About Us
Photo Credit: Manauvaskar Kublall
Jahajee Sisters was born out of the demand for sustained, culturally relevant programming for women in our community, and we are committed to developing leaders who organize against gender-based oppression and create paths for self determination. Feedback and encouragement from our members, such as the statements below, motivated us to establish an organization in 2009 to offer regular programs and to grow beyond our annual Indo-Caribbean Women's Empowerment Summit:
“For the longest while, I was hoping for such a group, I always looked in our local newspaper for meetings of our Indo-Caribbean women and it finally came to fruition…Together our voices will be heard, we will stand up and speak out at community board meetings, at PTA conferences, at local events etc.” - 2008 Summit Attendee
"This was a very empowering experience. I feel very lucky to have met so many wise and outspoken women willing to take a stand and make a difference. I look forward to future opportunities to meet, work, share and speak with these special individuals." - 2007 Summit Attendee
“For the longest while, I was hoping for such a group, I always looked in our local newspaper for meetings of our Indo-Caribbean women and it finally came to fruition…Together our voices will be heard, we will stand up and speak out at community board meetings, at PTA conferences, at local events etc.” - 2008 Summit Attendee
"This was a very empowering experience. I feel very lucky to have met so many wise and outspoken women willing to take a stand and make a difference. I look forward to future opportunities to meet, work, share and speak with these special individuals." - 2007 Summit Attendee
Our Story
Frustrated by gender-based oppression and the silence surrounding it, in 2007, four Indo-Caribbean women came together to create a space for dialogue among women in their community. They began organizing the first ever Indo-Caribbean Women’s Empowerment Summit. During planning for the Summit, in March 2007, 20 year old Natasha Ramen, a Guyanese woman from Hollis Queens, was slashed to death by her alleged rapist, also Guyanese. There was no outcry from the community, and it seemed like violence against women has become so widely accepted in our community that a crime as heinous and Natasha’s murder did not warrant dialogue and action. Enraged, organizers of the summit grew even more determined. On March 31, 2007, the first Indo-Caribbean Women’s Empowerment Summit was held, where more than thirty women discussed domestic violence and cultural perpetuation of patriarchy. Such a gathering was unprecedented, and every attendee expressed interest in monthly or quarterly gatherings in their evaluation survey. Click here to read more.
Our Constituency and Leadership
Jahajee Sisters’ constituency is comprised of a diverse group of inter-generational Indo-Caribbean women, ages 15-60, with ancestral roots in South Asia and born in the Caribbean and South American countries: Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname and Jamaica. Our constituency is also comprised of a younger generation of women, ages 15-35 born and raised in New York City, who also identify as Indo-Caribbean. Click here to read more.
Our People
The Indo-Caribbean community is historically marginalized, heavily immigrant, and ethnically isolated. Our people fled poverty and famine in India, beginning in 1838, taken to areas of the Caribbean and South America to work as indentured laborers on sugar plantations after the abolition of slavery. Coerced into a new system of slavery by British colonials and working tirelessly for extremely low wages and long hours, they suffered multiple forms of oppression, yet also triumphed adversities. Click here to read more.
Artwork by Sasha Kamini Parmasad
