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SALT LAKE CITY — You may not realize it, but Utah has a growing population of refugees who are coming to Utah to escape conflict.
For the past seven years, Gyanu Dulal has called Utah home. After living for nearly 20 years in a refugee camp, he had to flee his native country of Bhutan. On Friday he addressed a conference for local charities on how to help refugees resettle. From his own experience, he believes this is the best way to help refugees feel welcome.
"I had to start a new life in a new place, which is totally strange," Dulal said. "Talking to them and showing them how it works over here and helping them in their day-to-day life. Maybe just being a friend walking them through will really help."
The charities involved include Catholic Community Services, LDS Charities, International Rescue Committee, and the Refugee and Immigrant Center of the Asian Association of Utah.
Sharon Eubank is the director of LDS Charities, which co-sponsored the conference with the AMAR Foundation. Both organizations share a goal of transitioning refugees from combat zones.
"What is happening right now in the world is unprecedented with refugees," Eubank said. "There's more refugees right now than at any time since World War II. These people have been through sometimes unspeakable things and the fact is that only one percent of these refugees get settled. They have been through a lot to be here."
While donations are needed to support refugees, volunteers are critical in helping the estimated 30,000 refugees now living in the Salt Lake Valley to be successful in establishing a new home, learning English, helping them find a job and just being a friend.
"The focus is at an individual level," Eubank said. "'How can I help, what can I do to help,' and so we are trying to create new thinking, new ways of thinking and helping people think. That's something I can be involved in."
LDS Charities invited Baroness Emma Nicholson, from Britain, the president of AMAR Foundation, which focuses on humanitarian efforts in the Middle East, to be the keynote speaker on the global refugee crisis.
"We recognize that most people want to stay at home but they want a reasonable, decent life," Nicholson said.
Nicholson said it's up to humanity to help give those who have suffered and lived in fear a second chance.
"The world is full of movement of the poor, the oppressed, weary and the tortured to what they see as safer places and we must welcome them."
