GLOBAL GOENKARS IN FOCUS
CALIFORNIA
A Goan volunteer social worker and writer has been inducted in the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame (ACWHF) in Alameda County, California-US.
Bella Comelo is the first Goan woman to be inducted in the Alameda Women’s Hall of Fame at an event attended by over 450 people in the Castlewood Club, Pleasanton, on April 26.
“In my honour the ACWHF donated $1,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of San Leandro. This club has Home Work Center where girls are taught different skills,” Bella told The Goan.
Bella, who hails from Carona-Aldona, was brought up in Mumbai but visited Goa every summer. She immigrated from Mumbai to Oakland-California in 1983 at the age of 46 with her husband, Ernest Comelo, and four children, Anil, Anita, Anibel and Anirudh.
“I am grateful to my sister Molly Rodrigues for sponsoring me and my family to USA. I am grateful to my late husband Ernest, ex-officer of RBI/IDBI, for his encouragement in my social justice pursuit. We were married for 59 years,” said Bella.
SOCIAL WORK
Bella has done extensive social work ever since she immigrated to California in 1983.
She is a member of the City of San Leandro’s Senior Commission where she has served for the last sixteen years.
During this time, she brought the Center of Elders’ Independence to San Leandro so that low-income seniors receive food, medical care, and free transportation.
She also introduced the World Health Organization (WHO) and AARP’s Age-Friendly Initiative to make San Leandro an Age-Friendly City.
“Age-Friendly Initiatives are designed to create communities and systems that are inclusive and supportive of older adults, focusing on improving quality of life, health, and social participation. They combat neglect and isolation by providing inter-generational housing and services,” explained Bella.
Bella was honored with a Social Justice Champion Award from the current Attorney General of California, Rob Bonta.
She began her work for social and economic justice in the Oakland Unified School District. Due to her demonstrated leadership as a union member, she was invited to serve on the Executive Board of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 790.
She became an active Member Organiser, seeking justice for employees who were unfairly treated at work, and assisting in unionising San Francisco Airport workers and the City of Richmond part-time workers.
Since then, she has been involved in other struggles for rights and justice.
In 1992, Bella became a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Labour Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO to challenge the perception of Asian workers as meek and having to put up with a lot of injustice.
She has also worked to raise the Minimum Wage in Oakland and San Leandro.
WRITER, PUBLISHER
Bella is also a writer and has published a children’s book, ‘Raju and the Snake Charmer’. Her articles have been published in India West, The Catholic Voice, San Leandro Times, the Global Goan magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle (Two Cents column).
