Born in a Nepali refugee camp, Bijaya Khadka came to Rochester in 2009 at the age of 17. Today, through his non-profit House of Refuge, he aims at helping other new Americans find the life in America he once dreamed of. Bijaya Khadka was 17 when he and his family left the refugee camp on the eastern edge of Nepal in 2009 to seek a better life in the United States. Khadka, who had known no other life outside the bamboo and plastic huts of the camp erected on the banks of the Timai River, dreamed of America with wide eyes. He imagined a country free of poverty, free of crime, and full of opportunity for everyone. A “second heaven,” as he called it.