Decades later, he would count his blessings, having become citizen of the year in his new hometown nearly 10,000 kilometres away.

Teju Chouhan received Wodonga’s top award in Les Stone Park, a world apart from the Nepalese refugee camp where he dwelt for 17 years from the age of 10.

He was squeezed into a bamboo hut, about the size of an Australian lounge room, with his parents and five siblings.

“There was never a hope I was going to get out, it was like a slow poison, it was like I was going to be there forever,” Mr Chouhan said.

With a stench, from poor sanitation, and malnourished children it was grim.

“You sit by the river and you count the dead bodies,” Mr Chouhan said.

“There was a time as a child I counted 40 dead bodies.

“I said ‘there’s a child and there’s an adult’, that’s how I spent the day in the camps.”

Frustrated at a lack of medical help which saw those with afflictions, such as lung and kidney disease, left to die, Mr Chouhan decided to advocate for change.

As a radio and print journalist he pushed for action to give the penniless a voice.

Since arriving on the Border in 2008, after being given a humanitarian visa, the Bhutanese refugee has continued to help those in need.

“When I got accepted to come to Australia that gave me hope and boundless opportunities,” Mr Chouhan said. “I could see a big, better world.

“The generosity from Australia and the local community is the driver behind my motivation to give back to the community.”

The president of the Border’s Bhutanese Association became the inaugural chairman of the Albury-Wodonga Ethnic Communities Council in 2014 after having fought for its formation over several years.

He works at Wodonga Senior Secondary College as a transition officer helping migrant students and refugees.

In 2015, the husband of Rekha and father of Grace, 2, became an Australian citizen.

Months later he was an invited delegate at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, outlining his role in helping to settle the stateless and what those in Nepal need.

It was a stunning turnaround for the lad who endured more time in a refugee camp than some killers spend in prison.

“People often say this is a land of opportunity and that’s how I see it,” Mr Chouhan said.

“I never dreamt that I would be accepted by a country, be a citizen, get a passport and be a citizen of the year.

“This tells me volumes about if you aspire, if you dream, anything is possible.”