Meet Phul Maya Rai
A Community Member Testimonial
Phul Rai came to the USA in 2014 and lived in Carrick until 2018 with her husband and 3 other family members. They now live in Brentwood, owning a home, a long time dream for all fellow refugees from Bhutan.
Phul never attended formal school in Bhutan but did go to Adult Literacy Classes when she was in the refugee camp in eastern Nepal. That was where she picked up her ABCs and her numbers.
Fast forward to her life in Pittsburgh, she started attending BCAP’s citizenship classes from 2015. She made it through her Naturalization Interview, in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and was naturalized in June of 2020.
Working full time Monday through Friday, she managed to attend classes on Saturdays and Sundays regularly which paid off in achieving her goal of becoming a US citizen.
She remembers her tutors: Meena Gurung, Alex Walsh, Dhan Dahal and Nicole Johnson for all the support in her understanding of English as well as US history, civics and geography in preparing for the citizenship interview at the USCIS.
This is a typical story of most of BCAP’s older adults and many of its senior members.
Phul has registered to vote now and will be voting in this November election for the first time. She now has another goal: to drive a car. And to do that, she is currently taking Learner’s Permit Classes and additional English enrichment classes at BCAP.
We asked her if she had anything to say. “All I want to say is Thank You BCAP for bringing citizenship classes in the neighborhood I live in. That really made it possible for me to attend the classes without any transportation issues. And now, for these Learner’s Permit Classes that I can walk to, to attend.”
|