Women’s
group expands:
AWAKE is now offering wide range of services throughout the region
Hema
Easeley
The Journal News
Twelve
years ago a handful of Rockland women formed a support group for
Asian women who were victims of domestic violence.
The
Asian Women’s Alliance for Kinship & Equality, or AWAKE, has
now grown into an area organization that offers its services in
Westchester, New Jersey, Queens and Manhattan.
It
has also expanded to help new immigrants with English lessons,
legal and immigration advice, and other specialized services such
as reconnecting first-generation immigrants and their American
children with whom they have disputes over how to live their lives.
“When
I came here it was very difficult. There was no support for women,”
said AWAKE volunteer Jaslin Chopra of Suffern, who came to the
U.S. from India 30 years ago.
The
group draws its members from India, Pakistan, China, the Philippines,
Vietnam and Japan, nations that have patriarchal societies in
which men still hold a dominant role over women in decisions concerning
finances, child rearing and other major matters.
AWAKE
felt it had a unique role because American organizations providing
similar services wouldn’t have the cultural sensitivity to deal
with issues affecting Asian women.
In
South Asian communities, for example. Women may be harassed not
just by their husbands, but by their in-laws as well. Many women
would keep silent about abuse because of fear of bringing dishonor
to their families, or because they were afraid their husband would
have them deported or take their children away.
“This
issue of domestic violence is huge in our communities. It cuts
across class and religion, contrary to hat some folks might think
or say,” said Fawzia Khan, an Ossining resident of Pakistani origin
who teaches English at Montclair University in New Jersey. “I
believe the work AWAKE is doing to raise awareness about this
issue and how it damages and weakens families is very important
work.”
But
when AWAKE first began telling the local Asian community about
this work, he members were rejected.
“They
said, ‘You are home wreckers,’ ” said Chopra, who works with the
Rockland Family Shelter and was president of AWAKE from 1998 to
April 2005. “I would walk in and they would walk out.”
But
a brutal killing of an Indian woman in 1997 by her husband in
Valley Cottage shook the community out of its complacency. Indian
families began to recognize the importance of an organization
like AWAKE.
“It’s
for a noble cause. They are on the right path,” said Ajay Veer
Chapotkat, president of the 400-member India Cultural Society
of Rockland.
AWAKE
has welcomed the acceptance.
“You
cannot fix what you cannot face,” said Dr. Raman Kaul, a New City
oncologist who is the current president of AWAKE. “Our community
will be stronger.”
Emboldened
by its success, AWAKE began offering its services in schools.
At Suffern High School, AWAKE helped Asian students reconcile
lifestyle issues with conservative parents.
“There
are so many cultures that see our society as very permissive,”
sais Randy Kaplan, student assistance counselor at the school.
“For us to be able to match these families with professionals
who are familiar with these cultures has been very helpful to
us.”
Reach
Hema Easley at heasley@thejournalnews.com or 845-578-2442.
