SAN ANTONIO – Durga Suryadevara’s family moved from India to Cincinnati when she was 8 years old.
“I thought abuse was the norm, and then it wasn’t until I was in high school when CPS was involved, and we actually were able to leave the situation. My mother is a superwoman, and she really pulled us together and brought us out of that,” said the survivor-turned-advocate.
Suryadevara said that in South Asian families, that’s not always the end because of stigma.
That’s why on top of her job as a psychiatrist, Suryadevara became a volunteer client advocate with Awaaz, an organization helping local South Asian domestic violence survivors in Bexar County and seven surrounding counties.
“Validate their experiences, their feelings, their thoughts in a language that they feel comfortable speaking,” she said.
“India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, all those places, they have very similar cultures. They all patriarchal societies. The male is the head of the family,” said Awaaz president Madhu Mehta.
Mehta and Suryadevara said that traditional structure can make it harder to leave an abusive partner or family member.
“The community could not understand why any family should be split up. Like, ‘Yes, you know, parents get angry sometimes, and spouses get angry sometimes. It’s not that big a deal. You just kind of make it work. You just tough it out,’” Suryadevara said.
“We hear, ‘My mother-in-law doesn’t understand. She’s also getting mad at me. They want me to do everything and keep the peace in the family, and yet he’s abusing me.’ So then we would understand and say, ‘Yes, we know,’” Mehta said.
Many survivors leave with no support, which is why Awaaz has a helpline that connects callers to:
- Legal help
- Client advocates
- Shelter
- Food
- Rent assistance
- Education opportunities
All of those services can be navigated in someone’s native language.
“In India, we have Bengali, Gujarat, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi. I mean, I could go on. Pakistani speak a lot of Urdu, Arabic. And so we have interpreters that we can call on and say, okay, be there to interpret,” Mehta said.
Mehta herself speaks three languages from India, including Gujarati, Hindi, and Tamil.
She said while almost all the clients they have speak English, it makes a difference speaking their native language.
“You’re able to express yourself a lot better,” Mehta said.
Building that trust has led to massive growth in clients.
- In 2021 - Six clients.
- In 2022 - 15 clients.
- In 2023 - 25 clients.
- In 2024 - Over 30 clients.
That growth is now fueled by their second federal grant.
Last month, Awaaz secured $400,000, which will help them expand necessary services like shelter or rent assistance.
“Giving rent to more people for a lot longer. Right now, we can only do it for like two months or three months. So sometimes they need to rent for like 4 or 5 months,” Mehta said.
Awaaz has increased its visibility substantially by prioritizing education and community engagement.
“We’ve gone to UTSA, did a whole day seminar there, went to Send Mary’s Law school, and talked to the attorneys there. We have a luncheon with other advocate organizations and city leaders,” Mehta said.
That’s why they’re able to widen their scope of services.
“We have relationships with other organizations in town, like the Battered Women’s Shelter, the Family Violence Protection Services, Texas Legal Aid, Family Justice Center, Texas Advocacy Project and the San Antonio Police Department,” Mehta said.
In those sessions, they’re able to share that local South Asian women and men who’ve received help are flourishing.
“Oftentimes, the clients are just really proud of their heritage and their culture,” Suryadevara said.
The clients are relieved to learn they can hold onto that pride while also leaving unsafe relationships and shifting the way abuse is viewed.
“That doesn’t mean that we don’t have the same sort of problems that everyone else has. Whether we choose to ignore them or not, that’s up to us,” Suryadevara said.
That being said, they want to be clear: they help anyone who calls.
“We do not discriminate. We take anybody that comes in. We’ve had, I think, about four men, a couple of elderly people, and a few non-South Asians. Anybody that calls a helpline, we don’t say, ‘No, we’re not going to help you,’” Mehta said.
Anyone in need can call the Awaaz confidential helpline at 210-446-6464 or visit their website.
If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship, there is a long list of resources on KSAT’s Domestic Violence page, which includes a breakdown of what abuse is and how it builds gradually.
If you are in crisis, you can:
- call or text 911
- call the Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233
- call the local Family Violence Prevention Services, which runs the shelter (Crisis Number: 210-733-8810, Programs and Administration: 210-930-3669)
- call the Bexar County Family Justice Center at 210-631-0100.