Gender Equality in Lesotho
In 2017, I worked with local organizations and artists to complete two street art exhibitions and events, My Hair - My Identity and Bo-Ausi Ba na le Tokéló ho Hana (Girls Have the Right to Refuse), focused on gender equality in Lesotho. We received two grants from the Inside Out Project to paste the photos in the capital of Maseru and the town of Thaba Tseka. The project was featured on national television and in local newspapers.
The photos are still there today.
SELF-EXPRESSION
The event grew to the collaboration of 10 different organizations hosting music, poetry, hair stylists, a documentary, activist speakers and more. It was not just an activism event, but a celebration.
Bo-Ausi ba na le tokéló ho hana
means "girls have the right to refuse.” We partnered with local teachers to facilitate a girls health club in Thaba Tseka, Lesotho at a middle school. Under the Grassroots Soccer SKILLZ class model, we taught a lesson about saying “no” and highlighted girls' rights to refuse or say no to anything they do not want to do.
We took portraits of each students’ “no pose!” and pasted them onto the walls of the Child & Gender Protection Unit at the Thaba-Tseka Police Station. We also printed smaller versions for the girls to take home.
