Nepali-origin Bhutanese refugees, have the same background such as culture, tradition, language  as the Nepali-Americans already residing in Chicago, US. When the Nepali-origin Bhutanese arrived fresh around the Chicagoland region with unknown culture and system, we felt very close to them and supported them based on their individual requirements.  Many refugees as well as NAC members understood their initial challenges in a new culture including challenges in communicating with native speakers and other inconveniences like economic challenges. Therefore, NAC volunteers in Chicago started offering different kinds of support and advice to the Nepali-Bhutanese refugees. Schooling to children, translation service to agencies, computers, training for driving licenses, etc. are among the types of help provided. As the refugees  settled and became familiar with the new environment, they started helping themselves and their fellow newcomers. This fostered relationships among all of us and provided directions for addressing common needs and challenges while settling in a new country. One notable activity NAC undertook was to provide a working computer to help the newly settled refugees.. Many NAC community members had spare usable computers lying in their home while others reached out to their employers to see if they could help by providing some computers to the refugees.Computer savvy skilled NAC members joined their hands to assemble and refurbish the computers. These computers were distributed appropriately to the needy ones along with basic training for operating the computers and preparing resumes and letters.

Virtual meetings for positive lifestyle during Covid19 Pandemic Apart from its regular activities, members of Nepali American Center (NAC)  started year 2020 with renewed fervor after successfully organizing Nepali Mela 2019, a historic event in Chicago. Its board members showed greater zeal for the need of accelerating activities in raising funds for building a long-cherished Nepalese (should we remove Nepalese?)  facility in Chicago. This new / rekindled vow dealt a serious impairment shortly after. As early as March 2020, the spread of Covid19 pandemic needed a national lockdown to safeguard the health and welfare of the people in the USA and abroad. Offices, business, educational institutions, transportations, and everything else were shut down. Our new year resolutions and other planned families’ activities encountered abrupt uncertainty. This also hindered all our daily routine life indefinitely. Many businesses started closing. People’s mobility came to a grinding halt, and they started panicking for daily supply of food and other household essentials goods. Shops selling daily consumer and household products began to have empty shelves as people began grabbing items wherever they could find. Everything became chaotic. Our only way of remaining in touch with community members was limited to phone calls and evolving pandemic news across the country and the world through TV and other media channels. We were constrained avoiding the crowds as much as possible even in walking out in the nature. All of us were perplexed with the fear and potential threats to life without any knowledge on how quickly the contagious virus may spread and infect. None of us feel any good with these restrictions and may never forget. Fortunately, how to deal with this situation to prevent from infection slowly started to emerge. Social distancing, use of masks, washing hands and minimizing exposers were advised by the scientists and doctors. But the most baffling thing witnessed even in such a terrifying time was to see a lot of people not trusting the potential threats of the pandemic in its face value calling it hoax while witnessing ever increasing number of people admitted in the hospital affected by Covid day by day and growing number of deaths in front of their own eyes. Apart from interruption of conventional working in office premises, attending educational institutions, operating businesses, it also brought our regular and occasional social, cultural, and religious gatherings to a halt. While all of us were stung and fearful from it with unknown implications and health danger, the economic challenges put all of us also in a precarious condition with constant anxiety. Life for all of us, like everyone around the world, came to a complete standstill. This has brought us to a standstill with uncertainty in our lives never experienced before. It has threatened families and communities with possible personal and social disorders. By the start of March, it forced us to live our life like in a home arrest. On the one hand we are cut out from everything that was our normal and on the other hand we are struggling to readjust everything for a new normal that nobody knows well. While it was a time of great confusion, it was also very important for all of us to be patient to keep ourselves out of chaos in order to come out of this threat imperviously.  Until then, we must be patiently mindful to adapt for a healthy and balanced daily routine. Among others, inspirations gathered from learning yoga and practicing spirituality will certainly be valuable. Perhaps, God is allowing us this time to pay attention to learn yoga and spirituality and introduce such things in our daily routine permanently. We know from our long ancient spiritual history as well from modern practice that those who practice it as part of their life can face physical and emotional challenges in life with strength and grace. At such a terrifying time, we have no choice except stopping the monthly puja, children’s classes, yoga activities and other planned activities, which was beyond our thoughts. Therefore, NAC volunteers started discussing ideas how can we engage the community somehow? We decided to use technology such as zoom, Facebook, viber etc. to offer virtual programs until the situation resumes normal. Our virtual activities included the following. Continuation of the first Saturday monthly puja from 9:30. We started inviting popular speakers with knowledge in religion and spirituality and bhajan/kirtan singer. Continued the existing monthly puja sponsors to conduct puja according to our religious and social practices. Invited speakers were from Nepal, India and many other across USA. This practice is still continued and will remain until then resumption of normal conditions for the congregation at the temple.  Start of a virtual physical exercise session demonstrating safe body stretches and yoga every second Sunday from 10am. We connected people from Chicago and beyond and invited yoga practitioners from Nepal and across the nation to demonstrate their skills to benefit our viewers. Reach out to more children for more participation for newsletter contributions. We were successful in bringing new essays, poems and arts contributors. Formation of Covid19 team comprising of representatives from all the Nepali social organizations and clubs in Chicago. We raised funds, conducted meetings, reached out to community members influenced by the lockdown and infections, and provided relief support as much as we could. Talent show – A full description of this activity is presented in our special issue of the publication titled “NAC Yearbook 2020 Covid-19 Edition. This memorabilia featured messages from NAC members, articles related to NAC activities of the past, family photos, list of Nepalese businesses in Chicagoland, etc. A number of copies were printed and distributed to the contributing families. Its electronic version can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uISNl_II8Tym55Fa5tR0syCWk0r7UrLp/view?usp=sharing  We requested everyone to help us and participate to keep everyone in the community physically and mentally sound as best as possible. We believe these activities attracted many people with different interest to attend these activities at the comfort of their home. We think it helped to fill … Continue reading Virtual meetings →

Nepali Mela 2019 – summary of events and achievements Nepali American Center (NAC), in collaboration with other local Nepali organizations, organized its third Nepali Mela (Fair) on Saturday June 29, 2019.  It was an attempt to renew cooperation and coordination of all Nepalese in the Chicagoland area in an outdoor setting with specific emphasis on Nepali flavors (not sure what would be the right word here, tradition or culture?. Here were additional objectives of the mela:: To have a fun-filled outdoor event in Chicago pleasant summer time weather. To meet and greet old friends and make new NAC members for interactions and unity. To encourage young and youth members to participate, volunteer, compete in sports events and help interactions and networking among themselves. To allow local, regional and national level social and professional organizations to present their services and welcome new members to join. To provide a platform for local and regional level Nepali or friends of Nepali, Nepali owned business entrepreneurs and owners to advertise and share their success stories. To allow children and adults to show various talents in arts, music, sports, etc. To fulfil such ambitious objectives, we needed very effective planning and execution of the activities. Various elements considered for the success of the events were: Participating organizations for decision makings and volunteer support Event location  to accommodate potential crowd size Activities – stalls for food, arts, sports, entertainment and other so that it will be interesting to attend by all age groups  Financial – ways to cover the potential expenses for such an event Communication and invitations to guests Participating organizations and volunteers: Since it  was an outdoor event and dubbed as Nepali Mela, it should be open to all Nepalese and their friends. So, NAC invited all the Nepali social organizations and Nepali social clubs. Those included : (1) Nepali American Center (2) Chicago Nepali Terrain Society, (3) Newa American Dabu, (4) Chicagoland Tharu Society, (5) Chicagoland Nepali Friendship Society and (6) NRNA USA IL Chapter. In addition (1) Lali Gurans, (2) Dafne Football Club and (3) Himalayan Rhinos were also invited to join the team. Each of these organizations provided volunteers for help in organizing the event. The team also was very successful to identify and bring volunteers with special talents and commitments. Event location and reservation: (Not sure if we need to provide all these details?) The first and foremost thing we did in the early stage was reserving the event site. We reserved Harms Woods area picnic spot initially in early March. But it was changed as per the suggestion from the Cook County Forest Preserve to St. Pauls Woods at Morton Grove area, which is more suitable for larger gatherings like ours, dubbed ‘special event’ by the Forest Preserve. Activities: Food and vendor stalls, art competition, math competition, sports competition, Nepali handicrafts and arts shows, songs and music and DJ were the major ones among some other activities planned. Foods: Several restaurants, volunteers  from participating organizations and individual vendors brought and sold regular Nepali foods and traditional foods such as sel-roti/achar, pani/puri, momo, etc. to provide varieties  of tastes to the attendees. We  received feedback that all the food catered by vendors were reasonably priced and was of good quality. Similarly the food vendors were happy to get reasonable sales of their items due to the large crowd gathered in the Mela. Sports: Tennis (Mens, Womens and Mixed), Soccer (Mens and Children), Ping Pong (Mens, Womens and Mixed) and Volleyball (Mens and Womens) were organized. A large number of Youths from Dafne FC, Himalayan Rhinos and Lali Gurans members enthusiastically participated in these tournaments that were held on the weekends of June 8/9, June 15/16 and June 22/23. Children soccer was held on June 16. 237 (what is this?) youths (men and women) and a large number of children participated in these sports. Whole month of June weekends were exhausting to adults, but self-energizing and motivating to the youths. Organizing sports activities participated by our youths in itself  was a remarkable feat in the Chicago Nepali community. Furthermore, their enthusiasm and positive attitude was in full display during the games, meetings and the Mela event on June 29. It was them who became the glue to bring all of us together and unite for greater meaning of the Mela and display their potential and their character. Music and entertainment: It was really great for us Nepalese communities living in Chicagoland to have very talented singers and musicians. Both men, women and children were able to put together a great variety of songs, music and dance performance to entertain the attendees. A great part of the time at the Mela was spent on their presentations to completely engage the Mela attendees and enjoy. Their talents and their interest to spend a significant amount of time for the preparation was highly commendable. Arts competition: It was always a thorny and challenging aspect of event organizers to engage our children for their productive roles. (Didn’t understand the intention of this sentence, need to simplify a bit) Some very capable talents in arts and good decision makers of the committee members were highly successful to initiate arts competition from our young children of school ages. Twenty-nine children participated in the art competition, which in itself was a big achievement. Their arts and drawings occupied quite some space at the Mela and attracted all the attendees to see their skill and admire their participation. This was another major successful initiative at the Mela. Math competition: American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr) volunteers arranged for a math competition of school age children at the Mela. There were more than 50 students who participated in the competition with great interest. The winners of the competition were awarded medals and certificates by Honorable Congresswoman (from Evanston, Illinois) Jan Schakwoski. This activity was yet another proof of how much our children enjoyed these types of activities and how dedicated the mela volunteers were to hold such an activity. … Continue reading Nepali Mela 2019 →

Deusi-Bhailo programs Nepali American Center (NAC) organizes traditional Deusi-Bhailo programs at or around the festival of Tihar (Deepawali). Accompanied by their parents, young children in traditional Nepali attires participate in this event visiting different community members’ homes door to door. They sing and dance in the deusi-bhailo songs, which are typically initiated by a leader in the group and followed by the rest. Musical instruments such as Madal (Nepali drum) and flute are also played. Traditional cell-roti (sweet) cooked with condiments, fruits and cash are offered to the Deusi-Bhailo players in a decorative form in a nanglo (hand woven tray made from canes). The participating children enjoy the event and the family offering them with presents feel happy to see the children  learning how to play Deusi-Bhailo. Thanks to the volunteers for helping to keep this tradition alive.  In some years,  Deusi-Bhailo event is merged with the our regular Tihar celebration held at a large venue  ध्यौसुरे गीत  आहै ! भन मेरा भाइ हो – ध्यौसुरे   आहै ! राम्ररी भन – ध्यौसुरे श्वोर मिलाईकन – ध्यौसुरे भन न भन – ध्यौसुरे हे ! राम्ररी भन – ध्यौसुरे हे !मेरा भाइ हो – ध्यौसुरे औसीको रातमा – ध्यौसुरे ४ भाइ साथमा – ध्यौसुरे आकाशका तारा – ध्यौसुरे झिलिमिली सारा – ध्यौसुरे हे !रातो माटो – ध्यौसुरे  चिप्लो बाटो – ध्यौसुरे  लड्दै पड्दै – ध्यौसुरे हे !आएका हामि – ध्यौसुरे ए ! ध्यौसी खेल्न – ध्यौसुरे ए !भन न भन – ध्यौसुरे मेरा भाइ हो – ध्यौसुरे      राम्ररी भन – ध्यौसुरे श्वोर मिलाईकन – ध्यौसुरे यो  घर कत्रो – ध्यौसुरे सिंह दरबार जत्रो – ध्यौसुरे दिन्छन दिन्छन – ध्यौसुरे दिनै आँटे – ध्यौसुरे    गाऊ भाइ हो – ध्यौसुरे मै मागी दिउला – ध्यौसुरे आकाशका तारा – ध्यौसुरे  सेल खाने दारा – ध्यौसुरे  हे !आखाम बाखम – ध्यौसुरे  सेलापुरी चाखम – ध्यौसुरे  ए !भन न भन – ध्यौसुरे  ध्युसेरे भन  – ध्यौसुरे      भैली गीत भैलिनी आईन आगन गुनिया चोलो मागन   हे ! औसी को बारो गाई तिहारो भैलो   हरियो  गोबर  ले  लिपेको  लक्ष्मी  पूजा  गरेको  हे !औंसी  को  बारो  गाई  तिहारो  भैलो  हामी  तेसै  आएनौँ    बलि  राजा  ले  पठाको    हे !औंसी को बारो  गाई  तिहारो  भैलो   

Even before calling it Nepali American Center by name, the activities of Nepali American Center started around May 2006. Its formal program started with puja on the first Saturday of June 2006 at Radhey Shyam temple Bloomingdale. NAC members  have been organizing this monthly puja, pravachan, devotional songs (bhajan/kirtan) service regularly on the first Saturday of every month since then. This unique program is attended by 100s of devotees regularly and is widely known  through various means such as publications, presentations at various events, word of mouth from attendees including visiting family members. This event consists of traditional worship as performed in Nepal, spiritual discourses, chanting, devotional songs, and speeches. A Nepali school for the children is also being conducted  in parallel at the temple basement during the event. At the end of the devotional program, a vegetarian Prasad (lunch) is offered to all the attendees. Group of families every month sponsor the Prasad. Donations by devotees are used to defray costs of the services and other programs, including children’s school programs. Distinguished spiritual and social leaders have taken part in the program from time to time. An annual ceremony is held every year in June where children selected for high performance at school, extracurricular activities and writings in NAC’s mouthpiece newsletter Chicago Chautari Times are awarded certificates and gifts. This event has been the core of social interactions among its members. It is one of the core elements for establishing cordial relations among the devotees. This event also offers a platform for meetings with its members to initiate and conduct different social and personal family events. Building a Nepali owned physical facility has been one of the principal voices of NAC volunteers and their supporters. Due to its long service, NAC volunteers have earned credibility and trust from the community to support  the establishment of its own physical facility in Chicago. Various events for collecting funds have already been started. Many community members and other Nepali social organizations in Chicago share and fully support this venture. Building the physical facility will move forward  under the long time NAC’s leadership selfless service and their advocacy for it.