Until the ceiling started leaking, the tech-savvy and English-speaking kids came on Saturdays to study their mother tongue of Nepalese.
On Sundays it was the adults’ turn — attending English lessons to help them find work, complete their citizenship responsibilities and integrate into Northeast Pennsylvania.
Since 2011, the black-and-white-checkered floor of the Renaissance Center in South Scranton has served as a meeting and learning place for the growing community of Bhutanese-born, ethnic Nepalese refugees settling in the city. But the drippy ceiling this spring and resulting repairs booted the group, at least temporarily, and they are currently in search of a new space to educate their people.
The group has gone from nearly nothing in 2009 to more than 1,600 people, estimates the 32-year-old Ram Timsina, a young leader in the community and, he said, the second Bhutanese refugee to arrive in the Electric City.
Bhutan is a small Asian country at the eastern end of the Himalayas, squished between the giants of China to the north and India to the south. The refugees are called the Lhotshampa, a group of ethnic Nepalis who have been forced out of Bhutan in the past few decades. After years living in tents and bamboo houses in dreadful Nepalese refugee camps, they have been moved to Western countries in resettlement programs, searching for a better life. Many have succeeded, finding work and buying homes in the area.
The younger generation in Scranton has also adapted well, with a strong proficiency in English and technology, said 29-year-old Krishna Rai, another community leader. But the adults worry the kids are losing their connection to the ancestral homeland. Hence the classes in the Nepalese language.
“We are trying to preserve our culture,” he said. “We are trying to pass our culture to our (next) generation.”
Thanks to the nonprofit organization of the South Scranton Residents Association, the group had free use of the Renaissance Center, 705 Pittston Ave. But the leaky roof has prevented the Bhutanese from conducting their language, hygiene and citizenship classes.
The repairs are nearly finished, said Wayne Evans, the Scranton councilman and president of the nonprofit’s board, but with utility and tax bills, providing the building free is going to be difficult from now on for the cash-poor organization.
He hopes to work something out with the Bhutanese, but the group said they do not have the funds and will look for another donated space to hold classes and cultural programming.
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