ACTIVISTA Nepal
Folk-rock heroes Nepathya rocked Kathmandu with a rousing HungerFREE concert, launching the campaign in the Nepalese capital.
1300 fans packed out the gig which was hosted by popular teen icon and former Miss Nepal, Malvika Subba, who is championing the campaign.
Amrit Gurung, lead singer of Nepathya, announced the start of the HungerFREE Nepal campaign from the stage and urged young people to take action.
“Hunger is a big issue in Nepal, and young people here and around the world can help get rid of it,” said Amrit.
Nepathya enjoy a cult and loyal following in Nepal because of their rousing, emotive anthems and their dedication to social justice - lead singer Amrit is jokingly called the ‘Nepali Bono’.
The event was mentioned on Nepali TV, in 6 radio channels before and after the event and in all the national press.
“We are so happy - we couldn’t have believed it would go so well,” said 20-year-old Arun Khadka, one of of the team of volunteers who helped plan and run the event.
Khadka, a leader in Youth Action Nepal who worked with ActionAid and the Child Development Youth Network to mobilise young people, was blown away by the response to the concert and campaign launch.
Despite driving monsoon rain, the concert was kicked off by 600 young people from campaign groups around Nepal who marched through the city to demand action on hunger from the Nepalese government and from the United Nations meeting in September.
“The United Nations have promised to halve hunger by 2015 but they are way off target. We're here to tell them they must make hunger the world priority. We're not going away,” said Khadka.
© ActionAid