To be able to see his wife and children again, Tashi took up two jobs and saved almost every penny he earned over the three years he worked at Salt Lake's Black Diamond Equipment Ltd. and Benihana of Tokyo restaurant.
And Tuesday afternoon, after almost four years of being apart, the joyful reunion came as Tashi's wife, Dawala Dolma, and his two children, Tsering Namgyal and Tsering Dolma, arrived in Salt Lake City from Nepal via San Francisco."We are so happy to be together again," Tashi said, beaming from ear to ear, tears on the faces of his family.
"I cannot explain my feelings. I am glad to be here," Dawala Dolma said through interpreter Phurbu Tsering of Salt Lake City.
Tashi, his only name, said he left his family and native land in 1992 and was one of 75 Tibetans to first emigrate to Utah when the U.S. Resettlement Office announced the state would be one of seven "cluster sites" for the relocation of 1,000 Tibetans.
American relief projects have helped ease the masses of Tibetan refugees living in overflow settlements in India and Nepal after fleeing oppressive Chinese forces that ruled Tibet for decades.
Along with Tashi's family, another family also arrived in Salt Lake City. Lobsang Youten came to Utah with his wife, Tsering Dolma, and their 8-year-old son Tenzin Pasang and baby boy Tenzin Kharb.
Salt Lake attorney Brent Manning, at the airport Tuesday with his wife, Chris, and other friends, welcomed Tashi's and Youten's families. Manning, part of a group of Utahns who have climbed the Himalayas, is hosting the families while they find permanent residence in Utah. Eventually, all of the Tibetans will become naturalized U.S. citizens.
"My interest for being here is for the people," Manning said, who in 1990 climbed Mount Everest as part of a record-setting 20-member international peace group that hiked the summit. "And I'm here because of the resettlement project."
The Utah Tibet Support Group and the Utah Tibetan Association have worked with Tibetan families to raise money and complete paperwork required for the immigration of spouses and children.
As many as 100 Tibetans will come to Utah by the end of the year, according to the Utah support group, more than doubling the number of Tibetans in the state.