Aasra

Aasra, or "shelter" in Hindi, was created in 1990 to provide culturally sensitive services to victims of domestic violence in the Asian Indian community. The mission of Aasra is to provide immediate support to battered women and children and to increase the awareness of the Asian Indian community of the causes and effects of domestic violence on the whole family. Currently, the group meets these goals by hosting a 24-hour hotline which provides victims with immediate support, confidential information and service referrals in several Asian Indian languages. Aasra also conducts bi-annual public forums for the Asian Indian community to increase awareness of domestic violence.

The importance for a shelter is not only to create a safe haven for victims. It is also necessary to provide services such as peer counseling for battered women and their children and to refer them for legal and medical advice. In addition, guidance is also needed for these victims to fill out paperwork for new green cards (in many cases the abusive husband does not hand it over), to receive individual and group counseling in the appropriate language and to obtain proper job leads. Aasra volunteers sometimes provide interpretation assistance to victims and assist them in filling out and filing restraining orders.