Economically, settlement and non-settlement refugees inJawalakhel are dependent almost exclusively on the carpetindustry. However, settlement residents and settlement departershave significantly different roles in the carpet industry. Themajority, or eight of the eleven settlement departers, own or co-own either a carpet factory or carpet sales shop. Of these eightowners, four said that they export carpets as well as sell in thelocal market. Of the remaining three, one is a carpet storemanager, another works for the Tibetan government, and a third isretired and receives income from rental property.

In contrast, it is required that at least one member of eachsettlement family work in the Handicraft Center. Of the 12Handicraft Center employees living in the settlement, 9 areinvolved in the production of carpets knotting carpets,spinning wool, dyeing wool, balling wool, etc. They are paid ona piece-work basis. The other three are involved in thebookkeeping and sales aspects of the Handicraft Center, andreceive a salary. Figure 3. illustrates the differences in job

ii Ibid. Heslop lists the average family size within the Jawalakhelsettlement as 4.7 people, compared with 5.7 people in the average Tibetan familyliving in the surrounding area.

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Owner/Co-owner of factoryor shop

Other

Settlement Departers

Carpet production work

Settlement Residenl:s

Figure 3. "DiEferences in types oE’ empi0yment’ among ’refuggroups

types and level of responsibility between those in privateemployment ("settlement departers") and those working at thehandicraft center ("settlement residents.")-

With regard to income, the survey shows that settlementdeparters enjoy much higher household incomes on average thansettlement residents. This is in keeping both with their rolesin the carpet industry as managers and owners of carpet factoriesand shops, and with the higher average number of workers persettlement departer household (three workers as opposed to twoper settlement resident household). Figure 4 compares thedistribution of total household monthly income between settlementresidents and those who have left.

Taking into account the slightly larger average householdsize as noted above, settlement departers household incomes perperson are still significantly higher, as shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Average Monthly Household Income per Person

Group Average High Low(Nepali Rupees)

Settlement Resident 311 1,500 38

Settlement Departer(3Z NKs. 1 US Dollar)

2,604 7,500 250

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Nep, Rs./Mnth

499

500-999

1,000-3,999

4,000-6,999

7,000-9,999

>- 10,000

0 1 2 3 4Number of respondents by group

Resident Departer

Figure 4. Distribution of monthly household income in NepaliRupees (32 NRs. 1 US Dollar)

Nepali citizenship either of head of household or spouse washigh among settlement departers. Nepali citizenship probably cameafter departure from the camp because of the difficulty and high

m ans of obtaining citizenship wascost although the timing andnot ascertained by the survey. The utility of Nepalicitizenship for Tibetans is business-related. Citizenship isrequired for property ownership, private business, foreign traveland export-capability

As a result, there is no utility for Nepali citizenship forsettlement residents. Not surprising therefore is the resultthat no settlement residents were Nepali citizens. Settlementresidents expressed a desire not to become Nepali citizens,preferring to remain in their words, "pure Tibetan," waiting fortheir chance to return to a "free Tibet." The absence ofcitizenship among settlement residents versus the high proportion

12 Nepali citizenship legally can be obtained by proving that one’s fatherwas a Nepali citizen, or by renouncing your own citizenship and by passing aseries of tests after residing in Nepal for 15 years. Many Tibetans appear tohave been able to obtain citizenship by paying money to Nepali governmentofficials, but the cost is rumored to be 20,000 Rupees (US $625) or higher.

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of citizens among settlement departers is shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Incidence of Nepali Citizenship among SettlementResidents and Settlement Departers

Group Number Percent

Settlement Resident

Settlement Departer

0 0

8 73

Although it was hypothesized that valuables brought fromNepal may have played a role in providing capital for making atransition out of the settlement (i.e., starting a business,providing for special training, etc.), the survey resultsindicate that this was not the case. Few respondents in eithergroup noted bringing anything of value with them from Tibet.Each respondent was specifically asked about such items as cash,jewelry, Thanka religious paintings, animals, hand-knottedcarpets, and other hous4hold items.

Of those bringing valuables out, all respondents indicatedthat the valuables had been sold. For example, allsettlement residents and five settlement departers indicated thatthey had sold their valuables for subsistence purposes during thetime of their flight and before settling at Jawalakhel. (However,among the six survey respondents in private business who neverlived in the settlement, one did invest proceeds from the sale ofvaluables brought from Tibet in business.) The incidence of.bringing valuables from Tibet is shown in Table 5.

Jawalakhel settlement officials provide no formal creditstructure or other assistance to settlement residents who wish toestablish private businesses outside of the camp. Departure fromthe settlement instead is linked to specific job opportunitiesoutside of the IIandicraft Center or the opportunity to live with

Table 5. Number o[ Respondents who brought Valuable HouseholdItems from Tibet and Reasons Valuables were Sold

Brouql]t Valuables Rason SoldGroup No. % of Group Subsistence Investment

SettlementResident 2 17 1 0

Settlementpeparter.. 6 55 5.The other respondent said that valuables were taken at theborder with Nepal.

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relatives who have established themselves outside of the camp.

Nonetheless, settlement departers who stayed in theJawalakhel area typically remained in the carpet industry, with ahigh proportion moving into positions of ownership of factoriesand/or retail shops The Handicraft Center thus appears to playa key role in providing training and familiarity with the carpetindustry, thereby contributing to the economic success ofTibetans who leave the settlement.

Education

Among the clearest differences between settlement residentsand settlement departers are the incidence and level of education(number of years of formal schooling), the incidence of literacyin Tibetan, and speaking ability and literacy in other languages.These results are shown in Tables 6 and 7.

Table 6. Literacy in Tibetan and Incidence and Average Years ofFormal Education by Group

Literacy Percentrate of withrespondents formal(percent) , Education

Average Yearsof education(those withschooling)

Settlement Resident 67 42 6

.ettlement Departer 91 73 I0Literacy in Tibetan was interpreted loosely as tl%e ability to

read Tibetan prayer books, which accounts for the high ratesfound.

Table 7. Additional Languages Spoken and Literacy by Group

Nepali EnglishGroup Spoken Literacy Spoken Literacy

(Percent)

Settlement Resident 42 17 25 25

Settlement Departer I00 55 91 73,uiteracy in Dtn cases was Oeined simply as the ability toread the language.

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Because of the use of systematic sampling, the results ofthis comparison can be taken to be representative for thoserefugees living in the Jawalakhel area. Given the differenthistories and services provided in other settlements in Nepal, itis likely that surveys in those areas would reveal differentresults concerning departure from refugee settlements. However,the significant differences between settlement residents andsettlement departers found in Jawalakhel provide useful referencepoints for such future inquiries both in the context of Nepal andamong other refugee communities elsewhere.

ASPIRATIONS AND NEEDS AS EXPRESSED BY TIBETANS THEMSELVES

Expressed Needs

Like most refugee populations, the Tibetans in theJawalakhel area are keenly aware of the needs of their community.The survey thus included a series of qualitative questions aboutthe needs and aspirations of the Tibetan people. The questionswere open-ended (i.e. "What is the greatest need of the Tibetanpeople in Jawalakhel?") and open to wide-ranging interpretation.Nonetheless, the answers were surprisingly consistent, making itpossible to summarize the following results.

These results are representative of all 39 respondentsinterviewed, including settlement residents, settlementdeparters, and Tibetans in the Lalitpur area who never lived in arefugee camp. No distinction was made between settlementresidents and settlement departers as in the above sections. Norwere respondents limited to a single answer.

Improved educational facilities and lower school fees werecited most often as the greatest need for the community, as shownin Figure 5. The majority of non-settlement residents send theirchildren either to Nepali private schools or to Tibetan schoolsin India despite recent construction of a new primary school inJawalakhel and a Tibetan-run high school in Kathmandu. Althoughnot part of this survey, informal discussions with respondentssuggest widespread belief among those living outside of thesettlement that camp schools are inferior to private Nepalischools. In contrast, many camp residents who send theirchildren to the settlement schools expressed concern about risingschool fees.

Housing and sanitation also rank high among the expressedneeds of Tibetans, reflecting the lack of space and indoorplumbing within the settlement. In contrast, a relatively lowpercentage of respondents listed improved medical care as apressing need in the community. This may reflect thesubsidization of medical care for all Tibetan refugees and thecompletion of a new medical clinic in the community, which

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Educatio.

Housing

Free Tibet

Sanitation

Money

Medical

0 2

(10%)

(16%)

4 6 8 10 12Number of respondents (Percent)

(38%)

14 16

Figure 5. Greatest needs expressed by Tibetan refugees

provides both Western and traditional Tibetan medicine.Moreover, as Heslop suggests, a large percentage of Jawalakhelresidents 3seek medical assistance at the nearby PatanHospital.

AspirationsDespite successful development of the carpet industry, the

Tibetans in the Jawalakhel area expressed strong desires fortheir children to pursue careers outside of the textile business.One-third of the respondents said they wanted their children tobecome doctors, while others expressed hope that their childrenwill become engineers or clerical/business workers. Less thanone-fifth of the respondents expressed a desire to have theirchildren remain in the carpet industry, and most of thosespecified a desire to have their children .in sales or exportsrather than production. Despite strongly stated desires forimproved educational facilities, only ten percent said they hoped

13 Heslop, o_ cir., p. 6. Lack of expressed concern over medicalfacilities in the Jawalakhel area is in contrast to preliminary findings ofexploratory survey work conducted by authors in the Swambu Tibetan neighborhoodof Kathmandu.

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Tibetan Language

English Lnguge

Math/Sienoe

Nepali Language

Business

History

(13%)!

0 5 10 16 20 25 30 35Number of Respondents (Percent)

Figure 6. Educational priorities for children identified byrespondents

their children would become teachers. An equal number indicateda preference for having their children work for the Tibetangovernment in exile. Only one respondent expressed a desire forhaving a child become a monk, although it is traditional that atleast one child from every family is placed in a monastery atanearly age. Figure 6 presents the employment aspirations thatrespondents expressed for their children.

The desire to preserve Tibetan culture and tradition wasreflected in responses to questions about school curriculum,shown in Figure 8. Nearly three-quarters of the respondentscited Tibetan language and culture as the most important subjectsfor children to learn in school. More than half cited theEnglish language as one of the most important subjects to betaught in school, compared with only i0 percent who said theNepali language should be learned. This suggests a relativelylow desire for integration into the Nepali community.

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CONCLUSIONS

Prevailing wisdom in refugee studies focuses on theestablishment of camps as a sometimes-necessary evil. Often,such settlements are designed for the convenience ofinternational assistance organizations by making it easy todeliver assistance and exert control over refugee populations.The drawback of the approach is the creation of long-termdependency by refugees on aid donors and isolation from the hostcountry culture.

The history of the Jawalakhel settlement is one ofsuccessful transfer from dependence on foreign aid providers toTibetan management. A large portion of this success is due tothe development of a profitable carpet industry. Tibetanrefugees in Nepal also benefitted from a cooperative hostgovernment that initially provided free land and has a policy ofnon-taxation on carpet exports. Moreover, they also participatedin unique foreign assistance programs that envisioned a self-sufficient settlement that would provide employment and educationas well as assistance to the refugees.

Doctor

Engineer

Non-textile Business

Textile Business

Teacher

Government

Writer

Monk

(10%)i

(10%i

(21%i

t18%)

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Number of Respondents (Percent)

Figure 7. Desirable professions for their children cited byrespondents

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Within that context, the results of this survey suggest thatthe Jawalakhel settlement has had both positive and negativeimpacts on the lives of Tibetan refugees, and particularly ontheir ability to become economically self-reliant. The continuedoperation and expanding service role of the camp, some thirtyyears after its creation, can be interpreted both in terms ofself-perpetuation and as responsive to the very real needs ofTibetans living in exile without government services.

The results presented above suggest that the servicesavailable to settlement residents, especially the assistance foreducation, have contributed to some residentsability toestablish successful businesses outside of the settlement. Thetraining function of the camp is. reflected by the high number ofsettlement departers who remain in the carpet industry.

For other Tibetans, however, the survey results indica-tethat wages and work at the Handicraft Center probably serve tobind refugees to the settlement, constraining their financialresources and the development of non-carpet vocational skillsamong those with aptitude for other occupations. Households withmore than one wage-earner, however, often appear to keep onefamily member employed at the Handicraft Center with itsassociated housing and social benefits while other familymembers establish outside businesses. In contrast, single peopleor families with only one wage earner appear to have moredif[iculty making the leap from Handicraft Center employment tooutside businesses and self-settlement.

Other than educational support, Tibetans seeking thevocational training and capital to invest in businesses outsideof the settlement must rely on themselves. A few settlementdeparters indicated that they had borrowed from relatives andacquaintances on an interest-free basisin order to startbusinesses outside of the settlement. Credit and other financialaspects of the specific transition from the settlement to outsidewere not explored in this survey. It remains a point of inquirywhether more services could be provided that would enablerefugees to support themselves outside of the settlement if theyare capable and desirous of doing so. Is the. a role for acamp-related savings institution that could provide investmentcapital to Tibetans? What legal and other constraints to thisexist in the context of Nepal?

Education appears to be a strong determinaTof who willleave the settlement. Literacy, multiple language skills andsecondary schooling all were correlated with settlementdeparture. It is likely that the settlement departer’s abilityto succeed in private business was aided by higher levels ofeducation, generally obtained in Nepal or India during the periodthey or their parents were living in the settlement.

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In this context, it is important to note the trend amongeconomically successful Tibetans in Nepal to send their childrento private schools in Nepal or India, potentially widening theeducational and economic gap between camp residents and Tibetanswho live outside the settlement. Although not fully explored bythis survey, many Tibetans who send their children abroad forschooling expressed dissatisfaction with teaching in Tibetan-runschools in Nepal. For settlement residents, however, school feesand related expenses were cited as the greatest obstacle to post-primary school education for their children.

Not all Jawalakhel settlement residents expressed a desireto leave the settlement. The survey results reinforced bythe perceptions of the Tibetan settlements residents indicatethat the camp and Handicraft Center provide a social safety netfor those refugees who are not able or motivated to adapt to andachieve economic independence in Nepal. The holistic structureof the settlement, including a job, school, medical carhousing, and provision for retirement ensures a basic standard ofliving for camp residents/ handicraft center employees.(Unfortunately, due to its small size, the camp cannotaccommodate all those who would prefer to live there, and thussome Tibetans living in the Lalitpur area may have an even lowerstandard of living.) In addition, the camp and handicraft centerhave been the setting for the development of service institutions

Snow Lion Foundation, medical center, etc. which serve thewider (non-settlement) community as well.

Finally, the settlement acts as vehicle for preservingTibetan language and cultural heritage in exile, serving as thesite of traditional Tibetan holiday celebrations and meetingplace for all Tibetans in the Jawalakhel area. The settlementthus serves as a bridge for the transfer of cultural historybetween generations, as well as between Tibetans who remain inthe camp and those who leave.

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Received in Hanover 7/11/91

Special thanks to Tenzin Samphel (top) and Kelsanq Dolma(bottom) for their invaluable assistance on this survey,serving as translators, guides and friends.