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Ambassador Dr. Sharma makes his first official visit to California

Published by Hamaosamaj on March 10, 2010

Nepal Ambassador Dr. Shankar Sharma makes his first official visit to Los Angeles

Los Angeles, March 6, 2010 , On the invitation of Friends of Nepal-Los Angeles (FON-LA), the Nepali ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Dr. Shankar Sharma visited Los Angeles from 5th of March to 8th of March 2010. During this trip he attended a number of programs, among which the two main events were as follows –

In the initiative of Friends of Nepal-Los Angeles, a black tie event, a first of its kind among the Nepali community, was held on Friday, 5th of March 2010 in Los Angeles. There were 31 selected Nepali community leaders and friends of Nepalis who attended this function. The President of FON-LA, Dr. Shambhu Dhungana welcomed the ambassador and all the participants and highlighted the purpose of this event. He stated that the purpose of this event is to recognize the Nepali community leaders and friends of Nepalis in association with all the existing Nepali community organizations in the greater Los Angeles area. Secondly, to introduce the Nepali community leaders to influential political and social leaders in our community. Last but not the least, a fund raising for the social and community work was initiated. Many senior community leaders like Veda Bhakta Joshi, Dr. Shimkhada, Kanaihya Kayastha, Shashi Poudyal, Sandra Hunnicutt, Joyce Tapper, Mark Hunter were present in this function. Anil Pandey, President of Motherland Nepal from San Francisco was also present at the event.

The ambassador Dr. Sharma gave a key note speech. Towards the end, the floor was opened for a question and answer session. Deven Pandey was the MC of the day. FON-LA plans to organize this event on an annual basis. Participants for this event will be selected by select invitation only.

Secondly, FON-LA invited one of the most popular comedians of Nepal on Saturday, 6th of March 2010 to perform for a sold-out LA audience. In this same function, two medical doctors from Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, Dr. Jim Stein and Dr. Andre Panossian and Ms. Noreen Clarke, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics were invited to receive a letter of appreciation for providing outstanding service to baby Rishab Ghimere from Ramechap, Nepal. Baby Rishab was born with a rare conjoined parasitic twin and needed a major operation in order to separate them. A team of doctors led by Dr. Jim Stein originally went to Nepal and examined Rishab and advocated for his travel to Los Angeles in order to perform the surgery. He then went on to perform a most successful operation along with his team. Dr. Stein and Dr. Panossian also spoke on this occasion. Mending Kids International provided support to bring Rishab from Nepal and provided support services during the entire stay of Rishab and his parents, including room and board, financial support, and logistics. FON-LA provided advocacy and interpretation support during the entire stay of baby Rishab with Rajan O Dhungana. They are returning Nepal on Friday 12th of March 2010. FON-LA raised $1000 for baby Rishab during this event.This event was sold-out and well attended by over 150 participants, despite the pouring rain, a good time was had by everyone in attendance.

On Sunday, Dr. Sharma made a marathon trip to Northern California visiting three different locations and meeting with local Nepali community leaders there.