The Oscar winning documentary begins with a gripping intro of Zakia, a 39 year old Pakistani woman, an unfortunate victim of an acid attack, holding her pictures and telling the camera on how passionate she used to feel in taking her own pictures when she would receive a set of new clothes from her family members. Just a normal occurrence for all of us, you’d think. In the picture you see a beautiful young woman posing with a face so innocent, so wholesome. That was then..

Her face now, wrapped in a veil, showing only one eye; the eye of a hopeful woman who despite losing half her facial features, still manages to stay humble and sensible. “I know I won’t ever again be as God made me”, she confidently speaks in front of the camera. “But hopefully it will get better for me”.

Her voice, full of conviction and faith takes me aback. Zakia is a brave woman, I think to myself. And from this point on, I want to learn more about her…I want to know her.

“He used battery acid. The highest quality and undiluted. It took one second to ruin my life completely. One second,” she recalls the details of her attack committed by her very own husband.

Dr. Mohammad Jawad who resides in London with a successful career as a plastic surgeon, travels to his homeland to operate on the burn victims in Pakistan’s Government Hospital where a free clinic is set up. The doctor, compassionate towards his patients, can’t help but show his utter disgust of the stories told by these women; stories of their husbands throwing acid, their sister-in-law throwing gasoline and the mother-in-law setting the poor woman on fire. The crude reality to the viewer is unimaginable and monstrous. The cruelty of her own husband, capable of committing such heinous acts, is sickening to the stomach. Furthermore, the participation of a sister-in-law and mother-in-law, both women, setting another woman on fire is horrifying and unbelievable.

“I just cannot understand this. I am trying not to be angry. I don’t want to hear these stories anymore.” the saddened physician shares.

A safehouse in Islamabad run by Acid Survivors Foundation holds group meetings for acid victims where these lovely women gather and share their pain with each other. I am amazed to see their strength through all their horrific experiences. Whilst most of us can say that our tribulations in life don’t leave (physical) marks, the women’s’ faces are permanent marks they have to live with each and every day. They unite and relief their sorrows by laughing it off, telling the group how they have come to accept themselves. I’m in awe, perplexed and surprised to see their positive attitudes – they’re extraordinary women.

Zakia’s court case against her husband is pending and handled by a female lawyer, Sarkar Abbas, who is especially passionate about women’s cases. She is fighting Zakia’s case free of charge. Women do not go to the Court to fight for justice.

“It would be great if we could set a precedent with Zakia’s case. They should remain in prison, like animals are confined in cages.”

Ten minutes into the documentary, I find myself nodding and wholeheartedly agreeing with the lawyer’s statement.

A meeting with a member of Parliament and the acid victims raises questions on how to bring justice to helpless women by enforcing laws of life imprisonment for the perpetrators. Marvi Memon, the member of Parliament, proposes the bill and urges the other members along with her supportive females colleagues to pass this bill. The bill gets unanimously passed. A small victory for the hopefuls of Pakistan.

As Zakia awaits the verdict on her court hearing, she is invited to the lawyer’s house where the lawyer explains the final verdict to Zakia.  While watching this documentary, Zakia’s beautiful personality has captured my heart and I await the verdict in suspense with her – double life imprisonment? It’s true. Her husband will be double life sentenced. Vah vah! Justice prevailed. A precedent is set. A message delivered.

Zakia’s face was now to undergo surgery under the experienced hands of Dr. Jawad and the outcome was miraculous. Saving her face, the doctor not only brought normalcy back to Zakia’s life, but he also brought back her dignity. Zakia, a woman of such beautiful spirit, finally smiled and thanked God. I smiled looking at her with a tear streaming down my cheek. I didn’t know the effect of humanity would be this strong. It is what connects us and makes us aware of living. I am impressed by Dr. Jawad; I love his humor, his zest and passion for life, his determination to do as much we can, but as an individual there is only so much we can do, right?

The documentary leaves me with a warm feeling of hope, womanly courage and jubilation. I feel light and encouraged that there are people in Pakistan and Pakistanis abroad who care enough to make a difference. Hats off to Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy; I admire her, I applaud her, I salute her! Her vision and her efforts are truly shown in her work as well as her concern and love for abused women. Incredible work, indeed.

To watch Saving Face, visit the film’s facebook page for more information.

The Sindhi Voices Project (SVP) is a community initiative at the intersections of digital media and oral history. SVP engages people in the production of their histories and hopes to spark inter-community and inter-generational dialogue along the way. At present, they are listening closely to memories of a pre-Partition past and aim to understand how “our collective and individual pasts shape who we are today.”

We interviewed the creator of the Sindhi Voices Project, Natasha Raheja.

What is your background, and what do you expect to learn from this project?
In my undergraduate career at UT Austin, I started off pre-med with a BS in Biology and even took the monster MCAT! Taking electives in South Asian Studies was not enough for me and I soon declared a dual degree including a BA in Asian Cultures and Languages. Wanting to delve deeper, I continued in this field with my MA at UT Austin. In between this time, I spent a year in Lucknow, India as an American Institute of Indian Studies Urdu Language Fellow. During this program I laid the foundations for what is now the Sindhi Voices Project. This September, I’ll be starting my PhD in Media Anthropology at New York University.

I am hoping that this project will be an exploration of how individuals and communities experience forces of history and configure their identities accordingly. Questions that intrigue me and my co-director, Neena Makhija, include: How do we inherit memories? What kinds of things shape the way in which we remember the past? How do or do not physical borders translate into community divides?

How did you personally become involved in this project?
I use a variety of markers I use to identify myself and one of the colors is Sindhi. Interestingly, growing up neither me nor my family strongly identified with being Sindhi. Perhaps it is the ambiguity of what this label entails that has in part provoked my curiosity and this adventure.

Growing up, I was alerted to certain conceptions that I feel may be linked to the community’s fraught contemporary history centered on the 1947 Partition of British India. Given that I myself was born in the United States, twice removed both in time and place from this experience, I was never able to empathize immediately with the nostalgia or bitterness that characterizes much of the collective sentiment amongst some of the elders in Sindhi communities.

Narrator Sharing a Family Photo; Mumbai, Maharashtra

What has been the most memorable story you heard yet?
Ahh! Tough question. There are two anecdotes that immediately come to mind. In Ahmedabad, Gujarat, I met a Sindhi woman who, engaged before Partition, who was separated from her fiancée and his family during their chaotic migration to India from Sindh. Both families found each other through ads they had put in the papers stating their new locations.
In Khairpur, Sindh, I recently met a Punjabi woman whose family migrated to Lahore three months after the creation of Pakistan because of some border line re-drawing that unexpectedly moved her village from being in Pakistani to Indian territory.

How do you relate or don’t to those you speak to?
I really like chatting with elderly people. Many of the narrators I have interviewed have are refreshingly blunt and indifferent to what others think of them. Though when I started doing interviews I struggled a bit, because I’m an opinionated person and had to stop myself from stating my thoughts on controversial issues and just listen!

Are most people willing to share with you?
You know, it depends. Only in Ahmadabad, Gujarat and interior Sindh have I experienced some hesitation from people wanting to make public any comments that are related to Hindu-Muslim relations or are critical of their governments past and present.

Do their lives and stories have much in common or are they all unique?
Yes and no. Factors like socioeconomic class, religion, gender, education, and so on significantly shape the life narratives that emerge.

Oral History Workshop; Jamshoro, Sindh

How long will this project take before you feel it’s completed?
Well we have planned for about one and half years of fieldwork but we hope that people continue to submit stories after this as well. And really, the first several months that I was in India I faced a high learning curve so we’re only now getting closer to figuring out best practices.   A unique feature of the Sindhi Voices Project is its participatory component – we have developed a field kit for people to record and submit interviews with elders on their own and have been conducting oral history how to workshops wherever we can.

Will you want to start a new project, which will focus on a new language?
The Sindhi Voices Project itself has several potential avenues of relevance we hope to further explore. Personally though, I am always provoked by the people and places around me, so, yes, I have some other projects in mind related to participatory media and community building.

How is your team being funded?
So far, we are relying on our savings and the warm hearts of the people that have opened their doors for us along our travels.

And how did you come to read Brown Girl Magazine?
Aditi and I graduated the same year from UT Austin and had mutual friends.

To learn more, visit Sindhi Voices

Photos and captions courtesy of Natasha Raheja. (Photo on right is of an Oral History Workshop in Ajmer, Rajasthan)

by Komal Thakkar –

Not only do they care about Sinhala, the American government cares about fourteen other South Asian languages including Bengali, Gujarati, Farsi, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Marathi, Malayalam, Nepali, Punjabi, Pashtu, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. So the question is, why?

One in four people worldwide speaks one or more of these languages, and together they represent politically, culturally, and economically significant nations including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Based on the economic and national security challenges of the twenty first century, US government has deemed these languages critical.

What exactly is a critical language? It is essentially any language where more speakers are needed than there are available. The national need for this language relies on political, cultural, and economic factors. While these languages may be critical, currently South Asian heritage communities in the United States have limited means and resources to effectively teach their languages to children.

So what exactly is the government doing to increase literacy of US citizens in these languages? The US Department of Education funded DesiLearn K-12!

DesiLearn is the only initiative of its kind in the entire country designed to document and describe all South Asian language education programs for school age children in the US. The objective is to answer two main questions: What is the current state of South Asian language education for students from K-12 in the U.S., and what do teachers and administrators involved in these programs report as the needs of their programs?

Now why do I know all of this, and why do I feel it’s so important as to warrant a Brown Girl post?

I’m a research intern for DesiLearn! Under the leadership of my boss, Mr. Anup P. Mahajan, the Executive Director of the National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC) housed at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the other interns and I have been compiling a long contact list of those programs (individual tutors, cultural organizations, temples, mosques, etc.) in the United States that teach any of these South Asian languages.

Shameless plug: This is all based on internet research and word of mouth, so if you know any individual or program that teaches these languages please let us know! Just drop us an email at info@desilearn.us with their name, what languages they teach, where they are located, and their contact information.

At the heart of our study is a comprehensive survey to be conducted over the phone. It only takes about half an hour and will help us find out what teachers and administrators need to improve their community-based efforts. DesiLearn is also establishing the nation’s first network of K-12 teachers of South Asian languages, to provide resources and a forum for South Asian communities to connect ongoing efforts.

After we complete this study of existing resources and get an overview of the needs of these programs, we will create a final report to send to the Department of Education that will address the short-term and long-term actions that should be taken to strengthen South Asian language programs for school-aged learners in the U.S.

By participating in this survey and sharing your concerns and needs with us, we can in turn effectively communicate your needs with the government. You would be advocating for your program and helping the South Asian community in the United States. How can you possibly ignore something like that?!

Many of us (and by us I mean children of South Asian Immigrants) take it for granted that our parents brought us up in a bilingual household. I certainly did until I began working at the National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC). It’s important to recognize that language and culture are inextricably linked. Many of us are lucky enough to have gained this window into our culture by having learned our parent’s language at such an early age. Future generations should also be given this opportunity. In order to do so, the community needs to make sure that our temples, mosques, and religious and cultural institutions have what they need to instill an appreciation for South Asian language and culture in South Asian American youth through language education.

It would make our day if you would drop us an email to let us know that you have gotten the word out to your community and if you know of anyone that would be interested in speaking with us!

Visit our website at: http://www.nclrc.org/

It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  It is time to wear your pink!

Be sure to get your mammogram to find out early. Breast Cancer is not the common cause of death, however it is the fifth.  According to CDC, the latest statistics show 191,410 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, and 40,820 died. It is more common in women, however men can also obtain this disease. Breast cancer can start out with little or no symptoms.  Here are some symptoms that may occur as it grows:

• Lump in breast or underarm
• Thickening or swelling
• Redness
• Nipple discharge besides breast milk
• Pain in any area of the breast

What exactly is breast cancer? It is a type of cancer where cells divide in the breast and grow in an abnormal control.  They may begin in either the mammary ducts or lobules. Tumors can grow slow or rapidly. Start of by checking your breast yourself about every month. Also, have your doctor check them at ever visit. It would be best to have regular screening tests, a mammogram, to lower the chances. A mammogram is simply an X-ray made to check your breasts for lumps. Your body and breasts change throughout your lifetime. Make sure these changes are normal.

Start of by checking your breast yourself about every month as well as a doctor.

Here are a few sites with more information and opportunities to help women:

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Susan G.Komen for the Cure

CDC Breast Cancer Awareness

National Breast Cancer Foundation

There are many ways to spread your awareness, even with a click of a button.  Wear your pink ribbons and bracelets, run the marathons, donate to the foundation, or share your story.  As Maya Angelou, a global renaissance woman, quotes for National Breast Cancer Foundation:

“When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless.  But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.”

There are certain people in this world whose stories move you to tears within seconds. Their compassion for others regardless of their status touches and inspires you in unparalleled ways. Every year, CNN honors these individuals whom they title “CNN Heroes.” This Thanksgiving we will watch as Anuradha Koirala, one of CNN’s Top 10 Heroes for 2010, will grace the world with her story.

Her career as a primary school English teacher in Nepal came to an end when she found herself in an abusive relationship. After she escaped the horrors of domestic violence, she opened up a retail shop where she employed victims of sex trafficking and abuse.

State Department statistics have indicated that between 10,000 and 15,000 girls are trafficked from Nepal to India annually. In 1993, Koirala created Maiti Nepal, literally meaning “Mother’s home.” A refuge for rehabilitation, Koirala has managed to rescue 12,000 Nepali girls since its inception.

Koirala explains that families are always tricked into giving up their girls. She tells the story of Geeta, the daughter of Nepalese peasant farmers. She was sold to a brothel by a distant family member who had deceived Geeta’s visually impaired mother and promised that Geeta would be getting a job at a clothing company.  Like Geeta, many girls who are rehabilitated remain at Maiti Nepal and assist Koirala in her mission.

The most heartbreaking aspect of this situation is that many girls cannot return home. They contract sexually transmitted diseases and are rejected from their societies. There is even a hospice on the premise for those with untreatable illnesses.

Koirala’s work is funded by grants and donations from all over the world. To assist our CNN Hero on her mission to save the lives of hundreds of innocent brown girls like us, visit the Maiti Nepal website. For the complete story as well as more information on Anuradha Koirala, see the official CNN Heroes page.

Imagine living in the developing world in a village, where that one river is the only source of water you have for drinking, cooking, and bathing. You don’t have safe flowing water from your tap. You cannot go to the store and buy sanitized bottles of water. Imagine the state of the water from that river… it is filthy and dirty with flies buzzing all around and animals’ feces infesting the water. There is another world out there struggling to live. Can you imagine, the water full of diseases? Right now, 1.1 billion people on the planet don’t have access to safe, clean drinking water.

It is September.  Charity:Water has a September campaign for the Bayaka, an African Pygmy Tribe.  Many live without clean water.  Let’s help raise money to build wells in Africa.   Remember, every $20 donated will give ONE person clean water for 20 YEARS. That is absolutely amazing.

I have started a campaign to raise the money.  Click on the site below, read about the campaign, watch the videos, and donate.  Right now my goal is $1,000 for this month.  Let’s make it happen!

http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign/?campaign_id=7073

Thanks,

Farah Mithani - Houston Baptist University

Today, while indulging in my daily Indian news I came across this article that talked about the Government of India releasing a tablet much like Apple’s ipad. Intrigued, I found myself googling more articles like the same, hoping to get more information on this ‘Tablet’ that the web seems to be so abuzz about. This is what I know now – The Government of India is indeed launching a tablet very similar to that of Apple’s ipad. The difference being, the ipad is, at this very moment, priced at a high $499, is advertised to the working professionals and upper middle – high class strata of society while this Indian tablet is currently proposed to be priced at $35 (Rs 1,500). If that isn’t shocking enough, the Government is attempting to keep pushing the price down until it reaches $10.

This proposed tablet has received a lot of scepticism from people who don’t believe that it can possibly happen. Features like video conferencing, internet browsing, open Office and many other such features cannot be priced that low, so people are questioning the usability and  the quality of the product. I went to read articles after articles of this scepticism oozing out of many news stories that covered it, and I found that many were completely oblivious to the actual point.

I have a lot of scepticism too. Not for the tablet, but for the government of India. Witnessing years of hypocrisy, red tape, and the growing distance between the proletariat and bourgeoisie in my country has made me this way. But once in a while, India will try to do something SO ridiculous and SO awesome, right at the same time … and it will work. Whether that be a falling into government with a Muslim president, Hindu prime minister and a woman pulling mostly all the strings (Sonia Gandhi) behind the scenes,  or it be trying to make a$35 computer so every child can have one. And then I will have a weak moment and believe that the country is actually run by the people part of the general public that I love so much.  In a country run by the Tatas and Birlas catering to the upper middle class market, there is still a government out there, or there are still a few people in that government out there, trying to look out for us. That’s all I need to go to bed at night.

I’m sure everyone has seen an advertisement to help a child with a cleft lip. Cleft lip is a birth defect where the tissues of the upper jaw and nose do not join correctly during the gestational period. While it is not known to cause health problems, children with cleft lips find themselves rejected by society and leading hopeless lives as outcasts. Although children are born with cleft lips everywhere in the world, you rarely see unrepaired clefts in the United States and Europe as they are repaired soon after birth. In developing countries, they remain unrepaired since most families are too poor to afford a surgery. Cleft lip is thought to be caused by genetic or environmental factors.

The Smile Train is an organization that attempts to give hope to these children and provide them with free surgeries. It is a United States based non-profit organization that provides the tools necessary for local doctors in 76 countries to provide free surgery. One surgery costs only $250 and can be performed in less than an hour.

Recently, I watched the 2008 Oscar-winning documentary called Smile Pinki. Pinki is an adorable five year old girl born into poverty in India. Her cleft lip has inhibited her from leading a normal life until her family is introduced to Pankaj, a social worker. He travels through the country to find children with cleft lips and encourage them to come to a clinic where they will provide free surgery. The absolutely precious children in this film, who do not go to school out of embarrassment and fear, are finally given a new life with a simple surgery at the GS Memorial Hospital, one of the many Smile train centers in India.

Although it is a mere 40 minutes long, it shows so many compassionate, heartfelt moments like when Pinki sees herself for the first time after her surgery. Megan Mylen, the film’s director, does a fantastic job of capturing the pain they experience, their gratitude for the services, and their sense of hope after the surgery. It is an absolutely uplifting film that I strongly urge everyone to view.

For more information, the link for the official website is below.

http://smilepinki.com/

Looking for a way to get involved? Check out Developments in Literacy (DIL), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing quality education to disadvantaged children, especially girls, by establishing and operating schools in the underdeveloped regions of Pakistan, with a strong focus on gender equality and community participation.

There are seven (7) chapters that cover the United States and abroad. An eighth chapter was created to promote participation from emerging leaders in the community called YOUR DIL.

Every year DIL Houston (like other chapters) hosts a large fundraising event. This year’s fundraiser held in April freatured keynote speaker Dr. Adil Najam, who shares the Nobel Prize with former Vice President Al Gore for his work on “An Inconvenient Truth.” Through generous donations and participation in a silent auction, the organization was able to raise $183,000, shattering their goal of $175,000. Proceeds will go directly to fund schools and send new students to schools to give them opportunities that they never realized.

Check out  http://www.dil.org/index.html to learn more!

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