May 08, 2008

Hell in the time of the Junta

The news out of Myanmar/Burma keeps getting worse. On Thursday evening the British paper The Sun is blaring the following headline: THE death toll in cyclone-ravaged Burma could hit 500,000 - more than TWICE the total killed by the Boxing Day Tsunami. The biggest problem right now is that the effort to fly in precious water and food are being thwarted by the paranoid military junta that runs the country and is too suspicious and inept to grant visas to aid workers:

With up to 1.5 million people in Myanmar now believed to be facing the threat of starvation and disease and with relief efforts still largely stymied by the country’s isolationist military rulers, frustrated United Nations officials all but demanded Thursday that the government open its doors to supplies and aid workers…

“The situation is profoundly worrying,” said the United Nations official in charge of the relief effort, John Holmes, speaking in unusually candid language for a diplomat. “They have simply not facilitated access in the way we have a right to expect…” [Link]

The Tsunami was unimaginably bad…BUT at least the rest of the world wasn’t as impotent then as we are now. Considering the massive devastation in 2004, the world actually responded relatively quickly to minimize deaths after the actual event (certainly faster than the Hurricane Katrina response). This however, is just frustrating. Children are dying of thirst because visas aren’t being granted! For my part I am doing what I can. I found out that the relief organization CARE International was one of the first to have boots on the ground in Myanmar since they had an office there. They are actually disbursing aid. I also know that the first of the checks that our Uncle Sam is sending our way to help with the U.S. economic recovery will be hitting our bank accounts this week. I know it flies in the face of a sound economic strategy to send money meant to boost our economy straight overseas, but I’m willing to upset those “elite” economists. I just sent a chunk of change to CARE. I’ll just pretend there was no rebate. UNICEF is a good bet too.

Part of what is so aggravating about this situation is that India actually gave Myanmar a warning about the cyclone. If the junta had simply communicated that warning effectively then at least some lives could have been saved.

Indian meteorologists have said they had given neighbouring Myanmar 48 hours’ warning before a cyclone slammed into the country, killing more than 22,000 people and leaving over 40,000 missing.

The comments from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) came amid US allegations that Myanmar’s military junta failed to warn its citizens of the impending storm.

“Forty-eight hours before (tropical cyclone) Nargis struck, we indicated its point of crossing (landfall), its severity and all related issues to Myanmarese agencies,” IMD spokesman B.P. Yadav told AFP Tuesday.

The department is mandated by the United Nations World Meteorological Organisation to track cyclones in the region.

”Our job is to give warnings and in advance, and we take pride in saying that we gave warnings much, much in advance and there was enough time to take precautionary measures such as evacuation,” he added. [Link]

Not only will untold thousands die in Myanmar, it will also virtually wipe out their precious rice exports sending already high prices even higher. Thus, to some extent, hunger will radiate outward from the Myanmar tragedy:

Cyclone damage to rice crops and inventories in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta and other areas may impair its exports of the grain in 2008 and further tighten the world rice market, the U.N. food agency said on Wednesday.

The storm, which battered five states accounting for 65 percent of the former Burma’s rice output, may trigger “localised food shortages” and require imports from neighbours, it said. [Link]

NASA has posted some satellite imagery which shows the region before and after the cyclone hit.

Just what is Than Shwe, the “leader” of Myanmar thinking? Unfortunately, he may be getting advice from his fortune tellers:

A fortuneteller’s warning that blood would spill in the city of Yangon prompted the general in 2005 to shift the country’s capital from there to Naypyidaw, a jungle outpost 300 kilometers (186 miles) inland, said Irrawaddy News, a weekly that covers Myanmar from Thailand….

“The amount of superstitious beliefs, the following of soothsayers make it difficult to understand why they act in a certain way,” said Christopher Roberts, a post-doctoral fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies who specializes in Myanmar politics. [Link]

If any readers have other suggestions for how one can aid the people of Myanmar, let’s here it.

abhi at 10:30 PM in Issues, News, Non-profits · 30 comment(s) · Direct link


 

March 16, 2008

Posts that fall into the cracks

As has been said (by some of the individual bloggers that write here) many times in the past, we don’t always have the time to blog all the wonderful news tips, events, causes, new blogs, etc. that are sent to us via the tip line, email, or the top secret phone line. It isn’t that your tip/cause/event isn’t worthy, it’s just that there aren’t enough hours in the day to blog everything and still pursue a normal, blog-free life. In order to be worth crafting into a post in the first place, some items take a lot more research and individual interest than others. We all attempt to add some value to any item we post. We encourage you to use the News Tab and Events Tab as much as possible.

That being said, I did want to draw your attention to three recent “tips” that I didn’t want falling through the cracks:

1) The fellowship application deadline for Indicorps is fast approaching and I know there are many SM readers who would make perfect candidates:

Who: You! Indicorps seeks to engage the most talented young Indians from around the world on the frontlines of India’s most pressing challenges; in the process, we aim to nurture a new brand of socially conscious leaders with the character, knowledge, commitment, and vision to transform India and the world.

Why Now: We are currently recruiting soon-to-be college graduates and professionals of Indian origin for our August 2008-2009 Fellowship. There are over 50 exciting community-based projects ranging from educating tribal youth in Maharashtra to increasing production of natural dye based products in Karnataka.

2) There is a new blog worth checking out called Out Against Abuse. It is a forum dedicated to issues surrounding domestic abuse in the South Asian community:

Out against abuse is an online blog based forum created to bring together activists, volunteers, survivors, and members of the community to encourage the discussion of gender related abuse and how it affects the South Asian community. We hope through constant dialogue and collaboration we can all learn from each other and work to educate our community on how to end gender related violence in our homes and lives. [Link]

3) Finally, The Kominas have a new album out titled, “Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay.” Taz featured them in a post back in 2006. I hope they get on to the new Harold and Kumar movie soundtrack with that title:

This is the highly anticipated debut release of quite possibly the most popular Taqwacore band in existence. The CD was recorded with the band fresh off the first US Taqwacore tour. The CD includes old crowd favorites like “Suicide Bomb the Gap” and “Sharia Law in the USA,” but also includes newer songs with a more punk edge, like “Blow Shit Up.” [Link]

Keep sending in the tips. We won’t be able to blog each one but we do read them all.

abhi at 10:21 PM in Blog, Music, Non-profits · 5 comment(s) · Direct link


 

February 15, 2008

Flying high with just one engine

The folks over at Cinematical.com have been taking an early peak at some of the films that will be playing at this year’s SXSW Film Festival in Austin. This one immediately caught my eye as a film that more people need to know about:

FLYING ON ONE ENGINE captures the story of the severely disabled Dr. Dicksheet, a man who has donated his surgical skills to the cause of alleviating suffering among India’s poor. The film both highlights the problems of cleft lip and other congenital deformities, and also tells the dramatic story of a person risking his life to help those in need. Emphasizing Dr. Dicksheet’s frailty, his surgical brilliance, and the spectacular effects of his actions, this film juxtaposes the Nobel Prize nominated surgeon’s godlike status alongside the incredible desperation of the Indian community in which he serves.

The website of The India Project which Dr. Sharadkumar Dicksheet (from Brooklyn) runs is filled with inspirational pictures and stories, so I am glad someone has made a documentary about his work to spread the word. He is an eight-time Nobel Prize nominee and although he is himself hobbled by sickness, his patients think of him as a “God” for the help he brings to their lives.

In 1968, Dr. Dicksheet started his first free surgery camps to give dignity, function and opportunity to these otherwise condemned children of India with congenital facial and eye deformities. Each year Dr. Dicksheet spends five to six months in the poorest regions of India conducting free surgery camps…

To-date, 64000 surgeries have been performed. Each surgery also impacts an average of 10 family members and 90 relatives and friends. Through Dr. Dicksheet’s human spirit and medical intervention, over 5.5 million people in India have been touched by his life changing surgeries…

In 1978, Dr. Dicksheet met with a serious car accident leaving the right side of his body paralyzed. He managed to recuperate within three years. While recuperating, Dr. Dicksheet continued to travel to India to conduct the free medical camps, and completed his fellowship in cosmetic surgery.

Tragedy struck Dr. Dicksheet again in 1982. Dr. Dicksheet was diagnosed with stage four larynx cancer and had to undergo four major operations followed by radiation therapy and given a life expectancy of two years. One of Dr. Dicksheet’s greatest love was singing classical music. But, Dr. Dicksheet did not lose hope. He continued to travel to India to conduct the free medical camps, learned how to talk using oesophageal speech techniques, and studied further in the specialized field of Plastic Surgery. [Link]

If you would like to help the filmmaker finish his work you can donate here and join the Facebook group here. Donations directly to The India Project can be made here.

50% of the film’s profits will go to a charity focused on treating severely deformed children. The documentary will also raise awareness of cleft lip and congenital deformities, and help ensure Dr. Dicksheet’s noble quest continues for years to come. [Link]

abhi at 12:22 AM in Film, Health and Medicine, Non-profits · 24 comment(s) · Direct link


 

October 29, 2007

The Tronie Foundation

Since we’ve already had one depressing story about child slave labor in India today I thought, why not end the day with an…errrrrr, uplifting story about child slave labor? Thank goodness for the Seattle Times for reporting on this gem to take some of the earlier slime off:

As a 7-year-old girl in southern India in 1978, she was taken from her parents and sold into slavery.

At the same time, a 9-year-old boy in Southeast Asia was surviving alone in a cave, after the fishing boat on which he was fleeing Vietnam became shipwrecked.

Rani and Trong Hong would eventually be rescued from their separate childhood nightmares and brought to safety in Washington state. They would meet as adults on a blind date, fall in love and marry…

Now, motivated by the pain of their early years to help others, they are renovating a home exclusively for victims of human trafficking — people recruited, transported and harbored for sexual exploitation or slave labor. [Link]

Talk about a power couple! Click on their names in the passage above to read about their unfortunate childhoods. The non-profit they’ve established, partly on the profits from their lucrative home-building business in Olympia Washington, is called The Tronie Foundation (and it could use your donations):

Rani works with victims who have been abused by all forms of Human Trafficking. Whether the victim was part of a mail-order bride schemes, sold into servitude, sexual slavery or victimized as part of an international adoption ring, Rani because of her own personal experience has a heart for these women and children. She shares openly her own personal story, in hopes that they too can be restored and live a productive life, free from the pain of their past.

“No woman and child should be so severely abused that they end up looking like they are mentally and physically ill. As a survivor of human trafficking, I personally have chosen to speak publicly to give hope and encourage those of you that may be afraid to come forward. [Link]

Recently the Hong’s were also on Oprah where Rani mentioned this very interesting fact:

Rani says she didn’t learn about her husband’s past until after they were married. “He was so traumatized and … he hadn’t found somebody throughout life to talk to,” she says. “So once we got married, he felt comfortable and open…” [Link]

It just goes to show how sometimes people are drawn to each other when they share a common bond, even if unaware of the exact nature of that bond. In any case, here is a drop of good vs. that other bad.

abhi at 11:03 PM in Kids, News, Non-profits · 14 comment(s) · Direct link


 

August 05, 2007

My life as a loan shark

I wanted to write a quick follow-up post to this one I wrote last year about the micro-credit organization Kiva.org. In May of this year I lent $100 to Farzhana Mosah Khan, a tailor in Afghanistan:

Farzhana lives in district 17 of Kabul, Afghanistan. She is a tailor. She is married and lives with members of her family and she wants to help her husband support her family. She wants to take a group loan to expand her business and buy new machines because she wants to send her children to good schools to be educated. She hopes that if she works hard to be a good business dealer in the future she will make a good monthly income for her family. [Link]

The total loan amount requested by Farzhana was actually $175, which means that another lender provided the difference. Farzhana needs about a year to pay back my loan (interest free). This isn’t a charity. You get your money back but simply have to forgo the interest. What that means is that if you already have a “charity portfolio” that you give to every year this isn’t really another charity to spread you thin.

I decided to check out who the other lender was and his page documents the tremendous success he has seen during his involvement with Kiva. He gets paid.

Farzhana posted the first installment of her loan ($22) in June. I think I am going to make some more loans. Need a demo? Check it:

abhi at 04:52 PM in Economics, Non-profits · 43 comment(s) · Direct link


 

February 08, 2007

Desis and Philanthropy

I read this article in the Cultural Connect (thanks, Sumaya) on desis and philanthropy that I’ve been mulling over for the past few days. NYU law student Maneka Sinha argues, among other things, that: a) South Asian Americans are more likely than other Americans of color to engage in international philanthropy and less likely to donate to American causes, b) the reason for this trend is because most South Asians identify as brown first rather than as American, and c) brown people should donate to domestic causes in order to assert our American identity to the mainstream population.

I have many thoughts on the article. But first, let’s go through Sinha’s arguments:

The national US population only donate to international causes at a rate of 2.2% of all charitable activity. Minority groups, on the other hand, tend to “give back” on an international scale at a higher rate of 13%. Though as a whole minority groups focus on international giving at higher rates, there are discrepancies between these rates among different ethnic groups. While all minority groups demonstrate a strong tradition of giving at home and abroad, African Americans tend to focus a large degree of their charitable activity on domestic efforts supporting community churches, other community organizations, and education. Asian Americans place the least emphasis on international giving, focusing a majority of charitable efforts on the Asian American community and education. The Latino community gives internationally at a level somewhere between those of the Black and Asian American communities and also tends to focus its charitable efforts on its own community here in the US as well as on education. However, South Asian Americans in particular often give back to communities tied not to their own upbringing, but to their parents’ upbringing – namely, communities in South Asia.
And that’s a problem because…
Though it may be hard to swallow, the truth remains that we are American – we’ve been raised, trained, and educated here. If we don’t establish ourselves as an active force investing in the development of our communities and in aiding those members of the American population less fortunate than our own “model” South Asian community, our kids won’t either. And not only that, we will continue to remain somewhat isolated in a nation that benefits from our skills, talents and brainpower. Cringing at the thought of being “American” without addressing the underlying reasons why we shy away from that label is not an option – it is necessary to give back to the communities where our future generations will be raised in. Showing the mainstream population that we identify as American and are fully invested in the betterment of our local communities will help the general population appreciate us as such and ultimately allow us to shatter some of those glass ceilings.

I disagree with most of these arguments. First, I think it’s important to re-evaluate what constitutes as “charitable giving.” I gave two years of my life to teaching in an under-performing school in New York City. That was my way of paying back society. But my work as a teacher wouldn’t be included under Sinha’s definition of “giving.” So I think it’s important to note that while many South Asians probably aren’t contributing financially to domestic causes, there are also several of us who have made public service to our fellow Americans our life’s work. I’d be more interested in an article that includes people who’ve chosen the public sector as a career path at any given time under the category of “domestic givers” and then see if Sinha comes up with the same conclusions.

Second, I don’t think that there’s anything wrong or un-American about wanting to give to international causes as opposed to domestic ones. Many Jewish Americans prefer to donate to Israeli causes as opposed to others — does that make them any less American than anyone else? So why should the burden be on brown people to prove how American we are by showing less interest in the motherland? Why the double standard?

I also don’t buy Sinha’s argument that glass ceilings for brown people will shatter once we start giving domestically. If that really were the case, then other people of color — who Sinha argues contribute more domestically than we do — would no longer be subject to glass ceilings, either.

That all being said, however, I’d like to see a more comprehensive article that details where exactly South Asian Americans donate philanthropically. I have a hunch that most Hindus, specifically, would rather contribute to their local temples first before donating elsewhere. I also think that part of the reason we don’t see many South Asians giving back to their own community in America through setting up scholarship funds for low-income desi teenagers or volunteering to teach English to newly arrived South Asian immigrants is because many of us are in the dark when it comes to those in our community who are less well-off. And I don’t think that’s out of selfishness or denial — it’s simply because we haven’t had the gift of time in this country like other groups have to establish social services for our own. So in future generations, our attitudes towards giving will probably change — not out of wanting to become more American, but most likely because our perception of who is most in need will probably change as well.

naina at 12:11 AM in Non-profits · 123 comment(s) · 1 reader(s) linked · Direct link


 

October 30, 2006

Right to Information

This Saturday, I had the opportunity to listen to Arvind Kejriwal, founder of Parivartan, speak about his work on the Right to Information (RTI) Act of India.

Arvind Kejriwal is an Indian social activist and crusader for greater transparency in Government. He was awarded Ramon Magsaysay Emergent Leadership award in 2006 for activating India's Right to Information movement at grassroots and social activities to empower the poorest citizens to fight corruption by holding the government answerable to the people.

[He] devotes full time to his work as the founder-head of Parivartan - a Delhi based citizens' movement trying to ensure a just, transparent and accountable governance... [Kejriwal] campaigned for the Right to Information Act, which was passed in 2005. In July 2006, he spearheaded an awareness campaign for RTI across India. [wiki]

As we all know, the government agency bureaucracy in India is wrought with a culture of bribery and no real citizen accountability. The Right to Information Act has provides a way for Indian citizens to hold their government accountable, and has been doing so effectively.

Right to Information Act 2005 empowers every citizen to; ask any questions from the Government or seek any information; take copies of any government documents; inspect any government documents; inspect any Government works; and take samples of materials of any Government work. The Central RTI Act extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir... All bodies...which are owned, controlled or substantially financed by the Government are covered.

If concerned officer does not provide information in time, a penalty of Rs 250 per day of delay can be imposed by the Information Commissioner. If the information provided is false, a penalty of a maximum of Rs 25000 can be imposed. A penalty can also be imposed for providing incomplete or for rejecting your application for malafide reasons. This fine is deducted from the officer's personal salary. [link]

It was interesting to hear about the grassroots tactics around the RTI implementation Kejriwal used. This past July they ran a 15 day media campaign where they trained 1,500 volunteers and worked with 700 organizations across India. They worked with all of the major media outlets, and during that two week period 2,200 RTI reports were filled out. They coordinate with volunteers to stand outside of government agencies to inform citizens that if the agency tries to bribe them inside, to come return outside and receive help on filing an RTI report. They even have a blog to spread the word on RTI activities.

As a citizen driven movement to hold the government accountable, it seems that it has been very effective in India. Kejriwal told many success RTI stories -- there was the story of citizens demanding the 22 rupees minimum wage pay in Rajasthan; of Nannu the daily wage worker who had his lost food ration card replaced five days after filing a report; and of Sharma who waited six months for a passport, but received his passport within days of filing. But a quick glance through the successes of the program really lets you know just how successful this movement has been.

Check out Parivartan's site for more information. It sounds like a great organization and a great citizen's rights movement they are pushing for. There's many things that we as desis in America can do to support this movement in India -- NRIs can write a support letter to Indian politicians or RTI commission members; you can support with funding fellowships; promote awareness about India's RTI here in the U.S. as well as with family in India; or even figure out how US-India policies reinforce not supporting the RTI Act and mobilize through that angle. Kejriwal is currently on tour in America telling his story - check with your local NET IMPACT to see if he will be coming through to speak near you.

taz at 04:06 AM in Non-profits, Profiles · 24 comment(s) · Direct link


 

October 11, 2006

Online Power

I've often talked about the power of online organizing for the desi community. There have been many sites (besides our much loved Sepia Mutiny) that have attempted to faciliate this for our community; The now defunct DesiOrgs.us, the weekly profiles from The Desi Connect, and the still beta networking site Desi Page. Last month, a new site hit the inter-desi-networks, the South Asian Forum.

The South Asian Forum aims to tell the story of South Asians through the lens of its organizations and organizing work. From one-one-one interviews with community Youth Solidarity Summerorganizations to an extensive history and framework of South Asians in the U.S., this Forum hopes to capture the deep and rich history of South Asian collective action in the U.S.

In addition, the Forum brings together a collection of various resources and tools, such as an online directory of organizations and a census fact sheet, to aid those working in or interested in the South Asian community.

Through the collection of data, sharing of resources, and storytelling we can identify current and emerging issues, barriers and gaps, and develop sustainable strategies for the future. [link]

This website has a lot of potential, and is a wealth of information for anything related to the South Asian American diaspora. The website is well divided into different sections- such as the history of South Asians and South Asian organizing in the U.S., to the voices of our community with interviews and surveys that have been done, all the way to Census resources. Most importantly, at least when it comes to building networks and coalitions, is the South Asians Organizations Directory -- a database of various types of organization serving the brown community. This fabulous online resource was put together by a task force of leaders in our community.

The National South Asian Task Force is a group of local community-based organizations and individuals that work on labor, LGBT, women's and anti-violence, Youth Solidarity Summer and civil rights issues. The task force had initially come together in the winter 2002 to discuss the impact of September 11th and its accompanying policies on South Asian/immigrant communities.

[The work] culminated into the development of a documentation project that would highlight the history, work and issues as well as provide resources for and about the South Asian community and organizations. [link]

Check out the site, and tell us what you think. I think the user driven site has a lot of potential. If you work for a an organization that you feel should be in the database, you should add it in. Sites like these come and go, but it seems the ones that stick through are the ones which have the most community involvement. So get involved.

taz at 01:20 PM in Issues, Non-profits, Tech · 9 comment(s) · Direct link


 

October 05, 2006

Puppets deployed against landmines

Witness the following horrific string of events:

I know it isn’t pretty and I hope that I haven’t ruined anyone’s lunch hour. The Christian Science Monitor has an article about the puppets of “No Strings,” and that organization’s mission to teach the children of Afghanistan about the dangers of landmines:

“Bang!” The little puppet boy steps on a mine, and now he only has one leg. The Afghan children watching the video at a school on a Kabul hillside gasp.

Puppets have long been used to entertain and to teach children basic lessons such as how to count and the letters of the alphabet

“The Story of the Little Carpet Boy,” loosely based on Pinocchio, is the brainchild of No Strings International, a British charity set up to reach children in war-torn areas and teach them vital life lessons through puppetry.

“It’s hard to get a crowd of children to listen to an adult, but the minute you bring a puppet out, kids just light up,” says Johnie McGlade, founder of No Strings.

Mr. McGlade worked for more than a year with two of Muppet-creator Jim Henson’s original team, Kathy Mullen and Michael Frith, to create a culturally sensitive film using characters from Afghan folklore to teach children about the dangers of minefields.

About 60 Afghans a month are killed or injured by mines and unexploded ordnance around the country, and almost half of them are under 18 years old, according the United Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA). [Link]

For those of you wondering, here is the background on the story pictured above:

The storyteller rides in on Jaladul, a fine beast of burden, who later in the story, becomes the guide to Chuchi Qhalin, the carpet boy. After all her family have been killed by war and landmines, a grandmother makes herself a new grandson from the carpets she weaves. One of the doves she regularly feeds, turns into a fairy who gives life to the carpet boy.

Worried that he too will lost to landmines, the grandmother sends him to the village head who tries to show Chuchi the dangers of landmines and UXO’s (unexploded Ordinance) using the red hand to reinforce the STOP message. Chuchi then goes off to school accompanied by his guide, Jaladul. On his way he meets up with temptation and looses his legs which get replaced with kitchen utensils. During a flash flood he finds his grandmother and they get washed down river along with loads of landmines. Chuchi now remembers what he had been told and they get out safely. The fairy rewards Chuchi by turning him into a real boy. [Link]

The show has been a hit with the children of course and people are beginning to wonder if puppets can count as “boots on the ground” in our efforts to combat the opium trade as well:

“I liked the film,” says Masiha, an 11-year-old girl who watched the film’s first screening in Kabul, “and I learned that you should stay away from fields that have red stones. There are mines there. I didn’t know that before,”

She also liked the film’s happy ending in which Chuche is granted his wish to become a real boy and gets his limbs back.

No Strings is now looking into using the puppet characters to make another video on the dangers of drug use in Afghanistan, which is the world’s No. 1 producer of opium and heroin.[Link]

In other puppet news, Manish recently blogged about Horn Ok Please, an Irish-Indian animated short featuring puppets which will be playing at the IAAC Film Festival in New York in November:

HORN OK PLEASE follows a momentous day in the life of a hapless Bombay taxi driver who strives to earn enough rupees to buy the air-conditioned car of his dreams
As the day progresses, his goal seems within reach; however the traffic, the exasperating passengers and the pre-monsoon heat take their toll as he starts to show signs of weakness… [Link]

South Asian puppets are hot right now.

Update: Sorry folks, I just realized that the short-film may be clay-mation and not puppets. Oh well. If anyone checks it out let us know what you think.

abhi at 04:37 PM in Arts and Entertainment, Kids, Non-profits · 8 comment(s) · Direct link


 

September 28, 2006

To The Ballot Box

I've made a slight disappearance from the blogosphere to do some very cool things in the reality-sphere. Here in Los Angeles, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center just launched Asian Americans at the Ballot Box, a report on the voting behavior of the Asian American community.

APALC conducted the study using data from exit polls in the 2004 general election, as well as from the registrars' offices in Los Angeles and Orange counties, to draw its conclusions. The study found that, in Los Angeles County, 71 percent of registered Asian voters actually went to the polls, compared with 78 percent of registered voters in general. In Orange County, 68 percent of registered Asian voters cast ballots, while 73 percent of all registered voters did. [link]

"Asian American communities are growing dramatically and we're seeing that growth at the polls," said Stewart Kwoh, President and Executive Director of APALC. "Increasingly, candidates will have to speak to our issues if they expect to get elected." [link]

The report is fantastic, if I do say so myself. It doesn't just look at the general Asian American statistics, it breaks down the results to compare ethnic disparities within the Asian American community. Even more spectacular (and SM relevant) is page 27 of the report, which covers the Asian Indian vote from Los Angeles and Orange county.

Demographics of Indian American Voters 2004 General Election in [LA County]

  • 66% Foreign- Born
  • 13% 18 to 24
  • 47% Female, 53% Male
  • 51% Democrat, 20% Republican, 26% Decline to State
  • 77% Supported Kerry, 23% Supported Bush
  • 12% are Limited English Proficiency, 88% not. [report]

Additionally, we see that Asian Indian youth have a turnout rate of 62%; in other words 62% of Asian Indians who registered to vote went to the polls in 2004. This rate is just slightly higher than the county Asian American youth turnout rate of 57%. A more extensive analysis on the Asian American youth vote will be released in a few weeks on this website in a supplemental report.

A quick thumb through of the Ballot Box report also reveals the following for Asian Indians of Los Angeles County...

12,616 Asian Indians voter, representing 5% of Asian American voters. [p.9]

74% turnout rate for Asian Indians, compared to 78% of all voters in LA County. [p10]

Only 21% voting by absentee, the least likely of Asian American ethnic groups to vote by absentee. [p15]

The following questions are probably going through your head: isn't it a little late for 2004? If it's LA County, how does it apply to the rest of the country? Don't we already have a national report?

As mentioned before, Southern California has a large percentage of desis living here and though we can't extrapolate that desis nationwide have similar voting behavior, the hope is that other communities can create reports accordingly for their own counties. The South Asian national vote report which came out last year is great, but focusing our efforts on county-wide numbers gives us the ability to not just look at exit polls, but also pull data from voter files and do a more precise name analysis. Eventually we can use these numbers and figures to create the desi political power that we've talked about before. Finally, the release of the report was coordinated to sync up with the upcoming 2006 mid-term elections, a time out here in Southern California when the Asian American community is alive with voter activity.

I know that I keep inundating Sepia Mutiny with various facts and data relating to the South Asian American community, but there's a reason for this. It's important. Not only does knowledge help us understand ourselves, but it helps organizers like myself strategically create political power for this community. Take a look at the report and decide for yourself. I know that for the work that I do, both the report and supplemental report will make it a lot easier for me to prove to others that South Asian Americans are finally a community to reckon with. Let's keep it up -- don't forget to register to vote and turnout this November!

taz at 12:59 PM in Non-profits, Politics · 9 comment(s) · Direct link


 

September 27, 2006

The Love Goat

Imagine, if you will, that the following fictional conversation took place between myself (in my best Jon Lovitz voice) and a girl named “Preeti:”

Abhi: Hey Preeti.

Preeti: Whad up?

Abhi: You know we’ve been together for two whole months now. I just wanted you to know that I’m really excited about us. I think we make a good couple. You complete me. I think we are helping each other grow, both together and as individuals.

Preeti: Uh huh. That’s sweet.

Abhi: Well, since it is our two-month anniversary I thought I would get you something special.

Preeti: Cool, did you get me a brown Zune?

Abhi: No darling. Check this out though. I just had a star named after you. I wanted you to know that my love for you will shine brightly forever.

Preeti: Forever?

Abhi: Foreva-eva. Just think! Every time you look up there in the sky at the star formerly known as ZX56C92 you will think about how much I burn for you!

Okay, has anyone vomited yet? I am willing to bet that at least one reader out there has had a star named after them or named a star after someone. Admit it! We’ve all done things we are ashamed of. This is definitely not how I’d go about declaring my feelings for someone. Then again, I’m not sure I have ever developed a really good method for showing someone I care. The fictional conversation above leads me to a real conversation that took place over this past weekend.

I met up with my friend Sanjay on Saturday night for dinner.

Sanjay: Hey dude, so I recently looked into donating this goat…

Abhi: What? I didn’t know you had a boat.

Sanjay: No, I said goat.

Abhi: Was it an old coat?

Sanjay: No no. A GOAT.

Abhi: Wait, how do you donate a goat?

I can’t believe I hadn’t already heard about this. Apparently you can donate or sponsor a goat (or other productive farm animal) in an impoverished region of the world. Here is just one of the several organizations (1,2,3) I found which runs this sort of program:

The Need? In poor villages women are typically the most disadvantaged - supporting most of the family burdens (children, water, health, nutrition, etc) but totally dependent on their men-folk for money. We identify the most vulnerable people within the community, supply them with a female goat and train them in goat-rearing & management.

The Opportunity? Starting with just one female goat, a woman can build her own source of milk, manure, meat and money for the benefit of her family. Within a year she will be able to pass on her first female kid to another disadvantaged family - allowing this ‘new start’ to help another household, and so sustain and expand the scheme. After this, she can keep the kids and build a small herd if she wants.

Where in India? - the project will start off in Tehra near Agra,Uttar Pradesh, in an area where our Indian partner organisation, Schumacher Centre Delhi (SCD) is already working with the British High Commission on a reproductive health and child care programme. The project will then be extended to locations elsewhere in India - probably in Uttaranchal and in Orissa. [Link]

Some organizations even allow you to sponsor the goat for life (instead of simply donating money for a one time gift). Here is what you get:

1) Garden Harvest’s official adoption certificate in your name or in the name of someone you specify, if you choose to give the adoption as a gift.
2) A life history of your goat, sent to you or to someone you specify
3) Photographs of the adopted goat sent to you or to someone you specify
4) Quarterly newsletters about your adopted goat, letting you know of his/her activities as the season changes
5) Photographs of your goat’s baby goats when a birthing occurs
6) Your name (or the name of the one you specify) will be permanently listed on a plaque that will be installed on the Goat House. [Link]

With this new knowledge in hand I have decided that I now know the proper way by which to declare my love for someone. This is how it will play out the next time I make it to the two-month-mark with a woman (imagine my voice sounds like that of Michael “Bass” McCary of Boyz II Men):

Abhi: Hey Preeti. How are you baby?

Preeti: Whad up?

Abhi: Girl I’m here for you. All those times of night when you just hurt me, and just run out with that other fella. Baby I knew about it, I just didn’t care. You just don’t understand how much I love you do you? I’m here for you.

Preeti: Uh huh. That’s sweet.

Abhi: Baby, I’m sponsoring a goat in your name in India. Here is the goat’s life history. We will be getting quarterly news letters and pictures of her and any of her future babies. We are in this together and have someone that depends on us now. It would be bad if you left me.

Preeti: Oh baby! Can we name it?

Abhi: Sure, whatever you want.

All I am saying is that the gift of a goat is worth considering and I hope you all remember this post on next Valentine’s Day.

abhi at 01:07 AM in Animals, Food, Humor, Non-profits · 49 comment(s) · Direct link


 

August 14, 2006

Social Activism Made Easier

A wise man once said, “When the world around you is full of shit, it is a good idea to pick up your shovel” That man is probably my dad, it sounds like something he would make up on the spot and in turn attribute it to some credible source (“Confucius said it”). The words do ring true but anyone who has ever picked up that shovel will know that between shovel and shit there exists a whole barrage of questions. Where do I begin de-shiting? Will this shovel do OK for all this shit? It is too much shit, how should I get others to help me in getting rid of it all? Snakes on a plane?

Twenty two year old British Columbia native Dev Aujla’s organization Dream Now appears to have some answers. Dream Now is a great initiative that helps youth organize their efforts in creating and running grass roots non-profit projects. They provide management tools and, more importantly, mentorship to participants around the globe. It all starts with an idea and rest is made easier with step-by-step guide from brain storming to project completion.

ts05_kingsley_lime.jpg

Dev’s younger brother, Aaron Aujla has also begun spreading the good word through his clothing label Auj. Every cashmere tee has an access code which, when entered, will result in a phone call from a Dream Now mentor. Cashmere tees? Yes. Preppy? Most def. Making saving the world sexy? Hopefully. Current customers include students who patented a free water purification system in Uganda, a “future dentist” who is starting an organization to bring relief to children, and Simon Jackson.

The two brothers, who have relocated shop to the centre of the universe a.k.a. Queen St. West, Toronto, have been featured in CBC’s new docu-series ‘Make Some Noise’. The series chronicles the efforts made by young people to create change in the world around them. Watch their segment. Watch it! Makes my cynical bones itch with enthusiasm.

Big ups to the Aujlas for their energy and dedication to making and helping make do-good dreams come true.

neha at 10:48 PM in Non-profits · 8 comment(s) · 1 reader(s) linked · Direct link


 

June 25, 2006

Today’s Carnegies? [Was “More money for karmaceuticals”]

Today’s business news had me thinking of two things: Andrew Carnegie and whether there are any significant brown philanthropists.

Carnegie was a self-made man who went from rags to riches, creating a steel empire which made him the wealthiest hombre alive. Three men in today’s paper might be seen as present day Carnegies — Laxmi Mittal, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet — the three richest men around. Laxmi Mittal is the most literal aspirant to the title since Arcelor-Mittal will soon be the largest steel company in the world. However, the other two capture what is to me Carnegie’s best attribute, his philanthropy.

Just as Carnegie gave away 90% of his fortune [he built a university, several thousand libraries around the world, and did various other good works], Warren Buffet announced that he will be giving away 85% of his wealth with most of it going to more than double the endowment of the Gates Foundation, now the largest charitable foundation in history.

Are rich brown people simply more selfish than rich white ones?Compare Buffet and Gates to Mittal, the next richest man in the world. Mittal is famous for his personal spending. He owns the world’s most expensive house, which he purchased for $128 million. He recently spent more than $55 million dollars on his daughter’s wedding. But his charitable giving rarely (never?) makes the news, and is not in the same league as either his personal consumption or the donations of his “peers”.

The question is, why not? Mittal competes on every level with his white counterparts except that of his charitable giving. Is this a desi thing? Are brown philanthropists as generous as white ones? Who are the major brown philanthropists anyway?

Why do philanthropists give away their money? Some do it out of a sense of social or religious obligation. But I suspect their deepest motivations are the same as those which led them to amass the money in the first place - a desire to change the world and leave behind a significant legacy.

The Gates Foundation is currently one of the most important forces in Third World public health. It already accounts for 1/6th of world spending to eradicate polio and that was before doubling in size. With the addition of the Buffet money, the foundation will be giving away between two and three billion dollars a year, spending much of it on research into the treatment and eradication of diseases that afflict the poor.

Many countries are currently caught in a catch-22: poor health keeps poor countries poor (For example, Sachs estimates that if Malaria had been eradicated 35 years ago, African GDP would be 32% higher today), but until they’re wealthier, big pharma has little interest in developing drugs to treat them. The foundation hopes to change that. They’re the major mover into things like a vaccine against malaria and innovations into “dry vaccines”, vaccines that don’t need to be refrigerated so they can reach the rural poor. If they succeed in even some of their initiatives, they will significantly transform global health and lift millions out of poverty.

Are there wealthy desis who are animated by a similar spirit, even if on a smaller scale? Or are they simply numb to poverty having grown up with it? Are rich brown people simply more selfish than rich white ones?

ennis at 05:34 PM in Health and Medicine, Musings, News, Non-profits · 64 comment(s) · Direct link


 

June 07, 2006

Computers Without Words

I have numerous jobs in addition to my writing, one of which involves working with new technology. I know it’s a stereotype to say that Indians are good with computers, but I welcome it in my case, mostly because it’s hilariously untrue. I’ve avoided technology as much as possible—I didn’t have an email address until 1996, and it’s still a crapshoot if my cell phone is working—despite coming from a family of technophiles. What they actually do to these computers, I have no idea, but despite being voted Most Likely to Spill Coke On the Keyboard Again, I find myself reasonably skilled at this new IT-oriented gig. Nature or nurture? Or dumb luck? Discuss.

But what about those who are not just computer illiterate, but actually unable to read or write? Microsoft has a plan: make computers that don’t depend on words. This March 2006 USA Today article talks about how a new breed of computers can help often-illiterate domestic servants:

Working with a local advocacy group, Microsoft has developed a prototype of a system that would connect illiterate domestic workers in India with families seeking their services. The system uses pictures, video and voice commands to tell women what jobs are available, how much the jobs pay and where they are.

Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? For one thing:

they [the domestic workers] had trouble seeing why a computerized system for finding work was better than traditional word-of-mouth

Additionally, the computer’s images and pictures had to bridge language and cultural gaps, such as this one:

the women associated neighborhoods with landmarks rather than addresses, so an interactive map and verbal directions had to be tweaked to represent that.

Finally—the big hurdle: implementation. This CNET article discusses the difficulties poorer areas of India have getting computer literate. Apart from the most obvious issue of languages, there is problem of power:

To save power, the PCs run on car and truck batteries. Unfortunately, the batteries regularly need recharging and the public electrical power system can’t always handle the demand.

and crime:

Three weeks ago, the village transformer blew because too many people tapped into it illegally, a chronic problem here. The government refused to rebuild the transformer until the villagers promised to punish anyone who stole power.

and bad freakin’ luck:

The day after it was rebuilt, the transformer blew again.

That’s coupled by the fact that not enough rural Indians even own a computer—although, if Intel has its way, they’ll be a lot cheaper.

One option is to put up a kiosk in a community center, Toyama said.

Hmmm…there has to be a better way…but maybe it would work if it were manned by a techie-social worker type.

Check out the links…it’s an exciting project if it can be marketed properly—both for those looking for work and those looking for workers. In an ideal world, I’d want all these computers to teach literacy first, but reading a good novel is not always a priority to those struggling to feed their families. I remember what it felt like to realize that a computer was a useful tool working for me, not against me—it’s a nice feeling, and I hope these women get to have it too.

Also—check out an earlier post by Abhi…scroll down and you will see how some people are applying their tech knowledge to the illiteracy issue:

…consider a pedagogical tool, the computer-based functional literacy (CBFL) program, developed by Indian software pioneer Faqir Chand Kohli. Within a mere 8 to 10 weeks and at a cost of a mere U.S. $2 (provided a discarded computer is supplied for free), an illiterate adult using this tool can read his or her first newspaper. In the past 2 years alone, 40,000 adults from five states in India have been made literate. If CBFL is launched as the technical engine of a national literacy movement, in less than 5 years, 200 million adult illiterates can learn to read.

one can only imagine what that’s going to do to the comments section of this blog…

neeraja at 05:40 PM in Business, Non-profits, Science and Technology, Tech · 11 comment(s) · Direct link


 

June 06, 2006

NYC Desi Youth Activists Get Props

Many thanks to the tipster who posted a link on the news tab to this column by Errol Louis in the New York Daily News. Louis, whose columns often focus on ear-to-the-street developments in New York’s immigrant communities and communities of color, devotes today’s piece to the launch, this afternoon, of a report on safe learning for immigrants in the NYC public schools. It’s a broad, holistic understanding of safety that means fewer cops, more resources, and protection from immigration authorities.

What’s remarkable is that this report, based on two years of fieldwork supported by a prestigious non-profit called the Urban Justice Center, is the work of desis — the young brothers and sisters in DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving) Youth Power. These young desi activists are taking on subjects that are important to all immigrant families and indeed to any family with kids in the New York schools.

It’s an encouraging example of identity politics used for inclusive, coalition-building purposes: the desi identification gives a group like DRUM its base and stability, but the work reaches far beyond the narrow interests of that base.

You can agree or disagree with this approach, or for that matter with the overall “Education Not Deportation” umbrella theme of this action, but it’s nice to see the DRUM Youth Power work give an opportunity for a major tabloid columnist to educate the city about desis:

The slang term Desi refers to immigrants from South Asia - including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and parts of the diaspora including Africa, England and the Caribbean.

They are part of the backbone of our city - including the cab drivers, domestics and restaurant workers who collectively form our largest and fastest-growing immigrant group.

Working-class Desi kids, according to a survey summarized in the DRUM report, are sick of seeing metal detectors, armed cops and bullying administrators prowling school halls.

“A climate of fear is being created,” says Refat (Shoshi) Doza, a 20-year-old Queens College student. “That’s not the way to teach a child.” Raquibul Alam Nayeem, a 17-year-old student at William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens, agrees.

To Louis at least, the sisters and brothers in DRUM are setting an example for all to emulate:

The Department of Education should listen closely to DRUM’s youth leaders, particularly the explosive allegation that some schools, in violation of longstanding city policy, may be turning over students’ citizenship information to immigration officials.

By standing up and complaining, these kids are learning lessons that will prepare them to be the kind of outside-the-box thinkers our city and nation need.

The report launches this afternoon at 5 PM at a community meeting in Jackson Heights, for anyone interested in attending. Congratulations and Big Up! to the DRUM crew for their hard work.

siddhartha at 11:20 AM in Issues, Kids, Non-profits, Politics · 16 comment(s) · Direct link


 

May 09, 2006

'Slumming' Takes on a Whole New Meaning

Via Albert Krishna Ali at The Other India, a Guardian article about a new tourism phenomenon in India: slum tours. It’s apparently a common enough practice in places like Soweto and Rio, but new to India. For 200 Rupees, tourists get a guided tour of the areas around Delhi’s railway station, where a few thousand homeless children live:slumtour.jpg

The tour guide instructs visitors not to take pictures (although he makes an exception for the newspaper photographer). ‘Sometimes the children don’t like having cameras pointed at them, but mostly they are glad that people are interested in them,’ Javed claims, adding that the friendly smiles of the tourists are more welcome than the railway policemen’s wooden sticks and the revulsion of the train travellers. He hopes the trip will get a listing in the Lonely Planet guides. Nevertheless there is something a little uncomfortable about the experience — cheerful visitors in bright holiday T-shirts gazing at profound misery. (link)

Really, what could possibly be uncomfortable about well-fed tourists paying to gawk at desperately poor children?

The author of the Guardian article is definitely skeptical about the whole thing too:

By the end of the walk, the group is beginning to feel overwhelmed by the smells of hot tar, urine and train oil. Have they found it interesting, Javed asks? One person admits to feeling a little disappointed that they weren’t able to see more children in action — picking up bottles, moving around in gangs. ‘It’s not like we want to peer at them in the zoo, like animals, but the point of the tour is to experience their lives,’ she says. Javed says he will take the suggestion on board for future tours… . Babloo, who thinks he is 10, has been living here for maybe three years. His hands are splashed white from the correction fluid that he’s breathing in through his clenched left fist, and he pulls a dirty bag filled with bottles with his other hand. His life is unrelentingly bleak and he recognises this.’I don’t know why people come and look at us,’ he says. (link)

The tours are run by Salaam Baalak Trust, which is a small charity organization focused on caring for homeless children in Delhi. They administer first aid as well as more serious health care help for children who have AIDS or serious drug addiction problems. They also give them basic education and vocational training, and help their families where possible. In short, SBT is in general a good organization narrowly focused on helping a group of children living in desperate straits. This program makes money for them, but clearly the money and publicity come at the potential cost of the children’s dignity.

According to Give World, Salaam Baalak Trust was founded by Mira Nair in 1988 to rehabilitate the slum children she used as actors in Salaam Bombay (hence the name, “Salaam Baalak”). I haven’t quite been able to figure out how the organization got from Bombay to Delhi, but as far as I can tell they are now based entirely in Delhi. [CORRECTION: They are based in Delhi as well as Bombay.]

The story of the group’s founding provides a second layer of irony: this is an organization that was founded using funds generated by western voyeurism of Indian poverty (Nair’s film), which is now pioneering the effort to reproduce that voyeurism in a brand new format.

I wouldn’t go on the tour in its present form, but perhaps I would try and volunteer to help out with this organization in some way instead. And if tourists want to do more than just take pictures of the Taj Mahal or dance on the beach at Goa, I don’t see why that should be frowned upon (especially if the money is put to good use). Is there a way to do it that doesn’t involve mere voyeurism?

amardeep at 10:12 AM in Non-profits · 109 comment(s) · Direct link


 

April 07, 2006

National Sexual Assault Awareness Month

April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. To promote this important issue Lifetime Channel has descended upon Washington DC for “Stop Violence Against Women Week” going on now (April 3rd-7th) with a list of events worthy of Capitol Hill. This past summer, Lifetime dedicated a week around issues of human trafficking and they are interestingly using their media access to promote issues affecting women. I think this is great. It is rare that a television channel will make that kind of a commitment to their viewers. Violence against women is not just important to Lifetime viewers, but is an important issue in the upcoming midterm election as well:

According to a new “Lifetime Women’s Pulse Poll,” conducted for the network by Roper Poll, when women and men vote in the mid-term elections this fall, expected issues such as homeland security, jobs and the economy and the war in Iraq will be very important, but an issue that receives far less attention — preventing violence against women and girls — will be just as, if not more, important to them.[link]

As we all have read, violence against women can often hit closer to home than can ever be expected. It takes a powerful woman to live through the experience and an even more powerful woman to be able to share their personal story. In addition to the personal experiences, the statistics out there on violence against women are alarming:

What is unfortunate to see is the taboo in the South Asian American community when there is violence against our women. But the important thing is, you are not alone. There is a national network of South Asian women’s organizations out there to support our survivors of the trauma of sexual assault.

Sakhi, based in New York City and a partnering organization to the Lifetime campaign, provides language specific culturally sensitive services to South Asian women because..

But New York City isn’t the only place with with access to these South Asian specific organizations, there is a national network of organizations listed here, and for our Canadian sisters here, here, and here. In Chicago, there’s Apn Ghar which has served over 5400 clients since 2000. SAHELI Boston is working on a newly launched Men’s Initative, to bring men into the dialogue. Maitri in the San Jose area has volunteers that speak Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Marwari, Oriya, Punjabi, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. ASHA in the DC area has recently intitated a partnership to find employment for survivors of domestic abuse. There are a lot of resources out there specifically towards our community, and almost all of these organizations have a toll-free hotline, multi-lingual support, assistance to find shelter, and referral to social, legal and mental health services.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from reading the comments to Anna’s post and thinking all day about how undiscriminating sexual violence is, it is how ill-prepared for a sexual assault I am. Here are a list of resources, should you need help now, but as always, in case of an emergency, call 911. From here on out, and I hope you all do the same, I will carry in my wallet the Rape Incest Abuse and National Network (RAINN) 24-hour rape crisis hot line, 1-800-656-HOPE. Every state has their own toll-free rape crisis line as well, and they are listed here. As Rupa said,

Even if you live in a state like Iowa that does not offer support services specifically for South Asian sisters please PLEASE PLEASE do not hesitate to use these services if you need to talk to someone, even if you don’t feel like discussing your experience, even if you need to process your feelings about something that happened to a loved one. These hotlines are for you, they are for everyone.

In the meantime, what does need to happen is the creation of a dialogue, “where women and men can feel free to discuss their experiences without praying they won’t be blamed or judged.”[link] Sexual assault does happen in the South Asian community. It was amazing to see the dialogue and compassion that arose through the comments of the readers of Sepia Mutiny, a place that I come to when seeking out linkage to a virtual South Asian American community. This is the start to a much needed dialogue and awareness of a very important issue affecting our mothers, sisters, and daughters.

Hopefully, Sepia Mutiny has now made you a little more aware of the sexual assault affecting the South Asian American women in our community, as well as some resources you have at your disposal. So tag, you’re it. It’s now your turn to make the people around you more aware about sexual assault issues too.

taz at 03:25 AM in Health and Medicine, Issues, Non-profits · 55 comment(s) · Direct link


 

April 04, 2006

Taxi-Wallahs of America

I spent my spring break last week interviewing taxi drivers about their working conditions, at taxi stands all across Los Angeles. It was my first week of conducting this research and we found handfuls of South Asian taxi drivers, far fewer in proportion to the taxi drivers in other metropolitan cities. I did get the chance to talk to a royal looking Sikh man with expansive white beard, who answered our questions predominantly in proverbs. Mostly though from what I saw, L.A. taxi drivers are immigrants from all over the world all working together in a not so forgiving career.

Taxi-Wallah

Luckily, the research we are doing here in L.A. is based on the success of the taxi worker alliances in New York City and the San Fransisco Bay. If you are in the Berkeley area this week, I highly suggest attending this talk (via The Seemamachine).

On April 5th at 7p, join Biju Mathew, an Associate Professor in the College of Business Administration at Rider University in New Jersey. Biju worked as a lead organizer for one of my all-time favorite organizations, New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance. NYTWA… is headed up by the wondrous Bhairavi Desai, whose leadership and commitment have resulted in health and legal services for NY’s taxi drivers, relief from burdensome and inefficient TLC practices, and a true spirit of organized power for the people that make the Big Apple move. Mathew’s book—Taxi! Cabs & Capitalism in New York City—canvasses the struggles drivers have faced within the taxi cab industry. His lecture will address same.

The lecture will be following the photography exhibit opening of “Taxi-Wallahs of Berkeley: Photographs and Narratives by Aditya Dhawan” hosted by the Center for South Asia Studies. You can see his taxi worker photos online and his exhibit will be running through June. Both events will be on the UC Berkeley campus. In the meantime down here in Los Angeles, I will continue to talk to as many taxi drivers as possible.

taz at 02:46 PM in Events, Issues, Non-profits · 30 comment(s) · Direct link


 

February 24, 2006

Mass literacy can be fun

Dr. Brij Kothari had an idea. Instead of being satisfied with the thought that Bollywood films served their purpose as a cheap and effective way to entertain the masses, why not put them to work so that they could actually be useful. The result of his idea is Planet Read (thanks for the tip Kiran). Kothari describes his venture on Google’s Blog:

NOW I get it.

My organization, PlanetRead, works in Mumbai and Pondicherry, India. We have developed a “Same-Language Subtitling” (SLS) methodology, which provides automatic reading practice to individuals who are excluded from the traditional educational system, or whose literacy needs are otherwise not being met. This is an educational program rooted in mass media that demonstrates how a specific literacy intervention can yield outstanding, measurable results, while complementing other formal and non-formal learning initiatives of the government, private sector, and civil society. We are fortunate to have just been selected as a Google Foundation grantee.

More than 500 million people in India have access to TV and 40 percent of these viewers have low literacy skills and are poor. Through PlanetRead’s approach, over 200 million early-literates in India are getting weekly reading practice from Same Language Subtitling (SLS) using TV. The cost of SLS? Every U.S. dollar covers regular reading for 10,000 people - for a year.

I hit upon this idea in 1996 through a most ordinary personal experience. While taking a break from dissertation writing at Cornell University, I was watching a Spanish film with friends to improve my Spanish. The Spanish movie had English subtitles, and I remember commenting that I wished it came with Spanish subtitles, if only to help us grasp the Spanish dialogue better. I then thought, ‘And if they just put Hindi subtitles on Bollywood songs in Hindi, India would become literate.’

Awesome. I hate Bollywood flicks but I still found myself going through some of the example clips on Planet Read’s website. Shah Rukh’s lip syncing has never sounded so good. I taught myself to read Hindi a few years back but have mostly forgotten. Watching the clips I could actually remember some of the script. The site also contains folks songs in languages such as Telugu.

Here are some other great examples you can learn along to.

If you want to make a donation to Planet Read you can do so here.

abhi at 05:15 PM in Film, Non-profits · 25 comment(s) · Direct link


 

January 10, 2006

MTV’s Aftershock (updated)

MTV has been showcasing the efforts of young Pakistani-Americans involved in Earthquake relief on many of its cable channels. As an example, you can head over to MTV Overdrive. Click on “Play Now” and then go to the “News” menu. One of the links in the menu is titled “Young People Pitch in for Pakistan.” This leads to a series of short news clips with enough music and fast camera work to hold the attention of young desis long enough to inspire them. It’s worth it just to hear aging hipster John Norris say the word “desis.” I’m digging the girl’s “I Love Nerds” shirt. The group featured in the news clips is Developments in Literacy (DIL):

The Developments in Literacy organization (DIL) was launched in February 1997 in Southern California. Its main purpose is to work for the eradication of illiteracy, in the remote and neglected areas of Pakistan, by establishing primary and secondary level non-formal schools for underprivileged children.

DIL, a nonprofit, voluntary organization has succeeded, in a period of five years, at establishing 200 schools in collaboration with various NGO’s…

In addition, a press release from MTV announces that their dreamy young newsman Gideon Yago, will be reporting from Pakistan all this week, culminating in a video diary titled, “Aftershock: Diary of Gideon in Pakistan.” Presumably the clips will be uploaded onto MTV’s website throughout the week. I will try an update this post if/as I discover those links.

Starting today [Monday], MTV News will turn over a week of its programming - on all platforms - to report on the aftermath of the October earthquake that rocked northwestern Pakistan and Kashmir, leaving 87,000 dead and 3.5million homeless. MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago will report on what’s being done to aid and rebuild after the disaster - from Pakistani-American marines assigned to humanitarian relief to a local movie theater turned rehab center for women. Yago’s reports will air on MTV, MTV2, mtvU and MTV Overdrive and will culminate in the documentary “Aftershock: Diary of Gideon in Pakistan,” premiering Friday at 7:30p.m. [Link]

I’m actually looking forward to seeing it. I think the interaction between young Pakistani-American Marines and the local population could make for some powerful television.

Update: The Vice President of MTV news, Ocean MacAdams, has provided us with direct links

The Diary Of Gideon In Pakistan (FULL SHOW plus exclusives)

Gideon In Pakistan: Exclusive Clips

Aftershock: South Asian Earthquake (Comp of news briefs)

Young People Pitch In For Pakistan (Desi packages)

abhi at 07:25 PM in News, Non-profits, TV · 10 comment(s) · Direct link


 

November 29, 2005

Canadian peace activists abducted

Yesterday the Canadian government declared that two of its citizens, both humanitarian workers, had been abducted in Iraq. It decided to keep their identities secret for the time being. CBC News reported:

The Canadians were among four people - all humanitarian workers - who disappeared.

Media reports say the other two hostages are a British man believed to be in his 70s, and an American. A British Foreign Office spokeswoman has identified the missing Briton as Norman Kember.

Canada’s Defence Minister Bill Graham says the government will do everything it can to help free the hostages. He did not provide any details.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Rodney Moore told CBC.ca on Monday that the department is “closely monitoring the situation.” It is “not giving any names,” of the individuals involved, he said, since “we have to respect the families” of the people taken hostage.

Today the identities of the two men were released (thanks for the tip Dhaavak). They are Harmeet Singh Sooden and James Loney:

James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, both members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, were among four aid workers abducted Sunday at gunpoint, the organization confirmed in a statement late Tuesday.

Mr. Loney, 41, a community worker from Toronto, had spent many years working with the city’s homeless before joining the organization in 2000. He had been leading the group before he was abducted.

Mr. Sooden, 32, a Canadian electrical engineer, was described by his family as being “peaceful and fun-loving and he is known to be passionate about the plight of the underprivileged around the globe.”

Being part of a Christian missionaries organization isn’t going to win them any points with these insurgents, but the fact that they are peace activists and probably support (I’m guessing) a withdrawal of troops would work in their favor you would think. What good does it do the insurgents to take these guys hostage?

According to the al-Jazeera report, a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade claimed responsibility for the kidnappings and has accused the four of being spies working undercover as Christian peace activists.

Ahhh yes. Spies, spies everywhere. In response to two of their own being kidnapped, the Christian Peacemaker Teams organization released a statement:

We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and U.K. governments due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has worked for the rights of Iraqi prisoners who have been illegally detained and abused by the U.S. government.

At the very least I hope that message from the CPT falls on the ears of these clueless insurgents and gets these hostages released.

abhi at 08:05 PM in News, Non-profits, Religion · 41 comment(s) · 1 reader(s) linked · Direct link


 

November 21, 2005

Are We Doing Enough?

I know we mutineers have been pushing Quake relief and donations for helping manage the response to the the various disasters that have struck around the world this year. It is just hard to imagine, that in a little over a month (December 26), it will be a year since the Indian Ocean tsunami, what seems like the first tragedy in a cycle of monstrous natural diasters hit. Hopefully the South Asian Quake will be the last we’ll see from mother nature for a LONG time.

What’s making me pontificate you ask? Well, my friend Roshan Loungani, founder of desivision (I did want to, at some point, properly blog this interesting on-line Desi television channel) pointed me to a short film (free subscription required) desivision is hosting by Rohit Gupta. The five-minute plus montage, accompanied by Nitin Sawhney’s classic Homelands, has some poignant images from the South Asian Earthquake and makes clear the need for continued international assistance.

Even if you don’t intend or cannot donate, please check out the video. Perhaps it will change your mind.

sajit at 11:31 PM in Non-profits · 6 comment(s) · Direct link


 

October 20, 2005

Earthquake Benefit in New York City

Anna wants to know what we can do. If you live in New York City, you’re in luck—you can support the arts for a good cause!

SAWCC Earthquake Relief Fundraiser: Performances & Silent Art Auction
Friday, October 21, 7pm
Asian American Writers Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, 10th floor
(btw. 5th & 6th aves, NYC)

Please join the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) to help raise funds for earthquake victims in South Asia. 100% of proceeds will be donated to the Edhi Foundation and to community members giving direct aid at the grassroots level. Please bring in-kind donations of painkillers, blankets, and warm clothing*. Home-made food will be served.

For more information on in-kind donations: http://www.yourdil.org/projects/relief/

 Musical Guest: Falu - “Hidden Gem” hot pick in Pop Montreal Festival, September 2005; Performances by: Alka Bhargava, Edward Garcia, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Tahani Salah, Suneet Sethi, Saba Waheed, Kron Vollmer’ Visual Art for auction donated by: Jaishri Abichandani, Amanda Cartagena, Chitra Ganesh, Swati Khurana, Maxwell Fine Arts, Saeed Rahman, Chamindika Wanduragala

Directions to Asian American Writers’ Workshop
N, R, Q, W, F, B, D, V, 1, 2, 3, 9 to 34th Street; 4, 5, 6 trains to 33rd Street

*Please do take a look at the information on the in-kind donations as the request for clothing has been cancelled for now. As of this posting they still say they need: Tents (New is best); Blankets (Used or New); Sleeping bags (Used or New) &
UNOPENED Over-the-counter Painkillers and Stomach Medicines (Tylenol, Advil, Immodium, etc).

(Forward from Saurav.)

saheli at 06:22 PM in Events, Non-profits · 3 comment(s) · Direct link


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