In sari and topi hats, Nepalese community leaders dedicate their new Carmichael center.

CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Many thousands of miles from the Himalayas, Nepalese Americans have established a cultural home in Carmichael. With music, flags and blessings, the Greater Sacramento Nepalese Community Center Association hosted inaugural festivities on Gibbons Drive last week.

More than 150 supporters celebrated.

“We closed on the purchase only hours before,” said former association President Gary Giri. “People couldn’t wait to get here with their families.”

Seeds for the project were sown in 1995, when a handful of Nepalese families lived in Sacramento.

“We always felt we needed a gathering place,” Giri said. “But with such a small community, the idea was hard to support. We rented venues but dreamed of having our own place. In the last five years, the community here has grown significantly. Our association at last started getting some money in the bank.”

The 2,700-square-foot building previously housed a Samoan church. A golden statue of elephant deity Ganesh now graces the altar.

Colorful in national dress, children join festivities at the new Nepalese Community Center.

“Hinduism is an accepting, tolerant religion,” Giri said. “We are peace-loving people. Ganesh is auspicious for new beginnings. He protects us from bad fortune and brings us financial success. His presence is a blessing.”

Nepali immigrants also hold reverence for their most famed icon, Mount Everest (Sagarmatha).

“Everyone knows about our mountain,” Giri said. “But there are other things to learn about Nepal. It was where Buddha was born, for example. We were a kingdom for hundreds of years but recently became a democracy. Tourism is our greatest industry.”

“Many of our people came to the U.S.A. for university education and settled here; a green card lottery system allowed more to immigrate,” Giri said. “We’re grateful for these opportunities and we’re eager to share our culture with the local community.”

Almost 1,000 Nepali families call the greater Sacramento area home. Many are government employees; others work in engineering and IT fields. Many more run small businesses. 

Married to an American, Giri began his California career working in a liquor store. He purchased, operated and later sold a gas station. He now heads a Citrus Heights real estate brokerage. Lobbying for a community center has been a decade-long passion and the businessman was among the donors who enabled the $515,000 Gibbons Drive purchase.

“It was a big expense for us,” Giri noted. “Fortunately, everybody supported the need. We like to be under the same roof, learning what we don’t know and teaching what we know. Everyone worked hard to make this possible. We appreciate our association’s leaders and the generosity and trust of our community. The new place is not fancy, but with the love and care we’ll put into it, it’ll do us fine.”

The center will host language and yoga classes, social events, traditional celebrations and spiritual instruction.

Colorful in national dress, children join festivities at the new Nepalese Community Center.

“We want to preserve our culture for future generations growing up in America,” Giri explained. “We don’t want our children to forget where we came from. We want them to be familiar with the Nepalese lifestyle so they won’t feel like complete strangers when they visit. We also want to make friends with Carmichael people. Everybody’s welcome to visit us.”

The center’s first cultural event will be a women’s festival, next month.

“Our married women wear beautiful red dresses and get together to pray for the long life, well-being and good fortune of their husbands,” Giri said. “It’s a tradition that’s been happening for thousands of years and, for the first time, our wives can pray for us in Carmichael. That’s good fortune in itself.”

Learn more about Sacramento’s Nepalese Community at www.sacnepal.org.