“We have a lot of kids in our church and they always ask me to do homework,” said Karal. “There are a lot of kids and I cannot handle everybody.”
But he doesn’t want to limit the tutoring assistance to just children that attend his church, but the greater Nepali and Bhutanese community. There are some 10,000 Nepali and Bhutanese in Greater Cincinnati, but he said a smaller population of this community needs some extra assistance. Karal said there are various reasons kids from these communities need assistance, from both parents working to one or parents being undereducated as they seek a better life in America.
“The bible says to love our neighbor, and we are helping, and this is how we are loving our neighbor,” Karal said.
Tutoring is Mondays through Thursdays from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., and his volunteers are able to pick up children from their homes and returns them home after the tutoring session. He needs help, though as more and more children are seeking help. He said not only does he need more volunteers, he needs additional drivers who can bring children to and from the ministry at 1083 Hicks Blvd.
Educating the next generation is important to Karal because he didn’t have help when he was young in Bhutan.
“I understand these kids,” said Karal, who first came to Atlanta, Ga., from Nepal in 2008. He was a Bhutanese refugee in Nepal with his family for nearly two decades prior to that. “I was always looking for help. We didn’t have this kind of program where we could come to ask questions if I didn’t understand something. This is a very good opportunity.”
And there will be people who can answer questions in Nepali and English, he said.
Karal came to the Greater Cincinnati region because “God gave me the reasons” to move in 2018, and Fairfield provided him with a “good opportunity.”
In addition to tutoring help, the organization helps anyone needing to learn English or help with citizenship classes every Saturday.
To contact Karal and the Hallelujah Nepali Ministry, they can visit halleluianepalic.wixsite.com/website, call 404-345-5136 or email prakashkaral5@gmail.com.
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