Creating Brighter Futures with Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities
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.
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.
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.
This year marks the 8th Annual Youth Stopping Violence Summit, which will take place at Lovonya DeJean Middle School in Richmond, CA on October 15th, 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.
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.
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.
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).
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 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.
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.