Working for a travel agency in Nepal prepared Bikal Adhikari for his journey of starting a new life in Iowa and establishing himself in the business community.

The 33-year-old relocated from Katmandu, Nepal, to Des Moines midway through 2005, bringing with him a wife and baby daughter. They moved to distance themselves from political unrest in their native country. A mountain climber from Greater Des Moines led Adhikari to immigrate to Iowa.

In Nepal, Adhikari organized group climbing expeditions on Mount Everest for people from all over the world. Although not a climber himself, he enjoyed helping his clients with the daunting task of lining up supplies and support people for trips up the mountain.

“It was difficult to provide logistic support and all the necessary supplies for people who were going to be spending two months on Mount Everest,” Adhikari said. “But I liked figuring it all out.”

Over the course of his seven years working for the travel agency, Adhikari became increasingly concerned about his future. Since 1996, Maoist rebels have been at odds with Nepal’s government. The conflict has resulted in more than 13,000 deaths over the past decade.

Although Adhikari didn’t feel that his life was in danger, because his family wasn’t involved in politics, the fighting was not good for the tourism industry.

In 2003, Adhikari met an Everest-bound climber from Des Moines, Charlie Wittmack. A friendship blossomed between the two while exchanging e-mails and phone calls in preparation for Wittmack’s expedition to Mount Everest that year. Wittmack encouraged Adhikari to leave Nepal and move to America, where he wouldn’t have to worry about political instability and fighting.

After a great deal of thought, Adhikari agreed that he and his wife, Ambika, should move to the United States. Their process of relocating was expedited when they won permanent resident visas through the U.S. State Department’s Diversity Immigrant Visa Program lottery. In May 2005, they packed their belongings and came to America. Their first stop was in California, where they had a friend. But after a few weeks, they decided to make their home in Des Moines.

“Charlie said if I came to Iowa, I would live my life like everyone else, but if I stayed in California, I would live my life like an immigrant,” Adhikari said. “That impressed me about Iowa.”

Adhikari said another factor in coming to Iowa was how their baby daughter, Apeksha, could benefit from the state’s strong education system. Wittmack sponsored the family’s move to Iowa, found them find a place to live, helped Adhikari find a job and taught him how to drive a car. In Nepal, he had ridden a motorcycle and used public transportation.

Adhikari’s first job was working in the mailroom for Jolesch Photography in Urbandale, but he left there after only a couple of weeks to begin full-time employment with Storey-Kenworthy Inc. His job involved assembling office furniture and building workstations. The experience opened his eyes to how U.S. companies are structured and how that differed from what he was used to.

“In my country, if you had a question, you would go to the chairman,” Adhikari said. “Here, you go to your supervisor.”

Adhikari left Storey-Kenworthy after six months because he wanted a job that offered more interaction with people. He started working at the Windsor Heights Wal-Mart store last December as a cashier. He liked the job because it was customer-service oriented, but desired to work in a more professional setting. In August, he finally found a job that was an ideal fit as a customer service representative for Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Despite it taking a little over a year for him to integrate himself into the business community to get the type of job he wanted, he is upbeat about how quickly his new life has come together.

“When you count your whole life, a year and a half is almost nothing,” Adhikari said. “I thought it would take longer to find a job like this.”

In addition to his full-time job, Adhikari has partnered with Wittmack to run a business called Alpen Treks, which organizes climbing trips to Mount Everest. The two men also run two charitable foundations, one to support the families of Sherpas who have died during climbing trips on Mount Everest and a second to offer scholarships for Nepalese children whose families cannot afford to send them to school.

Adhikari’s wife, Ambika, is working part time at Wal-Mart and taking classes through Des Moines Area Community College to learn English. She had worked as an assistant nurse in Nepal and is still deciding whether she will pursue a nursing career in America. After his wife finishes her education, Adhikari hopes to take college classes to earn a business degree. In Nepal, he had a master’s degree in economics, but he would like to further his education.

His career goal is to work in business administration, and he likes the career opportunities he sees in Des Moines.

“In my country, you didn’t have all the chances to move up in an organization that you have here,” he said. “Here, if you work hard and are a good person, you will do well.”

He says what Wittmack told him about Des Moines being a place where he would feel at home has proved to be true.

“People here are very friendly, and my co-workers at Wellmark are very careful not to say anything that I might take offense to.”

Adhikari was relieved to hear a couple of weeks ago that the Maoist rebels signed a peace deal with Nepal’s government, agreeing to lock up their guns and let voters decide the future of the country. But Adhikari isn’t planning to return to Nepal based on the peace deal.

“Maybe when I retire I’ll go back,” he said. “I made up my mind to start a new life here, and I see many reasons to stay here.”