Durga

Durga immigrated to the United States in December 2015. Before immigrating, she used to work in a women’s cooperative and in construction. She was affected by the Nepal earthquake and applied for asylum to enter the US.

“Some of our Nepali here, I only know Nepali, a few Mexican people, but they want to stay here without having papers… Luckily I came here after one year was granted, but [for] other people, five, six, eighty years they applied, but they are not granted a green card, they are suffering too.”

Now, she is working in babysitting & senior care. Before the pandemic, she was not getting government support, but now, she is getting $1200 from the government and now is receiving EDD funds, but it is still hard to support her family.

“My son is working…They cannot go work with a small kid, it’s very expensive, very hard here. And now I am able to work, and we make money so we can manage expenses. But, if I cannot work during the week or I’m sick and I have kids, it’s a little hard. How can we go towards resolving some of these things and make it a little easier?”