Nepalese community leader wants Coloradans to know: "We are here"

At an exhibit she organized at Denver International Airport, Binisha Shrestha wants every traveler who passes through to encounter something unexpected.

"The travelers, they would see something unique that they have not been exactly expecting to see at the airport," said Shrestha, founder of the Colorado Nepalese Community.

The exhibit is part of a broader mission for Shrestha, who has spent 15 years in Aurora building visibility for her immigrant community. For her, the airport display is about more than tourism.

"This is the sincere try, sincere effort to make us feel seen, make us feel heard, to tell people that we exist, we are here," she said.

Shrestha said she also wants to reframe how people think about Nepal itself.

"Nepal, it's not just about mountains," she said. "We are very rich in terms of culture and heritage, and there is an abundance of community in the Denver metro area."

She pointed to Nepal's extraordinary ethnic diversity -- more than 120 distinct ethnicities -- as something most outsiders don't know. Among the traditions she highlights is the Kumari, a practice unique to Nepal.

"Nepal is the only country where there is a living goddess," she said.

She also takes pride in elevating the Sherpa people beyond their association with mountaineering. The Sherpa, she explained, are an ethnic community originally from Nepal's Himalayan region.

"Without the Sherpa, no one can climb Mount Everest on their own."

Reaching newer arrivals within the Nepalese community, however, remains a challenge. Many recent immigrants, Shrestha said, are still focused on basic stability.

"Many people are first-generation Nepalis and are still in their survival mode, so we haven't been able to get them out of their comfort zone to represent more."

That makes public moments of visibility all the more meaningful, she said. "This is something we look for as a minority group -- to represent ourselves, to be seen in public places like this."

Aurora Fest, the city's annual signature celebration, offers one of those moments. Shrestha participates each year in the festival's Parade of Nations, where the city's diverse communities march with their flags. Aurora, which bills itself as "The World in a City," has seen the festival grow steadily.

"Every year I have been seeing an increasing number of participants during the festival," Shrestha said. "Because of the diversity, because of the colorfulness, because of the vibrancy of the people participating, I think the numbers are increasing."

For Shrestha, marching in the parade carries deep personal meaning -- especially as a message to the next generation.

"It feels a different kind of sense of pride," she said. "It gives you that feeling of, okay, this is where I come from. This is something we can tell our children, this is our root."

On passing culture to American-born children, she is direct: "Even though you were born here, this is our culture. This is our heritage. This is what we do. This is what we follow."

Aurora's diversity, she said, is what makes that kind of community-building possible.

"Aurora is so diverse. People from everywhere you can meet. Every other person speaks another language."

That multilingual, multicultural fabric, she added, is what holds the community together.

"Even though we speak multiple languages in our community, we come together and do something together."

She encourages everyone, longtime residents and visitors alike, to attend Aurora Fest.

"Because of the colorfulness, because of the vibrancy, because of so much happening at Aurora Fest, I especially ask people to go."

Aurora Fest takes place Saturday June 13, from 3PM to 10PM at the Aurora Municipal Center Great Lawn, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway.