“If you can’t be a part of the change, then don’t complain about it”, this is what Rasika’s parents told her while growing up and is still something she instills in herself. Rasika Sundaram is the founder of Imaara foundation, an NGO running for survivors of gender based violence.
Imaara Foundation focuses and works towards preventing and ultimately ending sexual and gender-based violence in the Indian context. It runs on three particular projects, number one is survivor’s support, where they help survivors get right information about where and how to seek help. Imaara’s website gives information about various facets of gender-based violence. They also conduct workshops and guest lectures that make the community aware of this issue and enable them to be socially responsible, so that they can intervene if they see violence and not be a passive by-stander. The project tell-tale they host, invite survivors to share their stories anonymously via blogs or podcasts.
Imaara was born out of Rasika’s personal experience with gender-based violence. “You are not taught that this is a problem in society. It is something you grab along the way if you are attuned to it,” she says. Gender based violence is more common than many people think and Rasika started noticing this issue a lot more when she started college. Upon meeting lots of people with disorders and mental health issues, she realised that the issues often pointed to abuse. Seeing how people turned a blind-eye to abuse and how survivors suffered because of it, is what led Rasika to start Imaara as a support system for them.
When asked about intersectionality, Rasika said “My personal experience with regards to intersectionality, it honestly humbled me more. I need to remind myself that I, being in a potential position of power, should not misuse it”. She constantly reminds herself that she is here for them and not the other way around. Rasika understands the importance of being open-minded when interacting with survivors because for many people, their background makes it inaccessible for them to seek help and support.
Rasika wants people to understand that it is not men vs women vs any other gender, it is everyone being affected by a problem, so everyone should come together to find a solution and be better for ourselves and for others. Rasika always believed in the Tamil phrase, “Anbe Sivam” which means that love is God. She insists on believing in love and kindness no matter what god you believe in or even if you don’t believe in God at all.
Rasika says “Humanity and love is what matters at the end of the day, so just be kind. Everyone’s going through a lot, and let’s do our part to be kind and be empathetic. That itself will help, especially today’s society with so much war going on.” Rasika hopes that these initiatives would one day result in systematic, policy, legal changes for gender-based violence, but her first and foremost goal is always to create a safe space for survivors.
Cover image: Rasika Sundaram, the founder of Imaraa foundation