The speaker narrates his 19- year long journey as a refugee from Bhutan to Nepal to the United States. The speaker sees possibilities amid predicaments, hope amid despair, and life amid death. He tries to bring the point home that with hard work and a positive outlook to life, no problems are permanent and he envisions of a world where all men, women and children have a place to call home. The speaker reveals the casualties of Bhutan's Gross National Happiness in that he and over one hundred thousand Bhutanese citizens were forced into being refugees by the Bhutan government in the early 1990's under its policy of cultural homogenization - "One nation, One people."

Madap Sharma is a former refugee from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. He fled his home country in 1992 to escape the cultural and ethnic cleansing policy of one nation one people perpetrated by the Drukpa regime. Madap experienced life's oddities as a refugee in Nepal for 19 years and his struggle for education and for the education of children in Nepal has been quite a story. He pursued higher education while living as a refugee, became an educator, founded an English school primarily for educating girls and contributed for English Education in Nepal. He was the recipient of one of the highest civilian honors conferred unto him by the State head of Nepal. Upon resettling to the US in early 2010, Madap worked as ESL faculty in Maryland, Virginia and later in Philadelphia. He worked with Unaccompanied Refugee Minors and also founded an ethnic community organization in Philadelphia. Currently, he serves as refugee resettlement director for Bethany Christian Services in Lancaster, PA.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx