पानीका फोकाहरू

Born in a small hamlet of Kataharey in Nichula Bhutan, Buddha Mani Dhakal got his early education in Samrang Primary School. He attended Samchi (now Samtse) High School (batch of 1991) from 1987 to 1990. He left Bhutan in quest of higher education after the 1990 pro-democratic movement, as he could not return to Samchi for completing his ICSE exams. So, he pursued higher education in Nepal after being a refugee under DAFI Scholarship in the first batch.
Dhakal has intermediate in science from St. Xavier Campus, Tribhuvan University (1993-1995); Bachelor’s degree in Biology, majoring Botany from Tri-Chandra Campus, Tribhuvan University (1996-2000) and attended one year Master’s in Botany at Central Department of Botany. He also holds Master’s in Rural Development from Patan Campus though he had to leave for the US before completing the thesis. Dhakal taught science and environment, population and health to high school students in Nepal and has a number of training on the subject area.
Dhakal was also associated with Nepali Bhasa Parishad since the very beginning of its establishment, which later conducted Nepali language classes in camps. Some of his literary creations are published in “Kopila”, the publication of Parishad. He also worked as a column writer for a travel paper (NTTR) in Kathmandu for a year in order to meet his expenses.  He wrote to Kathmandu Post too for a while.
He became associated with exile media since the beginning.  He served as the chief editor of ‘The Bhutan Reporter’ monthly for a year in 2004. Currently, he is a contributing writer for FORSOOTH, a publication of Interfaith Path for Peace that advocates for social justice. He is an employee of Louisville Free Public Library since 2011and has been recently promoted in his job. In Louisville, he is active in community works, and in an international outreach program of the library.