Welcome to Episode 6 of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World.

At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice which honours our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.

As the world becomes increasingly hostile towards feminist activists and women's movements, Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights, Asia & Pacific, aims to bring to light the stories and experiences of women, trans, and gender-nonconforming human rights defenders who work tirelessly in the margins through this six-part series.

In the final episode of the series, we reflect on the findings gathered from regional perspectives. We explore how activisms can respond to the concerns shared by activists featured in this series, and envision the future of activisms.

This series has been informed and guided by the Urgent Action Fund Report “How Can We Ground Ourselves in Care and Dance Our Revolution”. You can read the full report at rootingcare.org where you can also listen to podcasts from the Urgent Action Funds.

You can listen to all the episodes of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World here:

Episode 1

https://on.soundcloud.com/4jgJb

Episode 2

https://on.soundcloud.com/7AWVp

Episode 3

https://on.soundcloud.com/qBLEK

Episode 4

https://on.soundcloud.com/XPCYa

Episode 5

https://on.soundcloud.com/oL8kW

Credits:

Production: Boju Bajai

Hosts: Bhrikuti Rai and Itisha Giri

Music and Sound Design: Rajan Shrestha and Irina Giri

A special thanks to the voice artists from Nepal featured in Episode 1 of this series.

Welcome to Episode 5 of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World.

At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice honouring our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.

As the world becomes increasingly hostile towards feminist activists and women's movements, Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights, Asia & Pacific, this series aims to bring to light the stories and experiences of women, trans, and gender-nonconforming human rights defenders who work tirelessly in the margins.

In this episode, we bring you the voice of Brindaalakshmi K. They are a queer feminist researcher and advocacy professional working at the intersection of gender, sexuality, human rights and technology. Brindaa’s advocacy is informed by their work as a peer supporter and activist working with LGBTIQA+ community.

You can follow them on Twitter @brindaalakshmi

This episode explores digital rights, digital privacy, and the digital divide and how these issues affect the queer community in India.

This episode was recorded in October 2022 therefore some references to specific laws and legal provisions might have undergone changes since the date of the recording.

This series has been informed and guided by the Urgent Action Fund Report “How Can We Ground Ourselves in Care and Dance Our Revolution”. You can read the full report at rootingcare.org where you can also listen to podcasts from the Urgent Action Funds.

You can listen to all the episodes of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World here:

Episode 1

on.soundcloud.com/4jgJb

Episode 2

on.soundcloud.com/7AWVp

Episode 3

on.soundcloud.com/qBLEK

Episode 4

on.soundcloud.com/XPCYa

Episode 6

https://on.soundcloud.com/rnazk

Credits:

Production: Boju Bajai

Hosts: Bhrikuti Rai and Itisha Giri

Music and Sound Design: Rajan Shrestha and Irina Giri

Welcome to Episode 4 of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World.

At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice honouring our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.

As the world becomes increasingly hostile towards feminist activists and women's movements, Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights, Asia & Pacific, aims to bring to light the stories and experiences of women, trans, and gender-nonconforming human rights defenders who work tirelessly in the margins.

In this episode, we bring you the voices of Maya Gurung and Dolma Sherpa - two amazing activists who work at Adhikaar, a New York based, women-led community organization that serves the needs of the Nepali speaking community and organizes low-income workers to promote social justice and human rights.

We discuss their work with the Nepali community in New York during the pandemic and conversations about self-care and protection of activists to ensure their wellbeing.

Maya Gurung works at Adhikaar as a senior case coordinator helping community members to resolve issues ranging from wage theft, immigration issues. Dolma Sherpa is an organiser at Adhikaar and has been part of several campaigns to support and address the needs for nail salon workers.

You can learn more about Adhikaar’s work by visiting their website: https://adhikaar.org/

This series has been informed and guided by the Urgent Action Fund Report “How Can We Ground Ourselves in Care and Dance Our Revolution”. You can read the full report at rootingcare.org where you can also listen to podcasts from the Urgent Action Funds.

You can listen to all the episodes here:

Episode 1

on.soundcloud.com/4jgJb

Episode 2

on.soundcloud.com/7AWVp

Episode 3

on.soundcloud.com/qBLEK

Episode 5

on.soundcloud.com/oL8kW

Episode 6

https://on.soundcloud.com/rnazk

Credits:

Production: Boju Bajai

Hosts: Bhrikuti Rai and Itisha Giri

Music and Sound Design: Rajan Shrestha and Irina Giri

Welcome to Episode 3 of Care At the Centre: Voices from the Majority World.

At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice honouring our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.

As the world becomes increasingly hostile towards feminist activists and women's movements, Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights, Asia & Pacific, this series aims to bring to light the stories and experiences of women, trans, and gender-nonconforming human rights defenders who work tirelessly in the margins.

In this episode, we bring you the voice of Nandar from Myanmar.

Nandar is a feminist activist, a storyteller, and a podcaster. She is the founder of Purple Feminists Group.

Nandar, a human rights defender from Myanmar, had to leave her home for an extended period of time after the military coup in 2020. Nandar talks about how she found herself having to reevaluate and revisit her work and her activism in the middle of political turmoil at home and a global pandemic and how these factors affected not just her work, but also her personal wellbeing.

To know more about Nandar and the work her organization does, please visit: purplefeminist.org

This series has been informed and guided by the Urgent Action Fund Report “How Can We Ground Ourselves in Care and Dance Our Revolution”. You can read the full report at rootingcare.org where you can also listen to podcast episodes from the Urgent Action Funds.

References:

“The Guardian view on Myanmar’s military: in power but not control”

- 6 December, 2022

You can listen to all the episodes here:

Episode 1

https://on.soundcloud.com/4jgJb

Episode 2

https://on.soundcloud.com/7AWVp

Episode 4

https://on.soundcloud.com/XPCYa

Episode 5

https://on.soundcloud.com/oL8kW

Episode 6

https://on.soundcloud.com/rnazk

Credits:

Production: Boju Bajai

Hosts: Bhrikuti Rai and Itisha Giri

Music and Sound Design: Rajan Shrestha and Irina Giri

Welcome to the second episode of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World.

At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice which honours our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.

In this episode, we bring you the voice of Rukshana Kapali. As a trans woman activist from the Newa Indigenous group, Rukshana’s work and her experiences are specific to Nepal’s socio-political and cultural context. She has been working at the intersection of law and language, and her work is centered on challenging and changing policies through legal activism.

In this conversation, Rukshana shares the specific challenges faced by Nepal’s trans community while reflecting on her own personal journey of navigating and accessing the educational system in Nepal as a trans woman.

This episode was recorded in November, 2022.

If you want to know more about Rukshana’s work, you can visit her website. www.minchyaameyju.wordpress.com/

This series has been informed and guided by the Urgent Action Fund Report “How Can We Ground Ourselves in Care and Dance Our Revolution”. You can read the full report at rootingcare.org where you can also listen to episodes from the Urgent Action Funds.

Listen to all the episodes of the series Care At the Centre: Voices from the Majority World here:

Episode 1

https://on.soundcloud.com/4jgJb

Episode 3

https://on.soundcloud.com/qBLEK

Episode 4

https://on.soundcloud.com/XPCYa

Episode 5

https://on.soundcloud.com/oL8kW

Episode 6

https://on.soundcloud.com/rnazk

Credits:

Production: Boju Bajai

Hosts: Bhrikuti Rai and Itisha Giri

Music and Sound Design: Rajan Shrestha and Irina Giri

Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World

At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice of honouring our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.

But in an increasingly hostile world, how do women, trans, and non-binary activists in the world visualize care and protection today at both the individual and organizational level?

What are the specific risks to the lives and works of activists, human rights defenders and advocates from the majority world, and how do activists imagine and practice care in their unique contexts and locations?

These are some of the questions we will explore in this six-part series on care produced by Urgent Action Fund Asia & Pacific.

In the first episode of the series, we will talk about what it is that makes activists continue relentlessly on their paths, despite the risks, the challenges, and the threats they encounter on a daily basis by reflecting on their personal experiences and their socio-political and cultural locations and contexts that shaped their personhood and their activisms.

Our gratitude to artists and activists from Nepal who lend their voices to bring to life the experiences and testimonies of activists featured in the Urgent Action Fund report - “How Can We Ground Ourselves in Care and Dance Our Revolution”.

Please visit, rootingcare.org where you can read the full report and also listen to episodes from the Urgent Action Funds.

You can listen to all the episodes of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World here:

Episode 2

https://on.soundcloud.com/7AWVp

Episode 3

https://on.soundcloud.com/qBLEK

Episode 4

https://on.soundcloud.com/XPCYa

Episode 5

https://on.soundcloud.com/oL8kW

Episode 6

https://on.soundcloud.com/rnazk

Credits:

Production: Boju Bajai

Hosts: Bhrikuti Rai and Itisha Giri

Music and Sound Design: Rajan Shrestha and Irina Giri

Boju Bajai in conversation with the fantastically talented writer Kunsang. Her deeply personal essays and stories about her family, community and the way of life in the mountains of Humla are a window to a region of Nepal that doesn't get written about as much in Nepali literature or in our op-ed pages. Kunsang’s op-eds, memoirs and short stories have been published in several national dailies, including Kantipur, Naya Patrika.

Listen to Boju Bajai Reads featuring Kunsang’s piece आगो केवल आगो होइन published in Kantipur https://link.chtbl.com/bbreadsftkunsang

Here’s a list of Kunsang’s writings published in the last five years.

आगो केवल आगो होइन - https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2023/01/21/167426781073021303.html?author=1

सद्‍गुरुलाई कोही किन प्रश्न गर्दैन ? - https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2022/11/05/166761320871649608.html?author=1

तेह्र सौंराइ - https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2022/08/13/166035631515662586.html?author=1

बजाउने हात खोजिरहेछ ‘ङ’ - https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2022/04/16/165007488520992364.html?author=1

हिमाली कथा : हिउँमा हाइभिजन हल - https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2021/10/02/163314223402081319.html?author=1

This is the first installment of Boju Bajai Reads where we get our favorite writers to read their writings. And we are thrilled to have writer Kunsang read her piece आगो केवल आगो होइन for this new series.

Oh, and mark your calendar cos our episode ‘Guff Gaff with Kunsang’ is releasing on June 2.

Read आगो केवल आगो होइन by Kunsang here: https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2023/01/21/167426781073021303.html?author=1

Do you know we also have a weekly newsletter? Subscribe to Cold Takes by Boju Bajai for a weekly roundup of news and feminist views delivered straight to your inbox every Sunday.

Read and subscribe here: https://bojubajai.substack.com/welcome

Boju Bajai regularly works with reporters and researchers to bring compelling audio stories that centre and amplify women’s experiences. If you would like to support our work, please consider being our patron here: www.patreon.com/bojubajai

Follow @Bojubajai on social media for more laughs and guff gaff:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bojubajai/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bojubajai/

Twitter: twitter.com/BojuBajai

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/BojuBajai/

Music by P4LASH Palash Sunvaiya https://pixabay.com/music/ambient-fire-and-ice-epic-ambient-141823/

“AERØHEAD - Fragments" is under a Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) license

/ aer%c3%98head

Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://bit.ly/b-fragments

Boju Bajai turns SEVEN!! Thank you to everyone, who’s been part of our laugh and guff gaff since we started Boju Bajai in 2016. We are so grateful to have a community of Boju Bajai listeners, readers and supporters, and we hope we will be able to continue our laugh and guff gaff until we actually become boju bajai irl also, re kya ;p

And this time our birthday special episode is dedicated to all the wonderful, and sometimes rishuthdo fathers. Thank you for sharing your good and not-so-good dad stories with us. This episode is also double special since we feature a Nepali man and stories of several Nepali men. So next time someone tells you what about the men in Boju Bajai podcast, please share this episode with them.

Happy listening, and subscribe to Boju Bajai podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Oh, and if you enjoy our laugh and guff gaff and would like to gift us some birthday presents (yes, we are shameless that way) please consider being our patron. More details here www.patreon.com/bojubajai

We also have a newsletter! Subscribe to Cold Takes by Boju Bajai on Substack for a weekly roundup of news and feminist views.

Read and subscribe here: https://bojubajai.substack.com/welcome

Boju Bajai regularly works with reporters and researchers to bring compelling audio stories that centre and amplify women’s experiences. If you would like to support our work, please consider being our patron here: www.patreon.com/bojubajai

Follow @Bojubajai on social media for more laughs and guff gaff:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bojubajai/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bojubajai

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bojubajai/

Twitter: twitter.com/BojuBajai

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/BojuBajai/

Boju Bajai theme music by Flekke

We hosted a fun live podcast with writers Anbika Giri and Babita Rai talking about mother's day memes, their portrayal in popular media and literature. And now it’s here for you to listen and watch. आमाहरुबारे रचिएका गीत सङ्गीत, हाम्रा प्रिय भावुक kavizz, र साहित्यमा आमाको चित्रण कसरी हुन्छ/ हुँदै आएको छ बारे 'चीरफार' गर्न बोजु बजैलाई साथ दिनु हुँदैछ लेखक द्वय बबिता राई र आन्विका गिरि।

Hope you enjoy this episode!

You can also watch our conversation here.

Boju Bajai Live (Part 1)

Boju Bajai Live (Part 2)

Boju Bajai Live (Part 3)

We also have a newsletter! Subscribe to Cold Takes by Boju Bajai on Substack at bojubajai.substack.com for a weekly roundup of news and feminist views.

Read and subscribe here: https://bojubajai.substack.com/welcome

Boju Bajai regularly works with reporters and researchers to bring compelling audio stories that centre and amplify women’s experiences. If you would like to support our work, please consider being our patron here: www.patreon.com/bojubajai

Follow @Bojubajai on social media for more laughs and guff gaff:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bojubajai/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bojubajai/

Twitter: twitter.com/BojuBajai

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/BojuBajai/

Boju Bajai theme music by Flekke

Boju Bajai Live Credits:

Research: Puspa Paudel

Video: Elite Joshi & Deepak KC

Venue: Shilpee Theatre, Battisputali, Kathmandu

Volunteers (Bidhya Maharjan, Bhawana Jain & Shristi Shakya)