“fully दाल भात.”
This English-Nepali phrase celebrates dal bhat, a staple dish in Nepali cuisine. For Diya Shrestha `26, who hails from Kathmandu, Nepal, “fully दाल भात” adorns the front of her Nepali Student Organization (NEPSO) t-shirt and features in her Instagram bio.
Shrestha, who attended high school in Tamil Nadu, India, said the phrase represents her connection to home.
“I’ve been away from home for almost eight years now,” Shrestha said. “It’s a way to remind all of us here as well, because we’re so far away from home, that in one way or another, we’re still very Nepali.”
Shrestha, a political science major with a concentration in global development studies, said while staying in the U.S. is not part of her long-term plan, being away from home has allowed her to develop her identity beyond her family and learn as much as she can.
“I’ve reached a point with Grinnell where I feel so fulfilled that maybe it is time to be in a new setting,” Shrestha said. “I’m going to miss that feeling. I’m going to miss the community here and the proximity with friends.”
In Shrestha’s first year, there were finally enough Nepali students at Grinnell to establish NEPSO. For Shrestha, NEPSO is a safe space on campus where she helps to organize events that bring Nepali culture to Grinnell.
One annual event is a celebration of Diwali/Tihar, which combines festivals of lights from India and Nepal. Last fall, NEPSO collaborated with the South Asian Student Organization (SASO) for the celebration, where Shrestha and other students shared photos and memories from Diwali and Tihar celebrations at home.
“We’re not here to just entertain,” Shrestha said. “This is an actual cultural experience that we want to cherish and learn and teach.”
Shrestha’s involvement in the Global Kitchen has also included both learning and teaching. This year, she worked as a peer mentor. Shrestha said the job is labor-intensive but rewarding.
“You have a different level of respect for any service-oriented work,” Shrestha said. “It really humbles you and grounds you and also pushes you to be also very responsible.”
The tenet of social responsibility has guided much of Shrestha’s involvement on and off campus.
“I would probably define Grinnell as yes, there’s this preconceived idea of the middle of nowhere, but the nowhere has its own community and its own issues and own charm that no one will understand unless you are fully living here,” she said. “When you’re living here, it’s not that you’re just living here passively. Don’t just go to D-Hall and go to your classes, and consider yourself as a resident of Grinnell. I think the responsibility goes beyond that.”
Since her first year, Shrestha has helped guide the growth of the Grinnell Listening Project, a group that hosts conversations between students, College faculty and staff, and local residents.
As a dialogue facilitator, Shrestha worked alongside other students to provide a space for discussion on issues such as Grinnell’s water crisis, rural healthcare access and Iowa’s high cancer rate. For Shrestha, an important focus of the Listening Project is reaffirming individuals’ agency.
“We’re not here to teach them, but rather, we’re here to build a platform for deliberation,” she said. “We’re a support system, rather than being the solution.”
Another way Shrestha participates in a local support system is by volunteering at Grinnell’s Empowerment Center, which provides social services to unhoused people. During a year studying abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Shrestha taught English to low-income students and students with learning disabilities, which motivated her to volunteer in Grinnell when she returned this year.
“During my fourth year, I wanted to push myself a lot in terms of engaging with things because I was away for a whole year and I realized that you still have so much to learn from Grinnell and you can’t let that go,” Shrestha said. “The level of engagement that you have in a small population is so different compared to urban spaces.”
For her commitment to civic engagement, Shrestha received the President’s Student Civic Leadership award from the regional organization Seed Coalition in April. Shrestha plans to continue volunteering after she graduates and said that more Grinnell students should engage in volunteer work.
“There are pockets of communities that are very driven for causes like immigration justice and social welfare and to find those communities has been a really important experience for me,” she said.
At Grinnell, reminders of Nepal are never far away. Every time Shrestha walks into the Global Kitchen team room, decorated by Global Kitchen Culinary Coordinator David Stanley, she sees a symbol of home in the colorful prayer flags hanging from the ceiling.
“If you want to symbolize Nepal, obviously, there’s the mountains, but then there’s also the prayer flags,” Shrestha said. “I just love the fact that David has it here. One of his Nepali peer mentors gave it to him, and I know her because she went to my school. This just feels like a whole full circle.”
