'We are what our environment is'

Happy Earth day people! Let's think about our impact and make a positive change!

To be honest, I did not know it was Earth day today until Facebook reminded me. Not only did it remind me of the special day, but also of an article I wrote two years ago. Sharing that piece of write up today. :)

Ever since I remember my childhood, I was told that the trees and plants can hear, see and feel like us, humans. At the age of 22, I now know that they don’t, but, I don’t think it would be wrong to say that my love for nature grew with this particular myth.

As I go deep down the memory lane and recall the times spent with my dad, I remember him picking up every chocolate wrapper I threw on the floor. How amazed I used to be when he carefully let out the caterpillar which I tried to kill in the garden. One particular memory that still makes me laugh is when he told me earthworms were his friends. My response was, “Friends? Dad, they are worms and worms are creepy!”  Well, now I feel proud that vermicomposting is something I learnt from him. My dad has been my greatest inspiration since my childhood. His attitude towards nature and environment guided my passion all along and is one of the reasons for my love towards it.

"We are what our environment is." As a student of public health, this is the first thing I learnt in my environment class. Listening to the teacher about the mounting environmental problems everyday is undoubtedly heartbreaking. And the daily realization about the ignorance of youths towards the environmental issues tops it all. I believe that the youths today are overlooking the fact that they constitute a major part of our country's population and that their actions at present can give rise to significant consequences in the future.

One determined initiative, one firm decision; one courageous step can CHANGE the world. But the youths today are lost in the virtual world. We are more curious about the new gadgets launched in the market rather than the decreasing number of bees due to cell phone radiations. We are highly concerned about not missing a single day without being active in the social networks, but we don’t seem to have any time to speak out for the depleting ozone layer.

But, gone are the days to complain and whine about how someone else is not taking the initiative. If one needs an inspiration, they can look at the "hamribahini" initiative to prevent the use of polythene/plastic bags. We must take initiative ourselves. Step forward, and lead the way for others. Change is not a plant that grows overnight. It requires frequent nurturing, determination, love and care. Without the self realization among youths about the need to address the environmental issues, accomplishing the dream of 'sustainable environment' is a far cry. It is essential for every individual to realize their role and do their part to protect the environment. After all, we are what our environment is.

ASAP Youth Advocacy Refresher – A journey to remember

It was least expected that in the first day of ASAP Youth Advocacy Refresher (YAR), we Youth Champions from Nepal would be discussing about bad weather and its consequences during flight, rather than women and their right to abortion. The unexpected weather in Kathmandu cost us some of the very interesting session on the 4^th YAR in Mumbai. Nevertheless, the sessions we got to attend in the remaining two days were extremely enriching for us.

The 2^nd day of YAR began with saddening reality of one of the woman in Bangladesh, which was depicted through a documentary screening by Anika, Youth Champion from Bangladesh. The documentary made us realize how liberal Nepal is in terms of laws regarding abortion. But despite the legalization, the challenges women had to face to get an access to safe abortion were same in both Bangladesh and Nepal.

It was a privilege for the us youth champions, Bidhya and myself to be able to share our small grant project through our film ‘Women for Women’ on Female Community Health Volunteers. The encouraging response from the ASAP mentors and fellow youth champions regarding our project has inspired all of us to forever thrive for women’s right to safe abortion starting from the grass root level. Similarly, we also had the the opportunity to share about Youth Champions Advocacy Network Nepal (YCANN), a network established with the support from ASAP with focus on SRHR and safe abortion in Nepal. Smriti and Randhir, the members from the core team highlighted about past work as well as future plan of YCANN to establish it as a strong youth network for advocacy, awareness and capacity building activities.

In our everyday life, we advocates come across people from different background who does not accept safe abortion as a women’s right. Sometimes, inability to respond to such people tactfully can lead us to our failure as an advocate. Hence, the role play session on how to tackle such situation was very fruitful for all the YCs. It also made us realize that during discussion and arguments, we sometimes tend to forget that women are our integral concern, and we must always put them in our priority while making our point.  

Understanding the politics of internet was another eye opening session for us. The hidden reality of how big companies control the internet and manipulate the people’s mind was very daunting. Similarly, the example of a girl on period whose picture was taken down by Instagram just because she posted a picture with menstrual blood stain on her pants is another case that proves the pointless regulation of content by the internet in the name of vulgarity prevention. The power of internet must be used to amplify the narratives of women’s realities rather than trying to shut their right to freedom of expression. The session also made us appreciate the internet as a revolutionary tool that is able to influence a movement, as well as empower women by enabling them get an access to critical information on SRH and safe abortion.

The session on history of women healers, patriarchy and health care on the third day of the YAR was very relatable for most of the YCs, who were health professionals. During the discussion, the YCs shared about how the arrogant attitude of health professional discourages women to seek safe abortion services in a health center. Some of the YCs who themselves were medical doctors said that even their colleagues have a negative perception towards abortion. There was also an interesting revelation on how image of nurses is imprinted as someone gracious, helpful, caring and are subjected to heavy work at low cost most of the times, because people consider nursing as a women’s natural work that needs no license.

With the very moving session on human rights and social movement, we learnt that our voices will only be heard, if they are collective. So, all of us must have one ultimate vision i.e. gender equality and for this a woman must be brought to a level where they are able to get an access to SRHR through the approach of equity. Only after the common vision, collective voice and networking we can achieve our goals and objectives through a social movement. The journey which we embark on by surviving a storm came to an end with increased consciousness and understanding of women’s right to safe abortion from a broader perspective. However, the actual journey for us youth champions as advocates for safe abortion had just begun.