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Khara Timsina knows personally how hard it can be to settle into a new country. Timsina, who is Bhutanese, was born in Bhutan and became a refugee in Nepal in 1992.
In 2009 he moved to the United States through a resettlement program, first landing in New York City, then making his way to Pittsburgh eight months later in search of a better cost of living.
The latter move brought him into contact with other Bhutanese refugees, and led to him becoming a plank of the community.
When he arrived in Pittsburgh, he noticed Bhutanese residents were holing up in their apartments rather than getting out and meeting people. His attempt to change that snowballed into the Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh.
BCAP, founded in 2012, offers various education courses, like English literacy programs, and provides support as immigrants transition into American society.
Timsina is one of the founding members and still active in the organization.
These efforts earned him a nomination for our PA Local Heroes series, sponsored by Ballard Spahr.
The organization started with language classes to help arrivals navigate a new country, and later offered courses on citizenship. And even after people take their oaths, Timsina and BCAP are there to help the new citizens with the next major step of matriculating — voting.
From helping people register to making sure they are able to get to the polls by providing transportation, BCAP works to meet its members’ voting needs.
Timsina said that about 95% of the people supported by their organization have become naturalized citizens and that most adults are registered to vote.
A large part of that success can be attributed to Timsina’s devotion, according to Leslie Aizenman, a BCAP board member.
“It's his passion and the commitment to his community, and it's paying off,” Aizenman said. “It's really incredible how well many [refugees and immigrants] are doing.”
Aizenman said that because of Timsina and BCAP, refugee families are getting jobs, buying houses, and sending their children to college.
But Timsina believes that he plays only a small role in the organization’s work.
“He really deflects attention from himself,” Aizenman told Spotlight PA. She said that when Timsina told her about the nomination, he insisted that the focus be on the organization, not him.
He also told this to Spotlight PA.
“I would rather prefer a spotlight on the organization, because I'm only a small portion of the team that work here and my colleagues play a very important role to get things moving,” Timsina said.
“He wants the community to shine,” Aizenman added.
Right now, BCAP has six fulltime staffers. Timsina hopes they can expand and one day have their own community center instead of their current setup sharing a building with medical offices.
Timsina said the number of people arriving in Pittsburgh through federal immigration and refugee programs has dropped during the current Trump administration and he anticipates the number to stay low.
“But still, those who come, we want to be here to help them,” Timsina said.
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