SPOKANE — It took just three weeks for Maria Esther Zamora’s Spanish class at North Central High School to gather everything the Prahdan family needs to start a new life.

After almost two decades in a refugee camp, Kahri and Indra Prahdan are starting over. A two bedroom Spokane apartment is where Pradhans and their four children will begin their new life.

“They came here to make their children’s future bright,” said translator Devika Giri.

Kahri and Indra Pradhan were exiled from their home country of Bhutan 18-years-ago. Since then, they’ve raised four children in a refugee camp in Nepal.

The Prahdan’s say they have spent nearly two decades dreaming of the day when they would sleep in a bed outside the bamboo walls of their refugee hut, that day arrived Wednesday night.

They left everyone and almost everything they own in Nepal, taking just two bags of belongings with them to the United States. That’s where Ms. Zamora’s Spanish class comes In.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to just come here and have nothing,” said Izzy Taylor, one of Zamora’s students.
In less than a month, the class has gathered everything from couches to beds, all donated. Even clothes and toys have been provided, all for a family the students had never met until Wednesday.

“Furnishing their house was a little overwhelming,” said Zack, another student in the class.

For the class, the experience has been a real eye-opener.

“It opened your eyes to how people live,” said Nick, another one of Zamora’s students.

Through the project, Zamora hopes to teach her students the intangibles of acceptance and understanding.
“It is an incredible achievement,” said Zamora. “Students need to be more sensitive and tolerant and more multi-culturally aware.”

Zamora understands well the struggles of immigrating to a new country, she immigrated from Mexico 17-years-ago.
It’s a lesson that will likely stick with Zamora’s students much longer than the vocabulary she’s taught them in class.

Courtesy: www.kxly.com