Pukar & Sujana Basnet

By Dr. Judith Meyer

Pukar and Sujana Basnet were born in Nepal, and lived in Timicamp (pronounced Ti-my’-camp).  Although we think of Nepal as mountainous, they lived in the plains, where it was hot and rainy. They enjoyed living there, in part because there were lots of children in their neighborhood, so they could always play soccer, running games, kickball, baseball and go swimming in the lake; Sujana also liked to wrestle and fly kites. They went to school, studying reading (in Nepalese), math and science.

They moved to St. Louis two years ago, joining an uncle who already lived in St. Louis. They live with two aunts, one of whom has been very sick, their grandfather, their father and mother, and another uncle. Their first year in St. Louis, both of them attended the International Welcome School, where they began learning English. Lots of children from Nepal were in their classes there.  They still play with many of these former classmates and both are on Nepalese soccer teams.

They have made real progress this year, helped in part by the after-school program that Word of Life’s teachers have run for New American children, with some modest funding from the Lutheran Foundation. Eager to learn, Pukar and Sujana are also participants in the After School Tutoring program offered at the Peace Center. Interestingly, their home serves as the location for one of seven CFNA sponsored Home Bible Studies.At Word of Life, where they are in 5th and 2nd grades, they are the only Nepalese, so they have improved their English substantially.  Pukar says that Word of Life has good teachers, particularly Ms. Lipke, who teaches English and gym. Sujana likes the field trips. On a recent field trip to Purina Farms, he got to milk a cow. Unlike his classmates, he knew how to do that, since he had helped milk his family’s cows in Nepal.

Heading home after completing this interview, they both talked about having tea as a treat. The tea their family drinks is specially imported from Nepal, and served with sugar and milk. Sounded delicious!