Journeys

  • The Quiet Work of Connection

    This reflection follows a fellowship journey where learning arrived gradually and without spectacle. Through moments of change and recalibration, it reflects on how connection—both inward and outward—quietly became central to the experience.

    Vichelle Yumuya

  • Reflections from Implementing the APTN Seed Grant: Between Access, Bureaucracy, and Survival

    This piece reflects on an APTN Seed Grant project in Delhi that was designed as a documentation support camp for gender-diverse people, and how it partially collapsed due to a sudden bureaucratic rule change. It explores what happens when access work fails in real time, how communities absorb the cost of inconsistent state systems, and…

    Sonali Khan

  • Creating Healing Spaces: Community-Led Mental Health Care for Transgender People in Nepal

    Through the Trans Amplify Advocacy Fellowship, I designed and implemented community-based mental health and wellness activities for transgender and gender-diverse people in Nepal. Drawing from learning in Thailand, this project introduced sound healing, mental health orientation, art therapy, and therapeutic bodywork to community members—many for the first time. This article reflects on the process, challenges,…

    Anmol Rai

  • Leadership Begins Within: Healing as a Trans Activist in Thailand

    Atittaya Asa is a trans man activist, co-founder and Organization Manager of TransEqual, working to advance the rights of toms, trans men, and nonbinary people in Thailand. His work focuses on strengthening grassroots leadership and networks across four regions, raising public awareness on gender-based rights, and driving policy and legal reform including marriage equality, legal…

    Atitaya Asa (Nook)

  • Right to Heal: Creating Sri Lanka’s First Sexual and Reproductive Health Resource for Transgender Communities

    The Right to Heal booklet addresses the lack of reliable sexual and reproductive health information for transgender and gender-diverse communities in Sri Lanka. Developed through community collaboration, it offers accurate resources in English, Sinhala, and Tamil, enhancing understanding and confidence in health decisions. The initiative showcases the power of collaborative, community-focused projects.

    Denuka Chathuranga Jayasinghe

  • Creativity as Resistance: Building Healing Spaces for Trans Communities

    The story I want to tell is about my transformation — from struggle and invisibility to strength, confidence, and leadership. The Amplify Trans Fellowship became a life-changing moment that helped me find my voice, build confidence, and connect my activism with purpose. Through my journey as a transgender woman, feminist, and founder of the Trans…

    Namkeen Peshawri

  • Reclaiming the Lens: A Trans Filmmaker’s Journey Toward Authentic Representation in Nepal

    This story reflects my journey as a trans woman and queer youth filmmaker from Nepal who uses cinema as a tool for advocacy and change. It explores how storytelling and visual media can challenge stereotypes, create empathy, and amplify queer voices that are often ignored or misrepresented. Through my work and lived experiences, I aim…

    Dia Magar

  • Building Dignity at Work: Strengthening Trans Leadership within Sri Lanka’s Labour Movement

    This article reflects on my journey implementing a community-led project with the Abhimana Workers Union to challenge workplace discrimination against trans and queer people in Sri Lanka. Through sensitization workshops with trade unions and capacity-building for trans workers, we built alliances, confidence, and leadership. The story explores the power of collective learning, solidarity, and safe…

    Imasha Perera

  • Beyond Binaries, Toward Belonging

    Beyond Binaries, Toward Belonging

    I was born in the spaces between words non-binary, kothi, uncontained. Yet even here, questions clawed at my skin, and silence built its walls. Acceptance was framed as transition alone, while caste, colour, and labour quietly exiled many. I saw trans men unwelcome in trans women’s spaces, and trans women shut out of their own…

    Orchid

  • All that is colourful is not Queer

    All that is colourful is not Queer

    This is a self-reflexive piece that blurs the lines between essay, poetry, and rant. It explores what it is like to live through an existential dread while trying to figure out being queer, feminist, and radical in this day and age.

    Neranjan Maddumage

  • You Can’t Help Others If You Forget Yourself

    You Can’t Help Others If You Forget Yourself

    As a transgender man activist in Nepal I always said “yes” to everything helping the community, doing public speaking, being in the media while ignoring my own well-being. I learned the hard way that we must take care of ourselves first, speak up when we are struggling and build organizations where well-being is taken seriously.…

    Elyn Bhandari

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