The Saheli Festival Season Celebration, which involved screening of the movie“Provoked†at Lahey Clinic, Burlington, Mass on Sunday, October 19th, 2008 was conducted in honor of the Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
A diverse crowd of 50 people attended the event. The audience included Joytsna Batra,representing Prabhat Tara, an Institute of social service in New Delhi, India, Merle Kushner from the Lahey Clinic Social Work Department and Margaret Rocco of theBurlington Police Department.
An active group discussion on the social domestic violence issues related to the victim Kiran in Provoked followed. This discussion was conducted by Yogini Patel and Sandra Lobo, representing the Saheli Board of Directors.
The social importance of women being educated about their rights and the role of organizations like Saheli in providing resources to victims of Domestic Violence was raised. Questions were raised about how organizations like Saheli would provide resources and help to Domestic Violence victims similar to Kiran in Provoked.Key Comments were also provided from men in the audience about educating families in promoting respect and love to maintain harmony and peace, which are a vital part of the core values of Indian culture to avoid such domestic violence issues.
The event also included a visit from Mr.Dayal, Indian Consulate General, New York.Mr.Dayal talked about the increasing importance of providing resources and help to victims of Domestic Violence and the key role of women’s organizations like Saheli inhelping the Indian Community in the US. Mr.Dayal also touched upon an important announcement about the Indian Government implementing a Scheme for giving Legal/Financial assistance to women deserted by their overseas Indian spouses upto 1000 US Dollars. There has been a press release on this from the Indian Consulate: http://www.indiacgny.org/php/showAddtnlArticle.php?art_id=2
The event concluded with a delicious lunch provided by Gopi Sharma, Saheli Volunteer.
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