The bell rang, and I hurried to the cafeteria with my friends. As I opened my lunchbox nestled neatly inside was the Poha whose aroma carried the love and warmth it was prepared with, until the girl sitting next to me told me it was ….. stinky.

An emotion I often find distasteful is that of people smearing their own culture with disrespect. As if it was wasn’t enough people are unable to understand each other’s cultures to the point of conflict, this new wave of viewing your own culture as primitive has brought in a tsunami of insecurity.

Cultural Competency is directly related to self-advocacy. As we grow more competent to view every culture with a lens of respect and humility we concomitantly advocate for our own culture to be treated with esteem.

For instance, hurricanes that plagued the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean left behind thousands with destroyed homes and in knee-deep water, the thousands of people running for their lives when all they wanted was to visit their favourite destination or the complete neighborhoods that burned down due to forest fires in California. There is an overwhelming sense of emotions even as we recall these instances but through all the images we see on social media and in the news of people trying to save each other,in those very moments their race,sexual identity and expression, religion and socio-economic status did not matter, it was the light of humanity that shined bright.

It’s a struggle that most of us face across the globe, the stigma around accepting our roots even though the world might perceive it as cheap, dirty and smelly. It’s of paramount importance for us to create a future that is not only safe for people to be proud of their culture without being bullied for it but is simultaneously accepting of others.

From the shining bronze doors to the world’s biggest forum at the UN to the cracked wood doors to a pastoral house, it is up to us as the youth to create a future where every child can open their lunchbox without feeling ashamed.