As participants of ActionAid’s Global Citizen Course with strong motivation for promoting social change, we chose to work with the LGBTIQ community in Nepal.
In an attempt to contribute to the fight against ignorance, stigmatization and discrimination against the LGBTIQ-community we have started an awareness project promoting the message “love knows no gender.” We worked with the slogan “Maya Lai Bujhau” and have chosen to use the cityscape creatively and visually as a way of integrating a more nuanced view on love into the everyday life of Kathmandu’s citizens. As we see it, street art is a mode of expression where one can communicate a powerful message in a very simple and permanent way. We have no expectations of “saving the world” within the project’s one week and a half time span. But as Global Citizens we are convinced that street art is an effective way to plant a small seed of change in the mind-set of people. This is our hope for the street art project: that the citizens of Kathmandu will walk by our art, register the message and thereby in time reflect more and more on what they have seen. Throughout the last week we have worked with paste-ups and stencils in public places and presented our project on BDS’s radio show. We have arranged an exhibition where we will display our work. Here BDS will also present their work and objectives of the organization which will hopefully spark a debate concerning some of the issues that our project has dealt with.
Having lived now for nearly four months with 10 Nepali students, the Danish participants have experienced first hand how marriage plays a crucial and sometimes stressful part in their life. They have also experienced the care and love that characterizes the Nepali people. We are therefore convinced that the fight for equality started by BDS sooner or later will mean that no member of the LGBTIQ-community will have to hide their identity, but can be fully included in the already versatile and embracing Nepali culture. At Global Platform Nepal, we wish to encourage love and respect for every member of society – in short, we believe that #LoveIsNeverWrong.
By: Shristi Kharel
