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About Sakhi

Sakhi's History and Timeline

Founded in 1989 by a group of five South Asian women, Sakhi, meaning “woman friend,” was created to break the silence around abuse in our communities and serve survivors of violence.

In spite of an abundance of religious, cultural, and professional groups organized within New York’s large South Asian population, there was no place for women to address the silenced subject of domestic violence.

Sakhi’s founders worked hard to create an infrastructure that provides a safe space, culturally-sensitive support and language assistance, and a voice and identity to South Asian women facing violence in their lives.

For 18 years, Sakhi has been on a creative, innovative journey to fight domestic violence. Read on for a snapshot of some of the highlights of our journey thus far.

Eighteen Years of Sakhi: A Timeline

June 1989
Sakhi, the second South Asian women’s organization in the U.S., is founded to promote women’s rights by offering services and facilitating community education. Volunteers meet in schools and learn how to serve orders of protection.

1990
Sakhi organizes its first Support Group for survivors of violence.

1991
Sakhi gets temporary office space and hires first staff member; it conducts its first awareness-raising tabling event in Jackson Heights as part of International Women’s Day; and marches in and leaflets at the India Independence Day Parade for the first time.

1992
Sakhi premieres its Film Festival of women directors from South Asia, a unique venue which brought powerful South Asian women’s films and films about South Asian women to the New York City public for four years in a row. Sakhi also its hosts first community fundraising dinner and marches in the Pakistan Independence Day Parade as the first women’s organization to participate in this community event.

1993
Hosted at Columbia University, Sakhi and Manavi co-organize "South Asian Immigrant Women: Our Social Realities," the first South Asian women’s conference in the U.S.

1994
Sakhi challenges the status quo by ensuring immigrant women are able to self-petition for green cards under the Violence Against Women Act and by inviting SALGA (the South Asian Lesbian & Gay Association) to join Sakhi in the India Day Parade. Sakhi also premieres Life Without Fear, the first docudrama about domestic violence in our community and launches ESL classes for survivors.

1995
With artist Margot Lovejoy, Sakhi helps to stage Break the Silence, a public memorial to heal the wounds of domestic violence at the Queens Museum of Art.

1996
Sakhi organizes a public demonstration in front of the family home of Mohammed Mohsin, who was charged with attempted murder and arson against his wife, Syeda; Mohsin is found guilty of criminal charges four years later.

1997
Sakhi staff attend national meeting hosted by the Center for Third World Organizing in order to develop strategies for recently-launched Court Interpreter Campaign. Sakhi spins Domestic Workers’ Committee off into an autonomous organization, which then becomes Workers’ Awaaz.

1998
Sakhi organizes first March Against Violence in Jackson Heights to call for an end to abuse and to open a space for survivors to speak out within our communities.

1999
The Women’s Health Initiative is formed to provide health access to survivors and to educate providers on abuse. Sakhi helps to launch the national South Asian Coalition Against Violence listserve in collaboration with partners in the anti-violence movement.

2000
The first and only book-length research project focusing on domestic violence within the South Asian American population, Speaking the Unspeakable: Marital Violence among South Asian Immigrants in the United States, is published by researcher and former Sakhi board member, Dr. Margaret Abraham.

2001
Sakhi organizes peace rallies after 9/11 to advocate against further violence and to decry backlash against South Asians and Muslims as well as domestic violence survivors from these communities. It also hosts its first Celebrating Women’s Lives annual gala event.

2002
In memory of a beloved volunteer who passed away in the 9/11 attacks, the Swarna Chalasani Economic Empowerment Fund is launched to provide small grants to qualified survivors to further access to education.

2003
Three South Asian court interpreters are hired as court employees by the Office of Court Administration due to Sakhi’s Court Interpreter Campaign.

2004
Sakhi received 581 new pleas for assistance from survivors of domestic violence, held more computer classes and health literacy workshops than ever before, participated in 90 outreach, education and partnership building events, and presented at a national conference hosted by the Department of Justice on the challenges Limited English Proficiency immigrant women face when seeking justice at the local, state, and federal court levels.

2005
Sakhi integrated its media efforts through the redesign of its website and semi-annual newsmagazine, now called Community Bol, to feature interactive elements for community members, and innovative topic and discussion opportunities.

2006
Sakhi had a host of achievements in 2006: Sakhi proved to be a key player in motivating the Office of Court Administration to roll out a workplan in April 2006 to address court interpretation; organized the first South Asian community mela in Richmond Hill, Queens attended by 750 community members and 40 community-based organizations; testified at a state assembly hearing on suicide amongst Asian women, a forum which got covered in the New York Times, India Abroad, and India West; presented on opening plenary for National Coalition to End Domestic Violence conference as well as at national conferences such as National Association of Judicial Interpreters and Translators; received the National South Asian Bar Association’s Community Service Award; and, received the Award of Excellence from Study Sphere for our website.