India Tribune April 24, 2015 8

COMMUNITY

8th anniversary of ‘No More Tears’ brings audience in to tearsBY XAHEJ BAJIPURA

“I am so happy. I’m workingand learning to drive. Nextweek I’ll have a car.”Carrying a huge smile across

her face, Syra Ali sounds like atypical 20-years-young pre-med student.Externally you can’t see signs

of the long distance she hastraveled both geographicallyand emotionally in the lastfive months.On March 27, Syra was the

star at the Bollywood-styleeight year celebration of “NoMore Tears”, the 100 percentvolunteer-run non-profit thatsaved her life. Syra is one of389 adult and 810 child sur-vivors of domestic violenceand human trafficking NMThas rescued since 2006.It was her story of struggle

and ultimately strength thatmoved three young volunteersand over 85 people from allover Florida and internation-ally.“I didn’t know that a lot of

women in America were asabused as they were. I thoughtit only happened in thirdworld countries,” said 15-years-young volunteer Anjou.Based on the promise of edu-

cation and a great life, Syraand her family accepted anarranged marriage in Dhakato a Bangladeshi family livingin south Florida. Within amonth, her father-in-lawbegan physically beating herfor not offering enoughdowry. Overhearing him on

the phone talking aboutreturning her to Bangladeshto be gang-raped by four localmen, she mustered all hercourage at 3am to run away.She had no phone and littlefluency in English at the time.With the help of a police offi-cer and a Bangladeshi gas sta-tion attendant, Syra wasplaced in the personal care ofSomy Ali, Founder andPresident of NMT.Since that night, NMT has

provided numerous services,including filing a restrainingorder against the abuser, filingfor divorce, applying forSyra’s citizenship, finding aplace to live, helping her finda job, opening up a bankaccount, and driving lessons. She’s saved enough to buy

her own car. The next step is

enrolling her in college so shemay pursue her dream ofbecoming a doctor.“No More Tears started very

humbly, with Somy and I plac-

ing brochures in ethnic restau-rants and salons—places wethought victims might gowithout their husbands. Wehad no office so we met vic-tims at various Starbucks andDunkin Donuts. Today, wehave expanded our network ofsupporters to include attor-neys, doctors, dentists, drivinginstructors, English instruc-tors and more, so that we canoffer a one-stop shop for vic-tims. No one waits in line atNMT. We want survivors tofeel like a family, so we oper-ate as one,” said Board ChairDr. Laura Finley.“We can easily deem Syra’s

story to be one of traffickingand domestic violence consid-ering her plight,” said Somy,who explained both are inter-twined in the immigrant com-munity. According to Somy, a stark

distinction between our SouthAsian community from itsAmerican counterpart is “dis-sociation” or our mindset toshame the abused from such“impurity” and to have little to

no empathy for them.“Our culture is so weird. ‘My

son beats his wife.’ His parentsare so proud. The wife’s par-ents ask her, ‘What did you

do?’ They don’t want anyoneto know she is being abused. Itis a shame for us. This hap-pens in Bangladesh, India,Pakistan. Not just the poor,but the rich and middle class-

es. As a family we should bethere for them. If my daugh-ter gets abused, I don’t want toknow why. No one has theright to touch my daughter.You can’t hit or verbally abuseher. We should give ourdaughters a fearless environ-ment for them to come hometo. Leaving their in-laws houseis not a shameful thing,”said Bangladesh-born SaverinAhmed.“In the big scheme of things,

it will be next to impossible toeradicate the acceptance andthe mindset of any culture thatassumes abuse to be a norm.And we say by this experiencethat trafficking and DV are notculture specific. Abuse is notdiscriminatory and affectseveryone. However, NMT’sgoal is to stop this very cycleby extracting not only the vic-tim but his/her children fromthat environment. We mustwork towards making abuseabnormal rather than display-ing immense amount of apa-thy toward this very issue,”stated Somy.

In the midst of this tragic epi-demic, the message of NMT’sLet’s Go Bollywood benefitwas one of upliftment andinspiration. One unifiedvision can cause small ripplesin our community by con-cerned citizens, professionals,and supporters that makegreat synergistic change in theworld. All hope is never lost.That night, $4500 was raised,

about the amount needed tosave one adult survivor andtheir children. The impact onsaving one survivor is expo-nential as she or he continuesto pay it forward by empower-ing another survivor fromtheir country of origin.Awards were presented to

Jeetsu Ahuja, Volunteer ofthe Year; Callan Garcia, immi-gration attorney; and Dr.Katherine Ferguson ofFerguson Dental, which hasprovided over $30,000 worth

of dental care.For more information about

NMT’s services and how tocontribute in making a changein our South Asian communityand the world, please seewww.nmtproject.org.

Left: 20-year old Syra Ali saved by ‘No More Tears’ from domestic violence; Right: supporters at the 8th anniversarycelebration. — Photos By Sama Askfari and Hafeez Rahman.

Editor’s Note: The photographsused in the story “NetIP Miamichapter celebrates Holi” pub-lished in the issue of March 27,India Tribune forgot to give cred-it to photographer. All pictureswere taken by Tushar Bulsara .

Left: Immigration Attorney Callan Garcia with founder of No More Tears SomyAli; Right: Volunteers, who help the victims; Below: Board Chair Dr. LauraFinley with her daughter.