The Bhutanese Community in Nebraska (BCN) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 in Omaha, Nebraska, serving over 3,500 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees. The community traces its beginning to October 23, 2008, when the family of Tek Gurung became the first Bhutanese refugees to arrive in Nebraska. Led since 2014 by President Bhim Gurung, a serial entrepreneur who is also CEO of Global Business Management and Investment Company, BCN serves a community notable for its religious diversity — Buddhist, Hindu, Kirat/Yayokha, and Christian — and ethnic diversity including Gurung, Tamang, Rai, Subba, Magar, and Biswakarma peoples.
The Bhutanese Community in Nebraska (BCN) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 in Omaha, Nebraska, serving as the primary community institution for over 3,500 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees in the state. BCN was established shortly after the first Bhutanese refugee family — the family of Tek Gurung — arrived in Nebraska on October 23, 2008. The organization is led by President Bhim Gurung, a serial entrepreneur who is also CEO of Global Business Management and Investment Company.
BCN serves a community notable for its religious and ethnic diversity. The Bhutanese in Nebraska encompass four religious groups — Buddhist, Hindu, Kirat/Yayokha, and Christian — and ethnic communities including Gurung, Tamang, Rai, Subba, Magar, Biswakarma, Pradhan, Bhujel, Chhetri, Brahmins, Sherpa, and Mizar peoples, served by over ten religious organizations and more than twenty for-profit businesses.[1]
History
Nebraska's Bhutanese community began on October 23, 2008, with the arrival of the Tek Gurung family of four. These initial arrivals were Lhotshampa who had been expelled from southern Bhutan during the Bhutanese refugee crisis of the early 1990s and had lived in refugee camps in Nepal — including Khudunabari, Timai, Goldhap, Sanichare, and Beldangi I, II, and III — for up to two decades. As more families arrived through the UNHCR resettlement program and through secondary migration from other American cities, a small group of refugees formed BCN in 2009 to provide a common platform for the growing community.
Three resettlement agencies facilitate refugee arrivals in Nebraska: Lutheran Family Services, Catholic Social Services, and the Refugee Empowerment Center. Bhutanese are the second-largest refugee group in Nebraska after Myanmar (4,700+).[2]
Leadership
BCN has been led by four presidents since its founding:
- Dr. Kumar Gurung — First President (pioneering leader)
- Govin Magar — Second President (a former refugee who spent 17 years in camps, later pursuing mechanical engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
- Durga Biswa — Third President
- Bhim Gurung — Fourth President (elected July 2014, currently serving)
The current leadership team includes Vice-President Krishna Subba, General Secretary Suraj Rai, Management Committee Chief Prem Monger, and officers overseeing literacy and employment, sports, and education.[3]
President Bhim Gurung
Bhim Gurung arrived in Omaha on February 4, 2009, with his family, having fled violence in Bhutan and spent nearly two decades in a refugee camp in Nepal. His American career began as a dishwasher at a Mexican restaurant. He subsequently taught at Central High School for two years, served as a Thrive Club Coach, and worked as an assistant teacher at Omaha Public Schools for six years before turning to entrepreneurship.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gurung translated coronavirus news and public health announcements into Nepali on his Facebook page and asked the community to observe a strict three-week lockdown. The pandemic struck close to home when his twin brother Karna Gurung was hospitalized in the Nebraska Medical Center ICU on a ventilator after contracting COVID-19.[4]
Cultural Life
BCN organizes celebrations of major cultural festivals including Lhosar (New Year, with elder blessings and good wishes), Dashain (in which parents bless their children), and other observances that maintain the community's cultural connections to their homeland and to the traditions sustained through decades in the refugee camps.
See Also
References
- Bhutanese Community in Nebraska. "About." https://www.bcnebraska.org/about.html
- Nebraska Public Media. "Bhutanese Refugees Among Latest Newcomers to Nebraska." https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/bhutanese-refugees-among-latest-newcomers-to-nebraska/
- Bhutanese Community in Nebraska. "Team." https://bcnebraska.org/team.html
- Omaha World-Herald. "Omaha man warned his Bhutanese community about coronavirus. Now he's in the ICU." https://omaha.com/news/local/omaha-man-warned-his-bhutanese-community-about-coronavirus-now-hes-in-the-icu/article_2d7c7005-92b3-52a0-b8f7-3a3ef4dee82f.html
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