by Carlea Bauman

In January 2024, Vaishali reached out to Sambhali U.S. to get involved as a volunteer. Soon after, she attended a Sambhali U.S. “SUStenance” event at Mala Velamuri and Matt Wennersten’s home in Washington, DC, co-hosted by Sambhali U.S. president Shereen Arent. At Matt and Mala’s she met others interested in learning more about the organization. She was so taken by what she learned that day that she told her parents about it in detail. “I learned so much about Sambhali that day. I just marveled. The whole way home I was talking to my parents about it.”

Vaishali’s parents were born in India. After they were married in 2001, they settled in Charlotteville, Virginia where Vaishali’s father, Kula Jha, completed his post-doctoral work in biology at the University of Virginia (UVA). Her mother, Ruby Kumari, soon after received her undergraduate degree from UVA and, later, her master's in biology from UMD.

As newly married young immigrants, Vaishali’s parents found their community among other Indian transplants who lived in graduate housing near them. They formed deep bonds and became like family.

Vaishali's mother Ruby, third from right, and Kiran, fourth from right, along with some of Vaishali's many Charlottesville aunties.

When Vaishali’s parents moved two and a half hours away to Maryland in 2008, those bonds held, and they continued to return to Charlottesville regularly for family gatherings. As Vaishali and her older brother grew, they celebrated all their milestones in Charlottesville, not Maryland.

So, when Vaishali returned from the SUStenance event, her mother remarked that it reminded her of their Charlottesville parties...and that was the spark of an idea: they should throw their own SUStenance event with their Charlotteville family in attendance. After returning to Charlottesville in February, Vaishali and her mother decided to go for it. They spoke with Ruby’s closest friend, Kiran Yadava, who lives in Charlottesville and would serve as a second host. She was all in.

Their event took place in early August with over 40 participants in attendance. It focused on the college girls at Sambhali Trust’s Abhaysthali boarding home because Vaishali wanted to highlight the lives of girls so close in age to her and the importance of higher education, something that had brought the original Charlottesville family together.

“A lot of the women at the event in Charlottesville, the women I call ‘my aunties’, my mom’s generation, they were the ones that pushed the boundaries of going to college. And now for my generation, it’s a given that we go to college.”

Aasu

Vaishali spoke about one of the Sambhali college girls in particular: Aasu. “Aasu is just a year older than me and we have so much in common,” she told the audience. “We both love to make traditional Indian drawings of strong women, we both like to do embroidery and design, and we both love to learn.” Vaishali then detailed how Aasu, who was married last year at her mother’s insistence, used the power of her education to ensure she was married into a family that supported her in continuing her education and getting a job after college.

“I wanted to tie it all back to how far we have come as a group,” she said later. “It wasn’t long ago that the women in our family didn’t go to college, they weren’t allowed to go out, and they were forced to marry. It really resonated with me.”

And Vaishali is inspiring those younger than her in the Charlottesville family. Elementary school students Myra and Mahalakshmi made a stand for women and girls in Rajasthan. At Vaishali's SUStenance event, they sold lemonade, lassis, and chai, raising $175 for Sambhali U.S.

Volunteer work, activism, and art are long-held passions of Vaishali. Even before she could vote, she would volunteer during each election season. She had an embroidery business in high school and would donate the proceeds to charity. In high school, she was president of the Montgomery County, Maryland Schools chapter of an organization called Fans of Asylum and Immigration Reform which helps undocumented immigrants.

All this work led to her participation in the UMD scholar program called Civic Engagement for Social Good. That community led her to look for and find Sambhali U.S. Her advisors were so impressed with her choice of nonprofits that they invited her to do a presentation on it at the end of the last academic year.

Next up, Vaishali hopes to expand the reach of Sambhali U.S. into campus life at the University of Maryland. Smart money says she’ll do just that.

“The spirit of Sambhali was everywhere at Vaishali’s SUStenance event,” said Shereen. “The room was filled with aunties, uncles, cousins, and a whole lot of pride for what Vaishali was doing and who she had become. Mom Ruby and Auntie Kiran put together the most delicious lunch, including special dishes that the younger generation craved. Here was a community that came together to support each other throughout their lives, so like the community that Sambhali builds.”

Shereen and Vaishali