Dhaka Ram Timsina

Mr. Dhaka Ram Timsina was born in Bhutan. He started pre-school in Bhutan but had to leave the country along with other 100,000 Nepali speaking southern Bhutanese to be a refugee in Nepal at a very young age. While in the refugee camp, Mr. Timsina was awarded a scholarship by a Japanese Organization to continue his education in India. He obtained his High School Diploma and a bachelor’s degree in Physical Science from the University of North Bengal, India in 2007. After completing his studies, he went back to Nepal and served as a teacher in one of the refugee camps for a year before heading to the US in 2008 through the refugee resettlement process.

In the US, he worked in various jobs from a cashier to a customer service representative in grocery stores to a paraprofessional in a School District, while taking full-time classes at Lansing Community College and Davenport University. He obtained his second bachelor’s degree in Computer Networking and Information Security from Davenport University in 2017. Currently, Mr. Timsina is pursuing his master’s degree in Information Assurance and Cyber Security while working full time as a system engineer for Farmers Insurance.

As one of the first Bhutanese refugees to be resettled in Lansing Michigan, Mr. Timsina, along with other Bhutanese members, started a non-profit organization called the Bhutanese Society of Lansing in 2011. Mr. Timsina served as a founding member and president until 2016 when he moved to Grand Rapids. In Grand Rapids, Mr. Timsina currently serves as one of the Board of Directors for the Bhutanese Community of Michigan.