Dear CHAA Friends,

On behalf of the board and staff at Community Health for Asian Americans, I am pleased to bring you the Fall 2011 edition of our newsletter. In the next pages, please join us in celebrating the diversity of API and other underserved communities and our accomplishments in our work in creating safe, healthy and thriving communities in the Bay Area.

We started 2011 by launching a year-long strategic planning process. Feedback from our stakeholders affirms CHAA’s belief that our programs and strategies need to support the unique strengths and expertise of people from the communities we serve. We know that immigrant populations are changing and newer communities are arriving without adequate support and access to services. For communities such as the Burmese, Bhutanese, Karen, Karenni, Mongolian, Tamil and Tongan, we believe in building language and workforce capacity within these communities so they can lead the change process.

This has been a year of building bridges, both internally across the span of community health programs and externally across the communities we serve. CHAA explored new models and methods to expand our programs and services beyond counseling as evidenced in the strategies, stories and accomplishments described in the following pages. To that end, I am particularly proud of CHAA’s multidisciplinary and multicultural team of 65 staff members who come from myriad cultural and professional backgrounds including psychologists, licensed therapists and counselors, public health specialists, community leaders, organizers and social media bloggers. In addition, I am deeply grateful to all those who have supported CHAA over the past year. Despite the challenging economic trends both in the US and globally, we are encouraged to see that people with means continue to look for meaningful causes to support.

As you read about CHAA, I hope you will agree that CHAA offers a unique opportunity for meaningful giving. We look forward to your support in promoting healing of our communities through strength-based and culturally supportive action and advocacy. CHAA relies on your generosity to make the dream of healthy and thriving communities a reality for all.

Wishing you and your families a lovely holiday season.

Beatrice Lee, MPA
Executive Director
 

Donate to CHAA: http://www.chaaweb.org/get-involved

Download our Fall 2011 Newsletter: http://www.chaaweb.org/newsletter/Newsletter%20Dec2011.pdf 

View our Fall 2011 Newsletter below:

The Following article can be found at CHAA’s new blog http://chaaweb.blogspot.com/

" The intense uprisings started in 1972. I spent many nights in the dugout hearing artillery shells. We started to see dead corpses in the rice fields behind our backyard. By 1973, it was no longer safe to stay in Sung Rieng. My mom put me in a helicopter to Phnom Phem". -Sambo Ly, President of Cambodia Community Development Inc.

From 1975-1979, two million Cambodians lost their lives during the brutal oppression of the Khmer Rouge, a government led by the notorious dictator Pol Pot. This four year period was marked by political killings, starvation and forced labor. Even children were not spared from these atrocities as Cambodia fell under a regime that looked to establish a dystopian vision of a new Cambodia by elimination millions of innocent people. The upheaval of the period led to many Cambodians escaping their country to seek refuge and safety. Some Cambodian refugees were eventually settled in the United States. Oakland became a resettlement area for many of these refugees, as survivors of the war and genocidal regime faced whole new challenges as they settled down in unfamiliar surroundings. The crime and poverty in Oakland, along with issues of acculturation and transition caused many difficulties for this new Cambodian community. Yet the Cambodian community in Oakland looked to heal from these traumas. Organizations such as Cambodian Community Development Inc. (CCDI) were established by former refugees to promote and support the community. The challenges, triumphs and history of this community is on display at the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland, where CHAA, along with other community partners (including CCDI) worked with the museum to collect photographs and stories for the museum exhibit which featured a timeline detailing the history of ancient Cambodia, to the dark days of the Khmer Rouge, to the current Cambodian community living in Oakland. The museum exhibit opened on Saturday, October 22 and featured performances by members of the local Cambodian Community. The performances included 92-year-old Nhep Prok, a long time performer in Cambodia who now teaches traditional Cambodian music to younger generations. Nhep Prok and others from the community played traditional instruments for the museum opening audience, displaying an art form that the Khmer Rouge had attempted to destroy years ago. The performances of the day also included a traditional Cambodian dance, featuring young women in glamorous cultural clothing, poetry performances and a hip hop performance by local rapper RJ, a young Cambodian American youth leader who uses his cultural heritage and life experience to inspire powerful lyrics and rhymes in his music. The museum opening was a heartfelt, powerful and bittersweet celebration of both the struggles and triumphs of the Cambodian community in Oakland. The museum display is currently up at the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park where visitors are invited to visit, learn and experience these stories.

The following article is courtesy of S. Nadia Hussain, originally published on usordinarypeople.blogspot.com. Nyunt Than, the current head of the Burmese American Democratic Alliance (a non-profit organization in the Bay Area that works on democracy and human rights issues in Burma) is a Burmese leader whose activism going back to his days as a student during the 1988 pro-democracy uprisings. At the time, Nyunt Than* had just graduated from Rangoon Institute of Technology when the military regime shot and killed three student protestors from behind. “This act exposed the regime for what it was” he explained. “Now annually we commemorate that day, March 13, as Burma Human Rights day.”

“The protests in 1988 were initially led by students, but soon spread across the country as civilians, from children to housewives and doctors, joined in to rise up against the military dictatorship that had been running the country into the ground since 1962”. Despite having a broken leg due to a recent car accident, Nyunt Than took to the streets in resistance. The protests ended up leaving thousands dead as the regime brutally suppressed the movement. After the uprising ended, there were immediate crackdowns and arrests of students. Many students escaped towards the Burmese border into countries like Thailand. Nyunt Than stayed behind, however, due to his disability and a desire to finish up his graduate degree.

During this uprising, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel laureate and the daughter of the founder of Burmese Independence, Aung San, became a prominent opposition leader for democracy, creating the National League for Democracy party. In 1990, the military-backed Burmese regime lost the national election to Aung San Suu Kyi (or ASSK for short) and her democratic party. “During that election, I went back to my village and that’s where I witnessed how much people were hoping for change. Everybody came out and voted for her; they thought there was going to be real change. The next day, the radio announced the winners and I thought," Nyunt says with a sardonic laugh, “what can these people [the regime] do now? I thought that things were going to be different, but I was wrong. The next day they [the regime] outright denied Aung Saan Suu Kyi power, which eventually led to her arrest, and many student leaders got arrested again and again.” It was then that the Burmese regime overthrew the results of the general election and arrested ASSK, placing her under house arrest and jailing other democratic leaders who had won seats in the parliament. Some of whom would later died in prison.

Upon finishing his masters degree in 1991, Nyunt Than was quick to leave Burma. “The regime lies, they kill and will do anything to keep themselves in power, I intensely disagreed about what is going on in Burma, that’s why I decide that I will never work for this regime, as soon as I finished my education I left towards Singapore and lived there for 4 years. Activism in Singapore was very difficult because they are close to the Burmese regime”. After four years, Nyunt was able to migrate to the United States. Once in the US, Nyunt felt that he was could work to help his home country. He became involved in protest activities and soon helped found BADA and became the Secretary of the organization.

The oppression increased after Nyunt Than left. “The world was on edge when the regime brutally cracked down on the 2007 peaceful protests by Buddhist monks. In May of 2008, a massive cyclone Nargis hit lower delta area of Burma and killed nearly 200,000. With bodies scattered all over the region and millions of survivors looking for land, food and water to survive, the regime, instead of helping the people, moved forces within the country to come to the polls and approve a sham constitution."

When it comes to the protests that Nyunt Than works to organize, he has some strong points to address about economics and corporate interests in Burma. “If you look at why the dictatorship is still in power since it began rule in 1962, neighboring countries are very much responsible for this, especially China, India and ASEAN countries especially Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia. Though the US has sanctions and the UN is driving pressure, these countries still work with the regime to exploit our natural resources to cut prices. For China, Burma becomes a geographically strategic partner for them, because China sees Burma as their back door to the Indian Ocean. In times of war they want to make sure that all oil transport from the Indian Ocean can reach China; they want to use Burma as a back gate. Burma is also rich in natural resources and China is looking for resources throughout the world and Burma is right next door.”

Nyunt Than continues,“[In Burma, people struggle to live hand to month daily and have nothing much to eat due to the scarcity of food. They don’t even have enough electricity for their basic needs in the cities. Burma is exporting the largest amount of natural gas in the region to power factories in neighboring countries. The regime gets millions of dollars while the people struggle. There is gas pipeline to Thailand and one of its operators is California’s Chevron corporation. China is building a huge gas pipe line from Burma to China’s Yunnan Province. We are currently in the mists of protests against the Chinese dam on our the vital Irrawaddy River* to produce electricity for China. Burma is about the size of Texas and half of it used to be covered by forests. Now forests are no longer there and a few years back the country faced the severest drought seen in Burma’s history due to the lack of trees."

Besides issues of poverty and lack of education, Burma is also notorious for endemic human trafficking and widespread use of child soldiers. Human Rights Watch has released multiple reports and one of the reports, “My Gun Was As Tall As Me”, addresses the child soldier problem in Burma. Nyunt Than adds, “Sometimes they go out and kidnap the child and sell them to the army. The army is notorious because soldiers constantly flee [their posts]. They need manpower and impressionable young people will shoot whatever they are asked to shoot.”

Regarding issues of trafficking and exploitation of migrants, Nyunt Than recalls a story of a 20 year old girl from the ethnic Mon minority that he met in 2007. She was a refugee who crossed over the border to Thailand looking for work. After finding a job at a fishery, she was captured one night and raped by seven Thai men. She was then taken to a house where “girls are kept naked so they will not run away.” When she was transferred to another house, however, an old lady gave her clothes and she jumped out the window and eventually escaped. He recalled her telling him, “’I never thought something like this would happen to me.’ This is just one story; there are many abuse stories about immigrants who try to cross over the border,” he said.

When asked about the future of Burma, Nyunt Than responded that some elements of the regime are realizing they are hurting the country and that they are hurting the population. The regime leaders want the country to be perceived as a “modern Burma” but their policies and oppressive actions are not furthering the goals of a modern democratic nation. The regime is slowly realizing that they must engage with opposition forces like Aung Sang Su Kyi’s party.

“Burma is a land of grieving mothers,” Nyunt Than said. “So many of us who got involved hurt our parents because students left to the border to flee and could not come back due to the regime. Many of us left our parents behind. Even many of our parents died behind. Even I had to fly to Bangkok in 2007 to meet my mother for the last time and a few years later she died. I was fortunate even to have the chance to meet her."

When addressing the current situation in the country, Nyunt Than lamented that “the young generation has no education and no skills to help themselves or help their country, which is a real loss. How do you recover from lost generations?” He mentioned that one reason why he is working hard as an activist for a democratic Burma is due to his memories of having freedom as a college student, and that many of the people who are now young have no such thing as university lives. “Their university lives are gone, it doesn’t exist and that’s what makes me feel so bad about this new generation.”

Nyunt Than’s own children were born and raised in this country, but he makes sure to instill some Burmese cultural values and traditions within his family. All three of his children join him in Burmese protests and events. “They are activists. I bring them wherever I can. They grow up seeing things that I do.” He also makes sure that his children learn Burmese, and they are known for their poetry recitations at local activist events.

Currently the struggle continues for the nation of Burma. Many activists live in exile or are currently imprisoned. It is estimate that there are currently 2,200 Burmese political prisoners in the country. Recently the Burmese government released 120 of them. Maybe this is the modern engagement that Nyunt Than mentioned, but it is far from enough. The country is impoverished with low life spans, low education, and issues regarding child soldiers and human trafficking. Yet activists like Nyunt Than fight on, just as they have since 1988. It has been over 20 years, but Nyunt Than still looks to the horizon towards change.

Though the situation is challenging, he and many other activists like him, hold dear a strong hope for a democratic future for Burma.

 

This year marks the 8^th Annual Youth Stopping Violence Summit, which will take place at Lovonya DeJean Middle School in Richmond, CA on October 15^th, 2011. This year’s summit will explore the ideas of Unity through Diversity. The Youth Stopping Violence Summit promotes diversity and works to bridge the gaps between different cultures, finding that violence is something that has affected us all. The goals of the summit are to prevent violence, by bringing our communities together in order learn and explore the issues of violence and identify solutions to creating a safer community.

In 2004 the first Youth Stopping Violence Summit was created as a response to the death of a 15-year old Khmu youth, Chan Boonkeut, who was shot and killed at her home in San Pablo, CA, on October 13, 2003, by youth members of a Southeast Asian gang. This tragedy galvanized the community, resulting in efforts to organize the community, including youth, engaging them in discussions and planning towards the goal of violence prevention. Out of this tragedy SEAYL was created and we have continued to organize the Youth Stopping Violence Summit every year since then. In recent years the summit has grown and evolved, reaching outside of West Contra Costa County, and outside of the Southeast Asian communities, to promote cultural diversity and unity.

The Youth Stopping Violence Summit is a space where issues of community violence, social injustices and the systems of oppression can be discussed through meaningful dialogue. Through speakers, interactive workshops and performances in a youth-led and youth-friendly environment, we hope to spread this message of peace and unity. For the 8th Annual Youth Stopping Violence Summit, SEAYL plans to address issues of violence by providing space for young people from many backgrounds to learn share and grow together. We hope that the day’s events will inspire young people to get involved in their community and advocate for the changes that will make West Contra Costa County a safer, more positive place for young people.

For more information, contact Sue Denny at sue.denny@chaaweb.org

If you are interested in providing a workshop at this year’s Summit, please contact Nahid Ebrahimi at Nahid@RYSECenter.org to request an application. Deadline for workshop applications is Friday, October 7, 2011.

Sponsored by:

Music, workshops, keynote speakers, fashion, performances, and prizes are just a few of the things that youth will enjoy this coming Saturday, August 20, from 12pm-midnight, at the Himalayan Youth Leadership Summit at Samuel Merritt University in Oakland. Co-sponsored by Sahayeta, CHAA, Bhutanese Community in California, Tibetan Association of Northern California, CAN-USA and the Center for Asian American Media, this first-of-its-kind Bay Area summit aims to bring together Tibetan, Nepali, and Bhutanese youth and provide them with valuable workshops, networking and career development opportunities.

The event is designed for youth to not only discuss important community issues, but also to learn from one another as well as professionals, according to Nisha Thapa, President of Sahayeta. 

“During the summit, we will be encouraging young people to envision their capacity for positive change in the community as well as changes back home,” Thapa said. “We want them to learn from one another’s ideas, struggles, and issues. We also hope youth will share their talents openly, which will hopefully allow them to find a professional to connect with who can become a potential mentor.”

In addition to discussing youth issues, Thapa hopes that participants will come away with a newfound network of support, source of inspiration, and supply of confidence.

“After the event, I want the youth to say, ‘We have a community here,’“ Thapa said. “I hope that attendees can learn from each other, not feel isolated, and meet other youth feeling the same way they do, and provide mutual support.”

CHAA has been working with the Tibetan, Nepali, and Bhutanese communities through its API Connections program in Alameda County for the past year. The issues and needs of these communities are largely unseen, according to Sean Kirkpatrick, Associate Director for CHAA, and hosting a summit for youth from these communities will allow them to connect with one another, providing a valuable opportunity to forge new friendships and build life skills.

“Our goal is to support development of youth leadership within the Bhutanese, Tibetan, and Nepalese communities while fostering a setting for bringing youth together to build relationships across communities,” said Kirkpatrick “I hope that this deepens CHAA’s ability to support these communities more meaningfully, and strengthens our relationships with partner organizations working with them.”

By hosting a summit, the six sponsoring agencies hope to provide participants with a space in which their voices can be heard, as well as their skills and confidence to share their voices in the future.

In addition to panels and workshops, evening entertainment will be provided, including a singing challenge, designer showcase, and performance by renowned flutist Manose Singh.

To register and for more information, please visit www.sahayeta.org or contact Nisha Thapa at (415) 297-7643.

Supporters and prospective participants are encouraged to view the Himalayan Youth Leadership Summit video and photos for outreach to both Bhutanese and Nepali youth for the summit.

(Photo: Nisha Thapa, President of Sahayeta.org, doing outreach for the First Annual Himalayan Youth Leadership Summit to Nepali youth in Sunnyvale, CA. Credit Sean Kirkpatrick.)

The following article is courtesy of Sapana Sakya, originally published on caamedia.org.

Identity has always been a vexing issue for me. I was born in Nepal, in the capital, Kathmandu, where identity is established first by ethnic group. There are more than 100 distinct ethnic groups and castes in the Kingdom of Nepal. I am Newari, the original inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley, and a Sakya, one of the families or clans that represent the monks and nuns of the Buddhist community.

When I was 5 years old my family migrated to Thailand where I attended an American international school in Bangkok. I was the only Nepalese person in my school. To be anything other than Thai, Chinese or Indian – the majority of the student body, was to be looked down upon or considered an exotic “other” so I learned to keep my ethnicity to myself and didn’t correct people when they assumed I was Thai or Indian.

As I got older, I appreciated my “uniqueness” but I further honed my ability to mingle and pass in and out of ethnic groups and cliques, by learning their languages and mannerisms. When I migrated to the United States to go to college this knack for blending in became something of a superpower. But, like any superpower there are some drawbacks. What I lacked was any sense of community or belonging, I felt like an imposter, or worse, invisible.

My work at CAAM, where the goal is to represent the vast, complex diversity of the Asian American experience has been informed and reinforced by my own life journey. I believe in the value of individual experiences but also in the value of being part of a community. A community can offer support when an individual is in need and strength when it comes to having one’s voice heard.

Until now, I categorized myself as South Asian but I always felt that the term South Asian represented the dominant group of that subcontinent, India. I am South Asian and Nepalese; the Nepalese language is similar to Hindi but Newari, my ethnic language, is closer to Tibetan and Burmese. So Himalayan is a more accurate descriptor of my culture and ethnicity.

Having the term Himalayan American to describe myself strengthens my identity and allows me to explore what makes us a community and how we can strengthen that network. But I am also still South Asian and Asian American because there I enjoy being associated to these larger communities for both political and social reasons. Identity politics in the US is a whole other can of worms which we’ll leave for another blog post! The question of identity is always going to be complex.

But the Himalayas also conjure up images of tranquil, idyllic Buddhist hamlets of Shangri-la. This is just as much a stereotype as a Bombay sex worker or a security guard, which is what many an Indian acquaintance has brought up minutes after being introduced.

Those two stereotypical images are the reasons why I work in media and believe in the importance of telling your own story. Our own stories, be they Himalayan or otherwise are always much more interesting and nuanced than anything someone else creates about us.

What does it mean to be Himalayan American? Do we need this term to better describe ourselves? Why not Asian American or South Asian American? The answer lies in the mountain range that connects Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet, the Himalayas.

The Himalayan American community is a new ethnic group so no population numbers exist. When confronted with the choices on census forms many check “other”. But one number is concrete, the 50,000 Nepalese-Bhutanese refugees that the United States government will be relocating in the coming years. Oakland, California and Houston, Texas will receive the majority of these ethnically Nepalese families who were expelled from Bhutan. Tibetans and Nepalese have been settling in the San Francisco Bay Area for generations and the numbers have increased recently due to social unrest in Nepal. The city of Berkeley is one of the few cities that recognize Tibet as an autonomous region.

Grassroots organizations like Sahayeta and Community Health for Asian Americans have been working to provide much needed health services, education and job training to assist the Himalayan American community in the Bay Area. This month, CAAM and these two organizations along with the Nepalese professional association CAN-USA, will host the first Himalayan Youth Leadership Summit in Oakland.

The Himalayan community, especially the youth are ready to take the next step towards defining their identity here in the US. The goals of the Summit are to empower youth to see their own futures in a positive light, to provide a platform for the youth and the community to share their ideas and talents and finally, to create an alliance that encourages youth leadership and growth.

If you are a Himalayan youth or are interested in these issues please check out the Himalayan Youth Leadership Summit.

Sapana Sakya is Public Media Director at the Center for Asian American Media and the producer and editor of the award-winning DAUGHTERS OF EVEREST.

After months of preparation, the inaugural Cambodian New Year Celebration attracted more than 500 community members of all ages and backgrounds on April 2 in Oakland. The family-friendly event at the Cesar Chavez Educational Center featured food, music, dancing, games, and a fashion show, planned and hosted by the Cambodian Women’s Health Community Work Group (CWG), Community Health for Asian Americans (CHAA), Cambodian Community Development, Inc. (CCDI), the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI), and Prevention Research Center (PRC).

Funded by the National Institute of Health’s National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Cambodian Women’s Health Project — now in its second year — involves a multi-generational group of Cambodian women (the CWG) sharing and using their personal experiences to promote healthy behaviors in their community.

Cambodian New Year — or "Chaul Chnam Thmey" in Khmer — lasts for three days beginning on New Year’s Day (usually falling on April 13th or 14th) and corresponding to the transition between the end of the harvesting season and the beginning of the rainy season in Southeast Asia. Cambodians living abroad often choose to celebrate during a weekend near the actual holiday. Working cooperatively with the other Cambodian organizations, the CWG chose April 2 for their celebration, not wanting to interfere with celebrations in neighboring communities.

While many holiday celebrations may encourage or enable unhealthy behaviors, the event sought to serve a larger purpose in promoting community wellness while also encouraging guests to have a good time.
The idea for the day arose from issues identified within the Cambodian community by the Cambodian Women’s Health working group as an intervention to deal with some of those areas, according to Shadia Godoy, CHAA Program Supervisor.

“The Cambodian New Year event was aimed at targeting specific issues, including isolation, harmful alcohol use, drug use, and gambling,” Godoy said. “The intention was to put on a social event that was culturally authentic yet free of alcohol, drugs, and gambling.”

Despite the typical stress and preparations associated with executing a large-scale event, members of the group left the day feeling happy, proud, and supported by their community.

“I am very proud that people of different generations came to the event and that they all thought the food was good,“ Choun said. “People really liked the traditional dance performance, and some asked if we will have this event again next year. I was also proud and encouraged that people wanted to learn about the Cambodian Women’s Group at the event.”

Fellow member Phanara reflected on not only the support shown to her by the community but by her family as well.

“I was so happy to see so many people come,” Phanara said. “People congratulated me as to how well-organized the event was. And my husband and son were there to help from the beginning to the end of the event.”

CHAA Director of Community Research Ann Rojas-Cheatham agreed.

“Not only were many Cambodian cultural traditions brought to life at this event, but Cambodians from across the Bay Area came together, many of whom had not seen each other in years,” Rojas-Cheatham said. “People had a great time building community and celebrating Cambodian New Year with old and new traditions in an alcohol and gambling free environment.”

In addition to organizing the day’s schedule, the Cambodian Women’s Group also prepared a statement thanking those in attendance for their support and encouraging them to unite, both for peer support as well as preservation of Cambodian culture.

“We hope that you will all love each other and commit to support Cambodian people into the future,” the statement read. “Young people, adults, and seniors must stand up and unite to become stronger. When we, the older generation, are no longer with you and part from this world, please continue to emphasize unity and our people will benefit from embracing the Cambodian culture. And remember, you as Cambodians must pass down the traditions into the future.”

And members of the Cambodian Women’s Group were not the only ones who viewed the day as a success.

“Aside from the amazing cultural performances, one of my favorite parts was watching the game between the youth — the “tha-daum sluk chur.” It was gratifying to see the youth so engaged in the event,“ Godoy said.

Sotheavy Tan, a member of the Cambodian Women’s Group, was elated to have the community unite in what has been a trying time of conflict.

“People were very glad to see each other; they haven’t seen a New Year celebration like that in a very long time due to the temple spit,” Tan said. “This event was healing following the conflict with the temple. I saw the community come together, instead of cracking like in the past. Our New Year should bring peace and happiness, and it did.”

Angelo Ercia, CHAA Community Health Program Specialist, witnessed the success and power of all the day’s elements and attractions.

“I greatly enjoyed the whole day,” Ercia said. “Once I heard the music and saw the people, I knew it would be good. The event did what it was supposed to do.”

For more photos from the event, please see the CHAA Facebook album.

(Photo Sean Kirkpatrick)
 

CHAA Community Wellness Advocate Nwe Oo was presented with the Vagina Warrior Award on May 13 at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Sponsored by the Filipina Women’s Network in collaboration with V-Day — the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls — the award recognizes “incredible women and men working to end violence against women and girls in their communities.”

The honorees — who either experienced violence personally or witnessed it within their communities — have dedicated themselves to ending violence against women through sustained grassroots organizing. Along with four other award winners, Oo was honored for her work and commitment to positive change and social justice.

“I am honored to be recognized with other advocates who have overcome their own struggles and helped women get needed services in the community,” Oo said. “And while it’s nice to celebrate what we have accomplished up to this point, there is still much work left to be done.”

After suffering domestic violence at the hands of her husband, Oo has received counseling, filed for divorce, and now has sole custody of her three young sons. She has experienced first-hand living in a shelter to protect herself and her family, and now counsels other refugee women who are also suffering from abuse on how to find help and resources when they are ready. An advocate on behalf of families suffering from PTSD due to life experiences as refugees, Oo has also found herself helping Burmese refugees cope with the stress of resettlement in the U.S., many after years of living in camps on the Thai-Burma border and in Malaysia.

V-Day, according to Oo, is bittersweet in that it recognizes domestic abuse as a significant problem but also demonstrates solidarity and an ongoing commitment to positive change by community members and activists.

“Many women in society are isolated, suffer from domestic violence, and are forgotten,” Oo said. “V-Day is important because it aims to empower women everywhere, reminding them that they are not alone.”

Drawing from her own experiences, Oo is particularly passionate about women and the effects of abuse on their roles as wives and mothers, but also on children, culture, and society at large.

“Every 15 seconds, a women suffers physical, emotional, or verbal abuse,” Oo said. “And psychological abuse is often more damaging than physical abuse. Physical marks can go away, but emotional scars stay forever. And when you don’t get support, everything falls apart and you start feeling hopeless about the future.”

Because of some cultures’ inclinations to ignore or minimize women and their issues and perspectives, Oo says, it is more important than ever to take action and give support, because the woman who needs it might not have anyone else.

‘In many cultures, there is no respect for women and children — just for men, the elderly, and faith leadership,” Oo said. “Many cultures won’t let women open their mouths, and those women don’t know where to go for support because they don’t speak English. And to make it worse, society ignores the problem, because it’s the woman’s problem.”

Oo emphasizes that anyone can take positive action to help end abuse against women, whether they support someone they know personally, volunteer for advocacy organizations, or simply adhere to high standards of behavior and respect in their everyday lives.

“We need to ask ourselves what we as a community are going to do to promote change and end the cycle; we have a responsibility to take action,” Oo said. “ By not allowing our sons to be abusive or disrespectful to girls or women, we are taking action. By speaking up, we are taking action. Counseling can be over-emphasized and often doesn’t take into account culture. But if we hear, listen, care, and provide love and support, we can really help. As human beings — male or female — we need to support each other.”

If you would like to be involved with the movement to support women or are in search of help yourself, please contact Nwe Oo at nwe.oo@chaaweb.org.

The following article is courtesy of Nadia Hussein, originally published on her blog Us Ordinary People.

I was introduced to Pam while working on a video documenting project with CHAA (Community Health for Asian Americans). I was immediately drawn to Pam’s vibrant and warm personality. CHAA chose Pam to give the organization insight into the Thai community in the Bay Area. While filming, I learned about Pam’s personal journey from Thailand to America.

Pam’s name in Thailand was Punchakarn. She is from the Khao Wong District, Kalasin Province in northeastern Thailand. Both of her parents were teachers, and Pam herself was a public school teacher in Thailand for 17 years before leaving that job to teach for two years at the school her family established and ran. Pam was very passionate when she spoke of her school, which is a private school for students but also provides free education for those coming from poor families. She told me how her school also provides support for students who have been rejected by other institutions. She recalled one student who had been performing poorly at his former school and had behavioral problems. When his parents moved him to Pam’s school, he improved and received good grades. He is now is ranked first in the school. “He got all grade A in every subject and his reading is compared to a 6 grader right now. So I was very proud of our school,” Pam said with a smile on her face.

Unfortunately, her school fell into debt due to economic difficulties in Thailand. The government cut its budget, so the school soon faced money troubles. Because of this, Pam decided to come to the US to earn more income for the school. To her, the United States provided the opportunity to make enough money to pay off the debts sooner, and she felt that she could use her English skills to accomplish this.

When Pam first came to America, she was undocumented and came to Los Angeles, where she worked at a Thai restaurant. Pam recalls, “Working in Thai restaurant is very hard because we have to work 12-14 hours non-stop with no break. We started working from 10:30 in the morning till 11:30pm. I almost died the first week because I feel so felt exhausted. I go back to the place I sleep and I just sleep, many days I didn’t want to eat at all. I was very bad both physically, mentally; I almost gave up many times. I just encouraged myself that no, I cannot give up because I have some big goal to go through. That’s why I try to keep moving, but it’s very very tough.”

During her time in L.A., Pam faced what she considered to be the most difficult time in her life. She was let go from the Thai restaurant due to slow business. She had no money for rent or food. Pam recalls that she “got to the point where I only have 50 cents left in my pocket. 50 cents! Maybe it was time I needed to go back home. I don’t see the future here so I try to think how could I survive. I decided to borrow five dollars from my housemate and bought a day pass." She explained, “In L.A. with a day pass, you can get unlimited ride in any buses and subway all day long until midnight. I got on the bus to drive to at least a one day job so I can have some money to survive, and fortunately I found one restaurant that they said, ‘today our head chef was sick so I need you.’ That day I worked as an assistant chef with the owner, and got paid 70 dollars. I used some of it to buy food and then saved some of it for the bus fee so I can have opportunity to find more job.” Pam recalled another time when she was very sick for four days. This was during the time of the Songkram Thai festival in L.A. Despite her illness, Pam forced herself to attend the festival, where she fatefully met her future employer, who paid for her plane ticket from L.A. to Oakland to have her work as a translator on a publishing project.

Working in the Bay Area was a great experience for Pam. Working for her new boss “was very convenient and very relief because I don’t have to pay for the rent. I have 3 meals for 7 days even though on weekend I don’t need to work, but I have food to eat. And then many weekend they took us, me and my friend, another girl who works on the same project, to visit in the Bay, like Napa Valley, San Francisco, take pictures of the golden gate bridge. So my life sort of flipped, like you flip your hand, I was really happy because I can have money to send back home and I have a better life.”

Pam currently provides freelance Thai translation and language lessons. She currently volunteers to help other Thai immigrants in the Bay Area and has been volunteering at a local elementary school as a teacher’s assistant. She has also gotten married, and is now a green card holder, putting to rest many of her old anxieties related to jobs and immigration.

Though her life is in a better place now, Pam has not forgotten the challenges she faced. She recalls when she and another undocumented friend wouldn’t dare cross the street when there was a red light due to the fear of being caught by the police and deported. “We lived with fear all the time no matter what. Lived with fear, period. We saw no future, but we see small hope that we can live a better life. Me and my friend, and many people who cannot tell about their story. We kind of understand each other about how hard it is to live illegally”.

Pam added, “Thai people came here for financial issues. We don’t have war in Thailand: we came here to try to find some job. So they have to live very hard life because they have no choice to complain. The Thai people have specific problem because they are undocumented persons. The Burmese, Khmer, the Karen Bhutanese or the other Asian countries, they are in a better status because they have a green card; at least they have a social security number. They can work but they have a lot of problem about languages. But us, we have a double problem because we cannot work here legally, and many of us can’t speak English”.

After all of the struggles she has faced, Pam feels a personal need to use her skills to help others in her community. “I want to help the Thai people and explain that they should not be scared, you can have some organization that can help you. If Thai people know more about organizations they can ask for more help, because right now they are scared. They don’t want to show themselves and present themselves in public.

“I volunteer as a Thai interpreter and I feel much better. I feel proud of myself. I want to help and expand information about organizations; I really want them to know that there are many organizations that can help them even though they are undocumented people. "

Though she may not be an elementary school teacher anymore, Pam is teaching many people around her by reaching out to people within her community about resources that may help them in their own struggles. From struggling to pay rent as an undocumented person to starting her own translation business, I hope that people can look at Pam’s journey and be inspired by her hard work, dedication and belief in making a better life for herself, a sentiment shared by many who come to this country.

To visit Pam’s website and have access to her Thai translation and language classes, go to www.weekendthaitranslation.com.

 

David Young, PhD, MPH, Program Director for CHAA’s Contra Costa County services, was recently featured as an expert guest on mental health in Asian American communities on the public television program “Mental Health Matters.” The show, which appears on cable access channels throughout Alameda County, tackles the important questions of mental health in different ethnic communities each month.

Young, who provided the perspective of a mental health provider, was joined by fellow guest Jonathan Griggs, a consumer-provider and peer advocate of more than 10 years. The two shared their views on what providers should keep in mind when treating Asian communities, why Asian Americans might not seek help, and the importance of cultural competency.

“I am very happy that we had the opportunity to discuss the important and timely issue of mental health and wellness in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, particularly with the episode being aired on television during the week of Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day,” Young said. “I believe there is useful information in this episode for a variety of groups, including the general public , behavioral health providers, family members, and persons from the Asian community who are struggling with a mental health issue.”

In the show, Young and Griggs encourage those in the Asian community who may be feeling down but fearful of seeking help due to cultural stigma to reach out to a peer advocate, make social connections, and share stories with others who have been through similar experiences.

“By talking to other people with similar experiences and recognizing that wellness challenges are not uncommon, an individual is one step closer to being in a better place,” Young said. “Unfortunately, in most Asian languages the nomenclature used to describe mental disorders is rather derogatory, so no one wants to admit that they may be experiencing these kinds of problems. It’s important for Asians to recognize that there are factors beyond moral self-discipline and conscious choice that can be explained neurologically, biochemically, and in the larger context of social and environmental stressors.”

Griggs agreed on the importance of maintaining social connections and a support network.

“Go to conferences and connect, educate each other, and educate the public,” Griggs said. “While the current mental health system is not perfect, it can be improved by talking about issues, getting involved through committees, and participating in consumer empowerment groups. But most importantly, one should never give up hope.”

Viewers may watch the show online or on the appropriate cable access television channel for their community. The Asian American episode of Mental Health Matters will show on Thursday, May 12 and Thursday, May 26 at 9:30pm.

Shorter clips can be found on APIhealthsource.com, a Web 2.0 community dedicated to the exchange of health, family, and lifestyle information specifically for the Asian and Pacific Islander population.