Daily News, 11-Dec-08
By Clem Richardson
When domestic workers from across the city rallied at City Hall in October, Luna Ranjit and a small group of women from Nepal, like herself, were there to demonstrate their support.
The rally was held to urge the passage of a domestic workers rights bill that has long been stalled in the state Legislature.For Ranjit and the women who took the subway in from Queens, just being part of the crowd was a victory of sorts.
"They came back very energized," Ranjit said of the women. "We're starting to see involvement in a bigger picture, on issues of a larger scale."
Ranjit, 31, is co-founder - with Srijana Shrestha, Rashmi Shrestha and Tafadzwa Pasipanodya - and executive director of Adhikaar, a Woodside, Queens-based group that works to educate and empower Nepali women in the city. The volunteer group serves more than 550 people and is growing, says Ranjit. Funding for Adhikaar is mostly through donations and grants.
Like many immigrants in the United States, natives of the Arkansas-sized South Asian nation bordered by China (Tibet) to the north and India on the other sides often find themselves taking jobs well below their educational level.
For many Nepali women, that usually means finding work as maids or babysitters, or working in nail salons.
Adhikaar, which means "rights" in several South Asian languages, was founded in 2005 with what Ranjit admits were modest goals.
"We wanted to do something very small," Ranjit said. "We saw it as being a conduit for giving out information to people. There was no understanding in the Nepali community about rights and resources that were readily available to them."
Nepali natives live throughout the city, but the majority are concentrated in Queens.
There were many Nepali cultural and political organizations in the city, Ranjit said, but "all were led by men who were from an earlier generation of immigrants who were already established and were not really connected with what was happening in the community now."
"We were all younger, in our twenties and thirties at the time. We were also all women," she added. "We didn't think we would get our voices heard within an existing organization."
The group's first project was to conduct a survey asking Nepali immigrants what a group could do to improve their lives.
Ranjit holds bachelor's degrees in economics and development studies from Grinnell College in Iowa, and a master's degree in public and international affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.
"As an economist, I understood it from an economic perspective, but I still did not like the idea of Nepalis being insignificant," she said. "That was a big trigger for us to let us know we needed to have our voices heard."
Adhikarr conducted its own survey, going door to door. The problems were not unexpected. Primarily, there were problems with access to health care.
"People were uninsured and scared to go to the hospital," Ranjit said. "Some people who went to the hospital got huge bills, and when that news spread, no one else wanted to go to the hospital. People were also having problems because they didn't speak English."
Adhikarr's first English class in 2006 was held Sunday nights, because that was when the first group of women, most of them nail salon employees, got off from work.
Adhikarr now conducts two English classes: one to teach functional language skills and the other teaching the language at a slightly higher level.
"The one group teaches really basic things," Ranjit said. "Many of these women don't recognize English letters or numbers.
"We get them to memorize their home addresses, their phone numbers and a phone number of a friend so they are never stranded anywhere. We show them that this is the 7 train and this is your stop."
In the higher-level class people learn to discuss and understand issues, the object being "to raise awareness and leadership building," Ranjit said. "We bring up issues, or they let us know what they want to know more about."
These were the Adhikarr members who attended the City Hall rally, she said.
Adhikarr also has offered job readiness programs and CPR training. On a recent workday, staff members Rinku Bastola, a development associate, and Narbata Chhetri, a community organizer, were teaching two women how to fill out online applications.
RANJIT SAID the group also has begun to partner with other groups to offer more programs, including a seminar on domestic violence, HIV screening and free mammograms courtesy of the American Cancer Society.
"It was the first time many of the women had ever had a mammogram," she said.
Ranjit moved to the U.S. in 1996 to attend Grinnell on a full scholarship. She has worked for community groups, and her field of expertise is forming government social policies
"I feel like I do have that unique background, having gone to school with people who are making those decisions, and being able to speak their language as well as the community's language," Ranjit said.
"I feel I have the capacity to be this bridge between those two worlds."
Ranjit worked for two years without pay to get Adhikarr off the ground - supported by husband Russil Shakya, a technical consultant.
Last week, Adhikarr received the 2008 Union Square Award for its efforts in the community. The award includes a $50,000 grant.
Unfortunately, Ranjit is having trouble extending her U.S. visa and must return to Nepal next month until the issue is resolved.
To find out more about Adhikaar, see its Web site, www.adhikarra.org, or call (718) 937-1117.
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