{"id":60685,"date":"2023-10-25T14:18:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T21:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=60685"},"modified":"2023-10-25T14:18:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T21:18:58","slug":"how-aapi-caregivers-empower-their-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=60685","title":{"rendered":"How AAPI Caregivers Empower Their Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_54 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_54\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span><a class=\"tdb-author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/author\/selen-ozturk\/\">Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_55 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_55\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2023-10-25T11:54:59-07:00\">Oct 25, 2023<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_56 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_56\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Being a caregiver isn\u2019t limited to aiding individuals but also giving voice to the communities in which they live, AAPI activists and artists shared at an Oct. 20 EMS briefing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_57 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_57\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"entry-thumb\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-1068x712.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/hannah-busing-Zyx1bK9mqmA-unsplash-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" alt=\"hands - aapi\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_58 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_58\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Supportive care requires supporting caregivers<\/h2>\n<p>Kalani Tukuafu, Pasifika arts director of Pacific Island Knowledge 2 Action Resources (PIK2AR), said a recent survey from her Utah-based cultural nonprofit found \u201c50% of survey participants have been caregiving for over five years, with 67% of the pool having no formal training, and only 26% surveyed have the support that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This discrepancy signals the fact that supportive caregiving requires supporting caregivers themselves, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the need for this support, added PIK2AR board member Carolynn Williams, is created by the xenophobia that many Pacific Islanders in her community face. To counter this, the nonprofit has been conducting interviews with caregiving community members for a portrait series that will be displayed throughout social media and an in-person art exhibit.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"KIMUw_nxML0\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget2\" title=\"Celebrating and Supporting Pacific Islander Caregivers\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KIMUw_nxML0?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-10=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Kalani Tonga-Tukuafu \u2014 Director of Pasifika Enriching Arts of Utah (PEAU), the Arts and Culture Division of PIK2AR \u2014 shares details of her organization\u2019s ongoing community project, which uplifts the stories and experience of Pacific Islander caregivers.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Through this process, Tukuafu added, PIK2AR will also mentor Pacific Islander artists to share their own experiences with caregiving, andto \u201cgive the general public a deeper, more nuanced understanding of what it means to be and care for a Pacific Islander living in the diaspora.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Caregivers see \u201ccommunity as value\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Neeta Patel, Interim Executive Director of Asian Americans United said because strong caregiving depends upon supporting caregivers, the most valuable care happens at the collective level.<\/p>\n<p>Her Philadelphia-based organization is currently focused upon preserving and caring for the elderly members of her community\u2019s Chinatown against \u201ccorrupt government officials serving the interests of the super wealthy.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"IC83YBRlmPo\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget4\" title=\"Saving Philadelphia\u2019s Chinatown from Billionaire  Developers\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IC83YBRlmPo?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-10=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Neeta Patel \u2014 Interim Executive Director of Asian Americans United \u2014 shares how her organization, in partnership with other community groups, is fighting big business efforts to redevelop Philadelphia\u2019s historic Chinatown.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThree billionaire real estate developers announced plans to build an arena in our backyard, 150-year-old cultural treasure \u2014 one of the oldest historical Chinatowns in the country,\u201d Patel explained. \u201cWe\u2019ve built an intergenerational coalition to show how small, low-income, non-English-speaking community members can band together \u2026 to defend our culture and push back on the displacing, for-profit model impacting communities all over the country and the world. Our community\u2019s very existence is at stake. It\u2019s survived for 150 years because we have fought for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is about the commodification of our lives by a development model that puts profits over people \u2014 that extracts value, but doesn\u2019t see community as value,\u201d she added. \u201cThat is the narrative we are trying to change. It\u2019s our place of living, thriving, worshiping, coming together, and we are fighting for its existence, by telling our stories \u2026 we give it life, we create memories, we create a value that is beyond money.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Changing the narrative of caregiving<\/h2>\n<p>Benny Lai, Executive Manager of Communications and Events at the Seattle-based National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA), said crucial to a more holistic understanding of how to best provide care to community members \u2014 particularly seniors, whose voices often go unheard \u2014 is letting them voice their own care experiences and needs.<\/p>\n<p>Toward this narrative change, he said NAPCA has been working with Risa Morimoto \u2014 a film and TV director and producer, and an expert on aging \u2014 to shoot 15-minute episodes featuring AAPI caregiver families across the country.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest takeaways of this project is the \u201ctime-consuming attention to sacrifice \u2026 We see \u2014 love for parents, of course, but there is also a lot of frustration to being a major caregiver. Sometimes they have mobility issues, mood swings, they may throw tantrums. It\u2019s not an easy job. If any of us decide to be a caregiver, we need to be prepared\u201d by telling ground-level stories about what it means to give and receive care, said Lai.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Making an empowering space for care<\/h2>\n<p>Dianara Rivera, Director of Narrative Strategy at the Boston-based Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW) , said \u201cparticularly in this time of political attacks\u201d on AAPI community members, \u201cit\u2019s imperative that we create healing spaces for care that also builds power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCollective care is inherently political\u201d when the communities receiving it are marginalized, she added. Toward this end, AARW has been conducting workshops for AAPI community leaders, members and artists \u201cto collect the stories of how we care for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"CRp9_Mw84Pk\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget6\" title=\"Community as Collective Caregiving for Queer Asian Pacific Islanders\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CRp9_Mw84Pk?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-10=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Dianara Rivera \u2014 Director of Narrative Strategy at the Asian American Resource Workshop \u2014 discusses a community-building project for queer Asian and Pacific Islanders that offers the connection and emotional support which many AAPIs lack.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Many of these stories \u201chave to do with not asking for help,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cWe see how those narratives are political and connected to collective care when we ask what the barriers are to us asking for help, how those barriers relate to how we grew up, and what the antidotes are to those barriers, when we feel a fear of rejection. In a lot of Asian immigrant families, you feel you can\u2019t talk about these problems,\u201d and empowering those who receive care \u201crequires shifting away from transactional expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Preserving stories as a form of care<\/h2>\n<p>Jessica Eckerstorfer, Co-Executive Director of The Southeast Asian Diaspora (SEAD) Project, said a recent collection of stories released by the Minneapolis-based organization \u2014 \u201cKnowing Our Joy\u201d \u2014 focuses on \u201cstories of joy with our elders, as collecting and preserving their stories allows us caring for them to connect to our homelands, preserve our traditions, learn from our past and keep the voices of our people alive for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"7-rB_xOVNHE\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget8\" title=\"Preserving Southeast Asian Histories Through Story Collection\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7-rB_xOVNHE?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-10=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Jessica Eckerstorfer, Co-Executive Director of The SEAD (Southeast Asian Diaspora) Project, describes a story-collection project that paired Asian elders with young people to chronicle stories from the elders\u2019 lives before they came to the United States.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For the project, 17 young adult storytellers and 20 illustrators \u201cbrought their elders to story collection dinners and workshops,\u201d she said. Building trust through intergenerational collaboration was crucial, \u201cas many elders weren\u2019t comfortable in these spaces \u2014 they may not have the experience or language for story collection or the publication process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Through this story-collecting process, Eckerstorfer continued, many participants noted that elders were opening up about things that they had never heard of before, joyful aspects of their childhood\u201d beyond, for example, wartime trauma in the case of Vietnamese elders.<\/p>\n<p>To do storytelling is \u201cto think and feel through the different memories\u201d of those whose stories you preserve, she said. Despite the fact that \u201cHealing spaces beyond medical professionalism are very rare,\u201d it\u2019s crucial for caregivers to witness what creates \u201cmoments of joy and happiness\u201d in those they care for.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BySelen Ozturk Oct 25, 2023 Being&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60686,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60685\/revisions\/60686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}