The Hindi word "savera" means "dawn." For Manuela Albuquerque, the word serves as the acronym for the South Asian Voter Education and Registration Alliance she founded as her Leadership Impact Project. For many, SAVERA has brought the dawn of political consciousness. As Berkley's City Attorney, for the last 15 years, Manuela was well aware that people of color vote in disproportionately low numbers. The 1994 congressional election spurred Manuela out of complacency. "Up to that point, I thought both the Republican and Democratic parties had coalesced around the middle," she said. "I was so perturbed by the actions of the new Republican Congress that I realized it was terribly important to participate because there is a war on immigrants, a war on the poor, with people not at all sensitive to civil rights issues. I realized I couldn't take what we had achieved for granted any more."

Manuela herself had immigrated to the US in 1970: "It was a very different time; all these strides were being made in expanding rights of disenfranchised groups. Barriers were falling," she said, "but slowly some of the gains started to erode. It made me think about whether immigrants really even know what's going on in the larger community. So many times they're just trying to adjust, learning about institutions, surviving on a day-to-day basis. Getting to the point where you follow the nuances of government is one of the last things and one of the most intimidating." To bridge the gap between immigrants and the larger community by registering and educating voters, Manuela developed an informative booklet that includes information on current issues, immigration and civil rights, the history of South Asians in the US and a list of pertinent web sites. "The hardest phase was developing materials from scratch," she said.

"I wanted the people to know not only about issues, but also about the history of South Asians in the U.S."

She distributed the pamphlets at a popular Indian restaurant and also at melas (fairs). What surprised Manuela most was how many people she encountered who are not citizens. "I want South Asian people to get involved in the mainstream, to participate in advisory commissions, to take issues seriously," she said.

"We're not there yet."

Yet she's made a noble start, thanks, in part, to APAWLI: "APAWLI made me reach beyond my comfort zone," she said. "I've definitely done some growing with this." Manuela isn't focused on hard number results of how many voters SAVERA itself has registered. "You never know what sort of effect that guide has, whether it changes the nature of the debate or what we start to see," she said. "If I could help one woman, it would be worth it for me. You make change one person at a time."

Manuela Albuquerque, Class of '99, is City Attorney in Berkley, CA.