Safe House for Survivors in Nepal

The need for a brave and safe space in Nepal has never been more urgent. Emerging artists, lacking crucial mentorship and guidance, often fall prey to sexual predators. The absence of a supportive community leaves them vulnerable, ensnared in a toxic cycle of abuse with no way out.

To meet this need, we, Kaalo101, is creating a secure safe house specifically for survivors and those in tough and challenging situations. Our aim is to offer a caring, judgment-free space where individuals seeking refuge can feel safe and supported. Beyond physical safety, our space will foster emotional support, understanding, and a sense of security, empowering individuals to reclaim their confidence and begin the path towards healing and recovery.

In addition to the community aspect, a dedicated caretaker will be available round the clock, ensuring supervision and support, along with nutritious meals to meet basic needs and enable residents to focus on their recovery journey. Our priority is ensuring residents' safety and well-being. Further, we're partnering with counselors and legal experts to provide comprehensive assistance to the residents. These professionals will offer emotional support, guidance, and legal counsel, empowering survivors to navigate their healing process and legal pathways effectively. Our safe house has the capacity to accommodate up to eight individuals.

The imperative to create a safe environment within Nepal's art, entertainment, and cultural community is glaringly evident. It demands concerted efforts to break the cycle of exploitation, protect emerging talents, and foster an environment where creativity can flourish without fear or exploitation.

STATUS QUO

In recent times, there has been a distressing pattern in the art, entertainment, and cultural scene: an art teacher inviting a budding artist to their "studio" under the guise of showcasing their work, and an established artist taking advantage of new talent by offering false promises of mentorship. Sadly, these occurrences aren't isolated. Over the past month, numerous survivor stories, shared anonymously, have surfaced, sparking discussions that raise accusatory fingers and cast a troubling shadow over the art and cultural community.

Survivors face formidable hurdles on the path to healing, compounded by a culture that blames the victim. This pervasive victim-blaming narrative renders survivors feeling powerless, while the existing power structures frequently overlook or deliberately conceal these distressing incidents.

ACTIONS

TOGETHER WE WILL CREATE BRAVE SPACE //

BECAUSE THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A “SAFE SPACE” //

- Micky ScottBey Jones

Fostering Community Resilience and Growth

We want to create a secure living space for survivors of sexual harassment and individuals in need. Central to this initiative is establishing a supportive community, acknowledging that society often fails those in crucial need of support. Survivors often experience profound isolation due to abuse, which can leave them feeling disconnected. It is vital to counteract this isolation by fostering a sense of community, making survivors feel heard, held, and supported, ensuring they do not feel alone in their journey to find the courage, build resilience, voice challenges, connect with others, and overcome loneliness and shame. While a survivor may struggle alone, a community based on love and support can collectively stand against societal pressures. Our primary aim is to nurture a community of mutual support and collective growth. In this community, survivors can find the support that family and friends deny them.

Legal and Psychological Counseling

We also aim to provide access to professional counselors and lawyers well-versed in handling sexual harassment cases, who will offer crucial support, guidance, and legal assistance, ensuring the safeguarding of their rights.

NEXT STEPS

We're well-prepared for the upcoming phase of our initiative. Situated in close proximity to Kaalo.101, we have secured a dedicated space to facilitate our support programs. Moreover, we've established solid connections with counselors and lawyers who are enthusiastic about collaborating with us to empower survivors through tailored support systems.

Our groundwork has been extensive, involving thorough research that includes insights and advice from individuals who have spearheaded similar projects in the past. This preparation ensures we are equipped and ready to effectively implement our support structure.

Additionally, if there is interest from survivors, we can create opportunities to integrate creative engagement at Kaalo.101 through art programs or workshops. The collaboration will offer avenues for creative expression, meaningful connections, and healing. We aim to provide a secure and nurturing space where they can not only heal but also channel their energies and powerful experiences into creating art.

BUDGET

This detailed budget of $15,000 outlines how we allocate finances for important services like counseling, legal support, and caretaking, as well as essential needs, rent, and food expenses.

Rent and Utilities: $7000 per year

This includes expenses for rent and utilities, covering electricity, water, and maintenance.

Renovation/Furniture: $1500 (One-time expense)

Allocated funds for renovations and the purchase of necessary furniture for our space.

Counseling Sessions: $1600 per year

Monthly Mental Health Group Counseling Sessions

Lawyer: $1200 per year

Monthly Legal Counseling Group Sessions

Caretaker: $1200 per year

Allocated funds for the caretaker's salary, along with providing accommodation and food.

Food: $2500 per year

The annual budget earmarked for food expenses.

RECEIVE UPDATES

Monthly Newsletter

Regular Zoom meetings

ABOUT KAALO.101

At Kaalo.101, we aim to create a socially conscious, completely independent creative space that uses art to uplift emerging Nepali artists while engaging with our surrounding physical, social, and cultural environment through an accessible, communicative, and collaborative exchange.

During our eight-year-long journey, we renovated multiple traditional Newa houses in Patan DIY-style into exhibition spaces, residencies, studios, and libraries, where we continuously explore intentional and sustainable co-creating and -existence. Our current five buildings are used for a permanent multimedia urban art collection, exhibitions, workshops, mentorships, concerts, reading circles, discussions, and experimental artist- and community-led projects. However, we go beyond Kaalo.101’s walls to facilitate art festivals, as well as exhibits in abandoned spaces and hidden courtyards around Patan.

Kaalo.101 is not only a physical space but also a safe and comfortable home for our diverse and transcultural family of versatile artists and activists. We support people with questions and aim to offer a brave environment to present any kind of contemporary art and express criticism by providing solidarity and empowerment. We value the vibe of an accepting and supportive family and don’t try to fit anybody’s ideas about art and society but explore our own possibilities, values, beliefs, and non-hierarchical coexistence.

We encourage individuality and empower people to go beyond what they expect is possible ⁠— we aren’t just an art space but a living, breathing house that aims to make art accessible by challenging capitalism, hierarchies, and ideas such as the colonial white cube: We aim to offer a potential form of expression for anyone without taking elitist art narratives and gatekeeping into account. Our house, the art in it, and the connected community try to relate Nepal’s cultures, histories, and heritage with contemporary perspectives to share experimental works and thoughts that connect to both contexts. This juxtaposition of our physical and cultural setting with contemporary, critical, and progressive approaches, alongside our predominantly Nepali (but also international) community, gives us fertile ground to continually learn, unlearn, and relearn from each other and the space around us.