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Apna Ghar's first new millennium event

A P Kamath

Apna Ghar, one of the most effective and visible of South Asian community organizations, is holding a panel discussion on What Does it Mean to be Colored, Abused, Female and Foreign?: Cultural Dynamics of Domestic Violence in South Asian American Household?

Every 15 seconds a woman is beaten in the US, and many are from South Asian countries. In Chicago alone, over 2,700 women have sought Apna Ghar's services since its inception in 1989.

The panel will address such issues as:

What does equality mean for women who have been denied opportunities to earn an income? How can a woman imagine breaking free if she has been socialized to obey at any cost? Who is a woman to trust if she has witnessed the systematic deceit and bribery by police in her native land? Are South Asian Americans truly a model minority, if so many are under the poverty line, or is it silence among immigrants that allows injustice to perpetuate?

The January 24 event is the first of the year-long events and programs organized by the Chicago-based organization that provides for battered South Asian women 24-hour hotline and shelter, group and individual counseling, legal advocacy, help in housing employment, education and immigration and volunteer training.

Apna Ghar, which is run with the help of voluntary work by South Asians in Chicago, is also planning to involve on an on-going basis second-generation Indian American youth.

One of the speakers at the January 24 event is Amy Paul, who is also a community advocate for the organization, and a student at the University of Chicago.

Other panelists are:

K Sujata, executive director of Apna Ghar, who has several years management experience in the corporate sector. She grew up in India and speaks Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Tamil. She has a Ph D from Northwestern University and an MBA from IIT

Born and raised in South Africa, Niyati Kala is legal advocate for the organization.

Esther Pandian, a graduate student in public policy with a concentration in human rights and gender studies, has been actively involved in the fight against violence for the past nine years. She has worked at Manavi in NJ, Sakhi in NY, Apna Ghar in Chicago as well as AWARE, a grassroots organization in Singapore.

Apna Ghar has been able to make an impact partly because it is allied with a number of top Chicago social agencies, medical schools and South Asian organizations.

Last year graduate students from the University of Illinois Medical School at Chicago presented a series of in-service training for Apna Ghar clients. The topics they covered were breast cancer self-exam, pre-natal care, nutrition, hygiene, sexually transmitted diseases, and other preventive health care issues.

The participants were mostly South Asians, but there were also an impressive number of non-South Asians.

Many University of Chicago and Northwestern students and academics have volunteered at Apna Ghar, at times moving and arranging gifts the organization has received, and painting the shelter home and fixing broken home gadgets.

The Network of Indian Professionals has also pitched in to teach a resume writing workshop to Apna Ghar clients, one-on-one basis.

Volunteers from the Chicago Temple Methodist Church have contributed a number of hours of service to the shelter.

The Apna Ghar hotline can be reached at: (312) 334-4663.

Apna Ghar, Inc, 4753 N Broadway, Suite 606, Chicago.

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