UAF_EP4: Community and Care: Conversation with Adhikaar

Boju Bajai

Welcome to Episode 4 of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World. At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice honouring our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other. As the world becomes increasingly hostile towards feminist activists and women's movements, Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights, Asia & Pacific, aims to bring to light the stories and experiences of women, trans, and gender-nonconforming human rights defenders who work tirelessly in the margins. In this episode, we bring you the voices of Maya Gurung and Dolma Sherpa - two amazing activists who work at Adhikaar, a New York based, women-led community organization that serves the needs of the Nepali speaking community and organizes low-income workers to promote social justice and human rights. We discuss their work with the Nepali community in New York during the pandemic and conversations about self-care and protection of activists to ensure their wellbeing. Maya Gurung works at Adhikaar as a senior case coordinator helping community members to resolve issues ranging from wage theft, immigration issues. Dolma Sherpa is an organiser at Adhikaar and has been part of several campaigns to support and address the needs for nail salon workers. You can learn more about Adhikaar’s work by visiting their website: https://adhikaar.org/ This series has been informed and guided by the Urgent Action Fund Report “How Can We Ground Ourselves in Care and Dance Our Revolution”. You can read the full report at rootingcare.org where you can also listen to podcasts from the Urgent Action Funds. You can listen to all the episodes here: Episode 1 on.soundcloud.com/4jgJb Episode 2 on.soundcloud.com/7AWVp Episode 3 on.soundcloud.com/qBLEK Episode 5 on.soundcloud.com/oL8kW Episode 6 https://on.soundcloud.com/rnazk Credits: Production: Boju Bajai Hosts: Bhrikuti Rai and Itisha Giri Music and Sound Design: Rajan Shrestha and Irina Giri