Uplifting Women: Rukmini Karki, Asian Task Force and Nepali Women Global Network, Shares Her Journey
“The bright smiles on my clients faces reminds me of a quote, which always inspires me, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high”. Being a senior advocate at ATASK and helping people in need have always had a special and strong bond with me!” Today’s woman dreamer, Rukmini Karki, is a Senior Advocate at Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, and Past President of Nepali Women Global Network. A speaker of five languages, Rukmini empowers and uplifts women and vulnerable communities. She shares how at the age of 13, she saw discrimination in action, and how her mother inspired her to fight for global women empowerment. Enjoy her powerful story below.
1.) You are originally from Nepal and are now residing in Boston. You were the Past President of Nepali Women's Global Network. Tell us about this experience. Why is women empowerment and bringing women of different communities together important to you?
When I was thirteen, I learned the meaning of discrimination. One day, when my mother and I were traveling, we stopped to get a drink from a spring fountain. We saw a woman throwing rocks at another woman and screaming: “Why you are getting water from here? Go to the next village!” I was dismayed when my mother told me about the discrimination that women face in our country. Thankfully, my mother encouraged me to prioritize my education as a way to escape such vulnerability and to bring social justice to women. She taught me about women empowerment, and to this day, it is the spark that ignites my journey.
In Boston, I was nominated as the President of Nepali Women’s Global Network (NWGN) from 2013 to 2018. NWGN is unique among Nepali organizations, in that it is a voice for advocacy for Nepali women globally. It is a forum where academics, practitioners, and community members can promote networking, support and self-reliance among Nepali women. Starting in 2013 as a president, women empowerment was one of my main missions. I took the opportunity to focus on women empowerment programs in the Greater Boston Nepali community. In the past year, NWGN was able to organize and fund community-based programs with outreach and advocacy for Nepali women living in the greater Boston area. Our first such program was on March 9th for the 102nd International Women’s Day with more than 150 women and men attending the Somerville-based event. We were able to open dialogue with Nepali women living in the area. Keeping with our mission of Nepali women empowerment, we were able to organize several National Conferences in the Boston area. We were able to hold a larger, educational, and impactful event where women of color were able to come together from all over United States and even Nepal to talk about their struggles and success, and in turn encourage each other to succeed. I was confident that with support and collaboration, we would be able to grow stronger and impact a lot more lives.
In Nepal, I worked for PLAN International with underprivileged communities, especially women and children, in one of the most remote parts of the country. While engaging more than 100 civil society organizations, I coordinated capacity-building activities to promote gender awareness and empower women from low caste groups. This passion continued in my journey to America. Due to working with all these communities of people for such a long time, the time I spent became heavily attached to me. I wondered if there were other things I could do. This led me to be big on women empowerment and bringing communities together. Although we come in all different shapes, colors and sizes, deep down we are all just human, and we need to learn how to respect that. Working with many women clients, I realized just how different cases can be, they all held some similar values, in which the degradation of women was very prominent. Being a woman myself, this broke my heart, and made my journey with women empowerment even stronger. Women empowerment is to motivate and encourage women to feel they are not alone. They are very strong and they can do everything and achieve anything that they want. Women can be on equal footing with men, work outside, make money, support their family, and be financially independent.
2.You are a Senior Advocate at the Asian Task Force against Domestic Violence (ATASK). Tell us about your experience with this organization. What inspires you to fight against domestic violence in Asian communities?
I work at ATASK because being south Asian, and able to speak five languages, I have helped many Asian women. In addition, ATASK is fighting for domestic violence to end. This is also something I want to end, having seen a lot of in my communities in Greater Boston Asian Communities and beyond. I like helping victims with their minor children at hard times, to comfort them, and make them secure about themselves.
I would say my coworkers at ATASK, are the most amazing people with their intelligence, compassion, skills, and understanding. They come from all different backgrounds, with different lives and motivations, and we all manage to work together as a team. I am so proud to work under such an incredible team. Further, the management team including my supervisor and Executive Directors are real heroes to us by providing their continuous guidance and support in the work we do.
Many people go through financial, economic and other problems including poverty and domestic violence. Growing up I witnessed these things happening, and thought to myself, is there a way for me to help these victims and potentially support them? Here I am now, an advocate at ATASK. My goal is to empower abuse survivors who are especially women, give them courage to stand up for themselves and others. I want to make them independent and be able to support themselves to consult an advocate about their problems and to know their rights in this Country.
I feel so privileged when clients come and share their success stories and the strength they develop through our services. The feeling that comes when I know that they are allowing me to be a part of healing journey. The bright smiles on their faces reminds me of a quote, which always inspires me at my work: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high”. Being a senior advocate at ATASK and helping people in need have always had a special and strong bond with me!
3.) Who is a woman in your life that you admire, and why?
The person who I admire the most is my mother. I admire her because she was very brave, strong, a hard worker, and is caring. She had always been someone I have looked up to. My mother was a very kind person. She was kind to her friends, neighbors, our family and all of her relatives. She was especially kind to her children, her parents, brothers and sisters. Her main goal was girl’s education. My mother opens her house for people, and they are always surprised. She smiles at almost everyone, which means we’re caught for a long time at the farmer’s market or at cloths stores or wherever we go. She was so friendly and jolly so people remembered her and talked to us all the time. She herself was not educated. However, she was a living example in her community as a symbol of a courageous woman!
4.) As #Dreamcatchers, we have to ask, what is your next big dream?
Although there are many things to do I would say my biggest dream is to reach out to more Asian underprivileged communities, especially immigrants. I want to help them maneuver their way more easily and help them recognize their rights and skills. I also want to make my advocacy skills better, connecting with more people and reaching out to policy makers, changing policies, and fighting for people’s rights. Another big dream is to learn music, singing songs. This has been my childhood inspiration. Music has the power to bond people together of all kinds.
Thank You Rukmini for sharing your powerful story with us! We are excited to have you in our global women’s network!
Bio: Rukmini Karki is a Senior Advocate at the Asian Task Force (ATASK) – a non-profit organization in Boston USA. She is a Multilingual speaking fluently five different languages. She has a Masters in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University, The Heller School of Social Policy and Management, USA, Master in Sociology and Anthropology from Tribhuvan University, Nepal and Bachelor in Law Degree from India. She has more than 20 years’ work experience including India and Nepal in several international organization before coming to USA. She is the immediate past President of Nepali Women Global Network (NWGN) from 2013 to 2018. Also, currently she is serving as woman coordinator of Non-Resident Nepali Association, USA (NRNA), Boston Chapter.