EVENTS

kholo surat mat dee baari

This project was initiated in 2011 with the assistance of the Fund for Global Human Rights (FGHR), USA. The research conducted through this project spanned locations across districts Multan, Lahore, Bahawalpur, and Kasur. Through interviews, life history naratives, and Focus Group Discussions (FGD’s), data were collected from single (widows, divorcees, separated, unmarried) women, single men, and transgender individuals. The primary aim for this research-cum-publication is to understand and empathize with the emotions, feelings, happiness, sadness, pain, failures and successes of these “strangers”, who are all around us. The objective is to help individuals understand that those among us, who we tend to categorize as different or “other”, are actually people just like us. The same pains, hardships, aspirations and dreams which all of us face in our lives, are true for these individuals as well. They too, are burdened with finding employment, desire love and affection, and like us, have a million wishes. They laugh and cry, just as we do, and are equally as important to our community and society. Who, we tend to alienate and ostracize on our baseless prejudices and discomfort, but cannot remove from our society. The aims and objectives for this Theater Performance are detailed below: To improve the social conditions and circumstances of single women and men in our society. To improve the social conditions and circumstances of transgender individuals in our society. To change the generalize perception of transgender indviduals and single women and men in our society, propagated by socio-cultural stigma and prejudices. To allow single women and transgender individuals to share their experiences and stories, thus helping them find their voice and build their self-confidence. To analyze the implications that detrimental behaviours and attitudes (by other men and women) have on the indentities of single women and transgender individuals.