Cold weather hits camp life

Beldangi, December 13: Cold weather is affecting exiled Bhutanese living in seven camps in Jhapa and Morang districts. Children and senior citizens have been hit the hardest.

"Life here has become more troublesome ever since the cold spell began on Monday," Hari Bangale, secretary of the Beldangi refugee camp, said. He added, "Children and senior citizens are coping with shortage of warm clothes."

"The exiled Bhutanese have been compelled to face chilly days and nights because, this year too, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) did not provide them with warm clothes. The UNHCR has stopped distributing warm clothes for the past few years," Adhikari said.

Children living in the camp are refusing to go to the school due to extreme cold. They lack warm clothes. Schoolchildren have no option left except to sit on the floor of their classrooms as there are no desks and benches. Bhutan News Service