Last Month at Adhikaar- February 2009

Adhikaar’s Executive Director is back
Tax Workshop
Pap Appointments
Domestic Workers’ Lobby Day in Albany

Adhikaar’s Executive Director is back

Adhikaar’s Executive Director Luna Ranjit is back from Nepal after sorting out her visa issues. As shared before, her green card application was denied by the immigration in 2008. Currently, she has transferred back to H-1B status again.

One of Adhikaar’s major focuses is Immigration reform. Adhikaar, with other national organizations, has joined hands to push for fair immigration reforms in the new administration.

Tax Workshop

We organized a tax workshop and low cost tax filing on February 15, 2009. A Nepali accountant Mr. Ashok Lamichhane donated his time to Adhikaar in order to assist with tax filing and answering questions. 25 participants attended the workshop and 8 took advantage of the low cost filing. The workshop covered a range of topics from the recent economic downturn in relation to taxes to paying taxes even if you are undocumented.

Free Pap Test

In collaboration with the American Cancer Society in Flushing, we arranged for free pap tests for six women at the Queens Hospital Center. It was the first test for most of the members and two of the members required a follow up visit after the test results, including a minor surgery for one of them. Adhikaar staff and volunteers assisted some of the community members to the hospital for interpretation. Adhikaar is looking to provide these free services in a regular basis for community members who are not able to attend free health fairs that are mainly organized in the weekend.

We had originally schedule pap tests for 12 people, but 6 appointments were cancelled due to state budget cuts. Two hospitals St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst and Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica have closed down.

Lobby Day at the State Capitol

Our community organizer Narbada Chhetri and member Radhika Pradhan joined hands with Domestic Workers United and visited the NY State Senate to push the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. We got an opportunity to share stories from our community members with the state senators.

The bill emphasizes living wage and other important benefits such has sick leave, holidays, overtime pay and at least one day off a week for the domestic workers. Adhikaar has been supporting the campaign since our inception, and we have strengthened our involvement in the last year.