Dhan Bhuljal is a 79 year old retired farmer and master carpenter originally from Bhutan (Rodgers and Umunna 2017, Path to Empowerment, pp. 22-23). He and his large multi-generational family lived in a refugee camp in Nepal for many years awaiting permission to come to the United States as U.S. State Department-approved refugees. They now live in triple decker apartments in East Worcester; his grown children are employed in the standard Worcester economy and the grandchildren all go to public school. Dhan’s children and grandchildren are fluent in English. Dhan uses bamboo to make mouth harps, flutes, winnowing trays and fish weirs, which are all sold through RAW at local craft fairs or online. He chatted with us at length in summer 2017 in the main room of his sunny apartment, with various younger relatives walking in and out. The room was decorated with paper streamers from a recent birthday celebration in the family.
In Bhutan, Dhan and his family owned a farm with many livestock animals. The Bhutanese government had turned extremely nationalistic by the 1990s and deemed the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese community to be outsiders and even, eventually, non-citizens. This despite the fact that the Nepali-speaking residents of the country had lived in Bhutan for hundreds of years. To save their lives from government threats Dhan and his community members were forced to flee to United Nations’-sponsored refugee camps over the border in Nepal. This meant that Dhan had to leave his farm animals behind; he mourns them still. He also regrets losing his high social status as a master carpenter who “could build anything.” This type of loss of status often affects older refugees now resettling in Worcester. As their access to formal schooling was often limited in their countries of origin, they have found it difficult to get well-paid jobs in Worcester, which now has an economy powered by biotechnology and advanced healthcare jobs, along with ones in the city’s many higher education institutions.
Despite these losses Dhan takes pleasure in working with bamboo with a hand chisel and whittling knife in his home, During the 2017 fieldwork interview Ellen Ferrante, Martina Umunna, and I were talking with him about his bamboo craft work. As Martina and I took photographs Dhan presented Ellen with a newly-carved mouth harp, which can emit a keening sound if the player holds the little harp with just the right amount of tautness. Dhan knew that this was a skill that was almost impossible for a neophyte to quickly master. He laughed when Ellen flubbed up her attempts to make the mouth harp sing. Martina and I said that neither of us could do any better.
Dhan Bhuljal no longer makes crafts as he moves into his senior years.
