Recently when checking out of the K&W Cafeteria, Crossroads, I smiled, spoke to the cashier and detected a slight accent. I asked where the accent originated; she responded with the name Nepal.
We have probably all heard of Nepal but haven’t bothered to learn more about it. Nepal is an Asian country located between the two largest populations in the world, China on the north and India on the south. The Himalayan mountain range, with the world’s tallest peaks, stretches across the north while the hill country with fertile valleys dominates the center of the country.
The southern border is part of the flat Ganges subtropical plain. Nepal is about the size of Iowa with a population of 30 million, a little larger than that of Texas. The capital city is Kathmandu, population 1.1 million – about the same as Dallas.
This column, however, isn’t about the geography of the country; it’s about the most important asset of every nation, the people. The K&W manager allowed me to interview several employees this past week and the results are interesting; perhaps heartwarming.
A petite employee with a perpetual smile on her face backed by a set of ivories whiter than the snow atop Mt. Everest is named Susmita. She was born in a mud hut in the tiny village of Rasuwa, three hours north of Kathmandu, where several generations of her family have lived. Her grandfather farmed a small acreage, keeping a cow, a couple goats and raised corn, wheat and rice.
Her Mom (Meena) and Dad (Narayan) moved with her sister Asmita and brother Srijan to the capital city both for school and work. While Dad worked for an engineering firm, Susmita attended the Ratnarajya High School. Upon graduation she entered New Summit, a private college.
Susmita entered and won in the 2013 lottery for a U.S. Diversity Visa consisting of one million applicants with 150,000 winners. Approved for acceptance into the U.S.A. in May of 2014, she came to Roanoke a year later, finding temporary residence with a friend of a relative. Susmita, now 20 has found two jobs and enjoys them. She has a ‘green’ card and plans to apply for citizenship in five years.
Chhali came here from Nepal but was born in Bhutan; a Constitutional Monarchy located a few hours east of Nepal between the Assam region of India on the south and China on the north. Although the nation has been isolated for much of its history, it has welcomed tourists since a new constitution was ratified in 2008.
There has been considerable political strife in the country and Chhali, born in 1980, migrated at age nine with her family to Nepal as refugees. She attended Annapurna High School in the city of Morang. Having lived as refugees in a tent for 20 years, the Nepalese government was eager to have them leave the country.
Going through the immigration process, Chhali came to Roanoke in December 2011. Having been in Roanoke for almost four years, Chhali hopes to bring her husband Yagya to the U.S. this November. Her family consists of parents; two brothers and a 91-year-old grandmother who remain in Nepal.
Born in 1989, Nar attended high school through 10 grades in Khudunabari, about an hour’s bus ride from Kathmandu. Nar is married with two daughters and has been in the Roanoke area nearly three years. Her husband Chhabi works full time in a furniture factory while Nar’s mother, Dewaki cares for the daughters Sofiya and Saria aged four and two. Her father, Agam has a full-time job.
There are more than 30 workers, both male and female, who are employed by K&W Crossroads; all seem to be pleased with their jobs. Most have dreams of citizenship after five years and hope to bring family members here to enjoy the freedoms we often take for granted. By coming to the United States these diligent, hard-working folks have shifted their nightmares of adversity to dreams of opportunity.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” – Emma Lazarus (Plaque on The Statue of Liberty)
– Dick Baynton