all the way
All The Way is a film and spoken word collaboration with Bangladeshi refugee Mahamood Rakibul Hasan (Rakib). The film re-contextualises the poem ‘Roll The Dice’ by Charles Bukowski to allude to Rakib’s experience as a refugee. He translated the poem into Bengali, drawing a direct connection to his own experiences of persecution as a homosexual, LGBT activist, and illegal immigrant.
Rakib’s identity remains anonymous in this video but we hear his voice, along with his silhouette in a rippling reflective pool of water. Water becomes symbolic of Rakib’s precarious journey of transition as a refugee towards safety and freedom. The Kathmandu cityscape and birds in the background reference Rakib’s current circumstances and his desire to take flight and progress with his life.
The film was first projected in Swotha (Old City Patan) as part of the Non Fiction Nepal Photojournalism exhibition in the last days of 2016.
ABOUT THE REFUGEE
Mahamood Rakibul Hasan (Rakib) is a young homosexual man from Bangladesh. In 2016 he fled persecution for his sexual orientation and LGBTIQ activism. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee’s (UNHCR) have recognised him as a refugee and he is actively seeking resettlement. He lives a precarious existence in Nepal as an illegal immigrant.
At the age of 13, Rakib opened up to his family about his sexual orientation. He was sent to receive psychiatric treatment where he was told homosexuality is unnatural and was forced to undergo hormone therapy. This was psychologically traumatising as he was made to feel different. At this time, he was ostracised by his community. His family were advised that they would be excluded from the local mosque.
To escape the pressure to marry a woman and hormone therapy, Rakib moved to Dhaka in the hope of finding a LGBTIQ community and a more progressive culture. Aged 18 he became committed to his sexual orientation. His family cut contact and financial support on this discovery.
His university applications were rejected on the basis of his sexual orientation. This oppression motivated Rakib’s activism for the LGBTIQ community in Bangladesh. Consequently, he was tortured by police. He also received constant death threats. In spite of the physical and emotional abuse he continued his activism using social media, blogs and organising rallies.
When two of his friends and colleagues were killed by Islamic extremists in 2015, Rakib realised that he had no future in Bangladesh. He paid $17 000 USD (all his savings, from his grandfathers estate) to a fraudulent immigration organisation for a Student Visa in the USA. He was told that the Visa was rejected, and instead was accompanied by the organisation to travel to Nepal to seek out a Russian Visa. When Rakib realised it was a scam and confronted the organisation, they tortured and abandoned him.
Rakib is unable to work to support himself and fears being captured and deported to Bangladesh. He survives on the the kindness of friends and not for profit organisations for food, water and shelter. He yearns to regain control over his life and to be financially independent. He aspires to one day to attend university to be trained a social worker.
* Homosexuality is illegal and punishable by a 10 year to life imprisonment according to section 377 of the Bangladesh criminal code.