Strength in community

Most American family histories include immigration stories. Here is Dhan Timsina’s:

Dhan’s family was settled in New Hampshire from Bhutan by the U.S. State Department. He got a landscaping job (and a driver’s license) while he was still in high school, and drove relatives to their landscaping jobs.

After high school, he worked multiple jobs — as a personal care attendant for people with developmental disabilities, a manager for an in-home care organization, operator of a small grocery. His income helped his siblings go to college.

Now, Dhan runs a company providing in-home care services for elders and people with disabilities in Concord and an adult-care center in Hooksett. His wife is a nurse, they own their Concord home. Dhan was named one of the Union Leader’s “40 Under 40” young leaders in New Hampshire.

Dhan credits a large part of his sense of community, connection and success to Building Community in New Hampshire, a nonprofit started by Bhutanese refugees to help one another.

“I would not be here today if BCNH was not here,” Dhan says. He now serves as the nonprofit’s board chair.

BCNH has helped hundreds of people make community connections, build belonging in a new land, and find jobs and housing. The organization expanded its initial mission, extending services to help immigrants from all over the world.

Rajesh Chauwan, also originally from Bhutan, now runs a much-needed adult-care center in Concord. Suraj Budathoki serves in the legislature. Mir, from Afghanistan, was recently promoted at Pitco Frialator. Marina, who was a pharmacist in Ukraine, worked third shift in a factory while she learned English, and is now working as a dental assistant. The Foundation and generous donors are longtime supporters of BCNH and other organizations that help immigrants build belonging in the Granite State.

“I am proud to be giving back to the community,” Rajesh said.

But immigrant families, many of whom now have deep community roots in New Hampshire, are living in a new climate of fear. BCNH is providing advocacy and support to help people navigate this perilous time.

Dhan’s family was made stateless by the government of their country of origin. He was 22 days old when his family fled across the border on foot and then across part of India to Nepal on a flatbed truck.

When the family was resettled in Concord, they finally had a place to confidently call “home.”

Dhan’s father looked at his son one recent morning and asked, “Are we getting deported, too?”

“No,” said Dhan. “No…”