Our Team
Aditi Pinto
Aditi supports environment, social, reproductive justice work through her writing, advocacy as well as participation in various networks and forums. She lives in Himachal Pradesh, where she learns lessons from the winds, waters and womyn every day. She has been a solidarity interpreter of Spanish and Hindi and has contributed to SASI as a writer and editor.
Hannah Carlan
Hannah is a linguistic anthropologist based in the U.S. who researches multilingualism and rural development in Himachal Pradesh, India. She has spent the last decade studying multiple Indian languages and fluently speaks Hindi/Urdu, Punjabi, and Kangri. She has served as a solidarity interpreter informally in movement spaces while doing fieldwork in India, and in SASI she primarily contributes with digital content creation and maintenance.
Laura Valencia
Laura is a language justice enthusiast who works on issues related to forest rights, climate change, food sovereignty, and youth leadership. She has worked to strengthen language inclusion in these sectors over the past decade as a Spanish-English solidarity interpreter as well as a training coordinator. Laura is on the coordination team for SASI. She uses Hindi/Urdu in her current role in a global coalition, Kannada with her feminist besties, and Odia to read land records for her research on afforestation.
Avijit Wasi
Avijit is an experienced Hindi and Bangla interpreter and translator that has worked with grassroots movements across India, particularly on forest rights. Avijit has been involved with SASI since its founding and is a language justice advocate.
Iffat Jahan Antara
Iffat is a feminist activist and researcher on gender and social transformation issues based in Bangladesh. She started her journey as a Bengali-English interpreter with SASI. With a feminist perspective, she works and volunteers with activist organizations as a solidarity interpreter. Iffat aims to strengthen language inclusion in social movements in Bangladesh and in SASI she works as the Bangladesh Country Coordinator.
Pramesh Pokharel
From 2007 onwards, Pramesh was a central committee member for the Nepali Youth Peasants Federation and was active in the broader umbrella organization, the All Nepal Peasants Federation, a member of La Via Campesina. For many years, he helped translate international documents, emails, etc., and shared them with movement leaders. He also contributed as an interpreter in various national and international fora (English to Nepali and vice versa). He contributes to SASI as the Nepal Country Coordinator and has organized multiple solidarity interpreting trainings, both before and after SASI’s formation.
Bhargavi Dilipkumar
Bhargavi is an experienced Tamizh and Hindi interpreter who has worked with grassroots organizations for many years. She has also contributed to national and international gatherings as an interpreting coordinator. Bhargavi is a SASI trainer and is the technology coordinator for the collective.
Katie Anne Whiddon
Katie is an avid linguist, researcher, and professional interpreter specialising in human rights. She is a firm believer in language justice and advocates the removal of language barriers for political participation. She has over 10 years of experience interpreting for women's and agrarian movements, working at World Social Fora and food sovereignty events, as well as for the Civil Society Mechanism at the UN Committee on World Food Security. Her languages are English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and conversational Nepali. Katie is one of SASI’s trainers in India and Nepal.
Susana Barria
Susana is an experienced interpreter in Spanish and French and has served as a solidarity interpreter in World Social Forums as well as other events. Susana has trained many solidarity interpreters. Her home base is Delhi and she is the finance coordinator of SASI.
Ganesh Birajdar
Ganesh works in Maharashtra in the education and agriculture sectors. He is a Marathi interpreter and translator. He has also contributed as a SASI trainer. You can read his report of the MBSA training on our blog.
Kavitha S
Kavitha Srinivasan is a feminist practioner and works with women farmers. She supports language justice in Kannada speaking spaces as an interpreter. She also works on education, social audits and women's rights. In all that she does, she strives to be a free spirited being.
Zia Papar
Zia is a freelance conference interpreter and translator, accredited to work for the European Union. Her working languages are English, Hindi, German, Spanish, French and Portuguese and she is based in Brussels, Belgium. Volunteering with international grassroots organisations as a solidarity interpreter, experience teaching conference interpreting and a strong connection to her native India come together perfectly in SASI, where she is one of the key trainers.