Community Corner

Profile: Bhutanese Principal Adjusts to Life in Riverdale

Kharananda Rizal is one of about 400 Hindu refugees who have settled in the area.

Eighteen years after he founded a tiny school in rural Nepal—one that would later blossom to more than 1,000 students—Kharananda Rizal is adjusting to life in a slightly different setting these days: Riverdale.

Rizal is one of about 400 Bhutanese immigrants who have settled in the area, part of a wider effort to relocate tens of thousands of Hindus exiled by their government two decades ago.

Heather Caygle recently profiled Rizal's new life for DC Intersections, from his job as a cashier at a gas station to the challenge of raising three children alone to the distress of living 10,000 miles away from his wife and father.

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"I still feel like I made a good decision," Rizal told Caygle. "The feeling that our children have a better future drove me."

Read the full profile here.

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