Neighborhood Legal Services, which provides free legal services to the poor, has expanded into the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys, areas with large Asian populations, many of whom speak limited or no English. Language is their biggest obstacle, but the Asian communities' cultural isolation and service providers' lack of cultural expertise also play a part, said NLS executive director Neal Dubovitz. And with 13 percent to 15 percent of the Asian population in the U.S. living below the poverty line, NLS services are badly needed, Dubovitz said. "Although it is a significant part of the poverty population, Asians historically have not been able to participate in the services and programs available to the poor," he said. From simple telephone advice to complete legal representation in court, the agency provides free consumer, health, family, immigration, housing, public benefits and labor legal services to people who earn under $1,380 per month. Legal service providers have long served large Latino populations, who have cultural diversity but share a common language. "I remember the days when there were only a handful of people in the legal offices who spoke Spanish," Dudovitz said. "Now Spanish and English are interchangeable. Our goal is to have that for the major Asian languages as well." Before the expansion, only a few NLS lawyers spoke Asian languages, said attorney Rebecca Yee, who was hired by NLS in April 2002 to design and head the project. "Now we have people speaking Cantonese, Mandarin, Thai, Khmer (from Cambodia), Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and Tagalog," Yee said. One of the 13 attorneys hired to work with the program is Irene Mak, a family law attorney who speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and Thai. Mak was a partner at a private law firm before she went to work for NLS two years ago, earning up to $20,000 less a year working on domestic violence cases. "The job is more satisfying than the money," said Mak, who grew up in Hong Kong and Thailand before coming to the United States. "I could use my language skills and wanted to give back to the Asian community." NLS expanded when Legal Services Corp., the federal agency that funds providers of free legal services nationwide, reduced the number of grantees in the Los Angeles area from five to three, Dudovitz said. NLS won the competitive grant over the Legal Services Program for Pasadena, San Gabriel-Pomona valleys. That boosted its client base from 16,000 to around 25,000, and NLS opened an office in El Monte.

What are some of the languages are now spoken by employees of the NLS?

Billy and Sally are brother and sister. Billy is seven and Sally is eight. Their mother, Deborah, likes to have Billy and Sally dress up in costumes and play a game where they are answering the telephone. Usually when they play the game, Billy answers the telephone in a loud voice, and Sally answers the telephone in a quiet voice. On Tuesdays, Billy answers in a quiet voice, and Sally answers in a loud voice. On Fridays, Billy answers in a loud voice and Sally in a quiet voice. Billy has blonde hair. Sally has brown hair. Deborah has blonde hair, and Billy and Sally's father, Bob, has brown hair. He tells them to eat lettuce every time that he sees them, so that they grow big and strong like he is. Deborah likes to add some sugar with the lettuce so that Billy and Sally know what it is like to have sweet tastes in their life. One day, a Wednesday, Billy throws some lettuce into Sally's hair. Deborah laughs an grabs some straw from their farm and puts it in Billy's hair. Billy and Sally live on a farm. They have a goat, named Joey, and a duck, named Quack. They sometimes play a game with the goat where they chase him around the farm. Other times, they play a game with Quack where they wave at Quack and laugh. They have a fun life growing up on the farm.

What do Billy and Sally eat?

The Dutch Take Over: Intent on capturing a piece of the Portuguese trade in pepper and other spices, the Java-based Dutch Ailied with the Malays in 1633 to blockade Melaka. The trade blockade was to last eight years, and ended in a seven-month siege. The Portuguese surrendered in 1641, wracked by malaria and dysentery and denied their usual reinforcements from Goa. By then, the city had become a stagnant backwater. Unlike the Portuguese, the Dutch decided to do business with the Malays of Johor, who controlled the southern half of the peninsula together with Singapore and the neighboring Riau islands. A trade treaty gave the Dutch command of the spice trade but reserved Johor's rights in tin exports from Perak, Selangor, and Klang. Without ever retrieving the supremacy of the old Melaka sultanate, Johor had become the strongest Asian power in the region. For the Dutch, Johor provided a buffer against other Europeans. Meanwhile, fresh blood came in with the migration into the southern interior of hardy Minangkabau farmers from Sumatra, while tough Bugis warriors from the east Indonesian Celebes (Sulawesi) roved the length and breadth of the peninsula. The Minangkabau custom of freely electing their leaders provided the model for rulership elections in modern federal Malaysia. Their confederation of States became today's Negeri Sembilan ("Nine States"), with Seremban as its capital. The name Minangkabau itself means roughly "buffalo horns" and is reflected in the distinctive upward curving roof in museums and government offices built in the traditional Minangkabau style. The Bugis were energetic merchants and great sailors. With the Dutch concentrating once more on Java and the Moluccas in the 18th century, the Bugis took advantage of the vacuum by raiding Perak and Kedah, imposing their chieftains in Selangor and becoming the power behind the throne in Johor. The Bugis in Johor's administration provided much of the spirit in that State's independent stand in the 19th and 20th centuries. Throughout this period, the east coast states enjoyed a relatively tranquil prosperity, Terengganu notably thriving from its textile industry and trading in pepper and gold with the Thais, Cambodians, and Chinese. The British, under the private auspices of the East India Company (EIC), were beginning to poke their noses into North Borneo.
Who's confederation of States became today's Negeri Sembilan?