TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Chandra Upreti's first 17 years were spent in a refugee camp. In 2008, his family was relocated to Twin Falls, as some of the thousands of people who have been relocated here over 44 years. Now, Upreti has been named as director of the Twin Falls Refugee Center.
- The Twin Falls Refugee Center was, for 43 years, run by the College of Southern Idaho. In January, it moved under the national U.S. Committee on Refugees and Immigrants.
- Chandra Upreti has been named the new director of the center
- Refugees are expected to be self-sufficient, and are commonly placed with partnered employers throughout the Magic Valley.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"From all over the world and for past 44 years, we've been helping out these vulnerable people that are just looking for a place to call home," said Chandra Upreti, newly named director of the Twin Falls Refugee Center.
Refugees have been resettling in Southern Idaho for decades.
The Twin Falls Refugee Center — formerly run by the College of Southern Idaho, now operated by the USCRI — relocating about 200 people a year since the 1980s. Upreti was one of them.
"I came in in 2008," Upreti said. "I've lived in Twin Falls for the last 16 years."
Like most of the refugees resettled in Idaho, Upreti's family spent a long time living in refugee camps, waiting for their name to move to the top of the list.
"I spent 17 years of my childhood in a refugee camp, where I never had access to electricity, flowing water, food insecurity, and many other things that comes into play," Upreti said. "Many of the refugees spend anywhere from 10, 15, 20, sometimes 30 years in refugee camps, just waiting for the process and just being hopeful that one day they would be selected."
Upreti was recently named director of the Twin Falls Refugee Center, overseeing the organization that helps about 200 people relocate to the Magic Valley every year.
He says the main goal for refugees is self-sufficiency.
"They have a place to call at home and they don't take that for granted, that's something that they've never had in their lifetime," Upreti said.
The first step is to find employment, often in food manufacturing
Samuel Nzapalaha arrived in Twin Falls in 2016, 14 years after fleeing war in his home country of Democratic Republic of Congo.
"It was a very heavy snow that year and we have never experienced snow in our life. We only just saw snow on TV," Nzapalaha said."
Nzapalaha now helps new arrivals get oriented for the American work environment, and helps place workers with employers.
With immigration often the subject of political debates, Nzapalaha says he wishes people understood refugees often have no choice but to leave their homes.
"It's okay your neighbor's house is burning," Nzapalaha said. "You say 'come here, I have a place in my house until the situation will be solved.'"
"Credit goes out to all these partners that we have in the community that are that are making this possible," Upreti said. "It takes a village for this resettlement process to work and make it successful."
