The South Asians Rebuilding After the L.A. Fires

Ambika Sanjana, a Los Angeles-based stylist, was at a friend’s house when the fires began. She didn’t want to be alone as the winds were gusting. But as soon the extent of the disaster became clear — a fire that would consume thousands of acres — she started making phone calls. 

“I thought, ‘I have to do something.’ I started calling my other [service] orgs and I was ready to go,” she told The Juggernaut. Apart from daily brushes with celebrities, Sanjana is the founder of SevaSphere, a nonprofit that helps people in need with delicious meals. “What are you going to do? Fight a fire now? I possibly can’t. But then I rented a U-Haul and started loading pallets of water and said, ‘Let’s just go to the Pasadena Shelter because a lot of folks who are evacuated are there and give them water and care kits.’”

The Los Angeles fires, which erupted on January 7, have unleashed catastrophic destruction, killed at least 24, and obliterated thousands of structures. Throughout it all, one theme emerged: far from trying to flee, Angelenos are trying to rebuild and serve. And for many South Asians, some of whom have lost their homes, their service is helping them get through a crisis whose impact they couldn’t have predicted.