Supporter Spotlight: How One Artist Used Twitch To Support India

Nadia Dar felt helpless when she first heard about the spike of COVID-19 cases in India. But then she turned to her global network of creative peers: her Twitch community.

Dar, 27, is a freelance illustrator and 2-D animator based in Toronto, Canada. She also has a Twitch channel, which she uses for livestreaming some of her drawings. In the past year, Twitch has become an increasingly popular destination for gamers, artists, and creatives to be able to continue to engage, learn, and create together in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also become an opportunity for broadcasters and users to support the causes they believe in.

Dar is one of hundreds of Twitch users who have used livestreaming to raise awareness and funds for Project HOPE’s global COVID-19 response. In the past few months, this support from charity Twitch partners has helped us mobilize medical equipment and PPE to help health workers working on the front lines of the surge in India.

Read on to learn more about why Dar decided to fundraise for India, how she chose to partner with Project HOPE, and how it became an opportunity to celebrate her culture and heritage.

When and why did you first start streaming?

It’s been such a long journey that it’s hard to remember why I started. I think originally it’s because I usually do some warmup drawings before I start my workload for the day. One day I thought, “Let’s just see who likes this.” I kind of talk out loud to myself anyway while I’m sketching, so it wasn’t really hard to channel that for an audience.

What inspired you to fundraise for India?

My dad and half of my family are South Asian. Avoiding the news of what India was going through wasn’t really an option. My parents would be following the news and calling relatives and I think we all just started to feel a little helpless.

I think the part that scared me the most is that it seemed like not many other people knew how bad it was getting, and when I informed them they were shocked. Eid was coming up at the time and my dad was telling me how a lot of people wouldn’t get to celebrate. I just couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I figured I had to do something — even if we only raised $5, I couldn’t just sit by and wait anymore.

What was it about Project HOPE’s mission that made you want to support this response?

I did a lot of research on which charity I should go with for this cause. It’s something I wanted to feel confident about choosing, and when I found Project HOPE it just felt like exactly what I was looking for. I could see exactly where the money was going and who it was helping, and I couldn’t wait to contribute!

Were there any exchanges or responses during the livestream that were especially surprising or touching for you?

So many! I think it was a particularly emotional stream for many reasons. In Pakistani culture, we wear something called salwar kameez. To be honest though, since I’ve grown up in Canada I’m pretty westernized and I haven’t worn those clothes since I was a kid. When I was younger the outfits always made me embarrassed or scared because I knew I’d be stared at or ridiculed. For the charity event, I put on those salwar kameez for the first time in about 12 years to show my support for my heritage. The responses nearly melted my heart. Someone asked, “What does that outfit represent to you?” and another friend asked, “What would you say to your younger self about representing your ethnicity/culture?”

People were asking so many respectful questions about Pakistani/Indian culture and it felt so good to be able to speak freely about it without feeling the need to hold back or blend in. I’ve had bad experiences wearing my traditional clothes in the past but thanks to this community, I got to represent my culture and overcome that.

How did it feel for your stream to be able to make such a generous contribution to Project HOPE’s COVID-19 response in India?

I grew up in Canada with so many resources and amenities available to me, but it could have easily gone differently. As someone of South Asian descent, it could have been me or my family struggling out there and we would’ve been praying for assistance the same way many others in India might be praying right now.

I’ve had a lot of negative experiences in my past due to prejudice and discrimination of South Asian culture, but it really gave me hope to see so many people from different parts of the world band together to help that part of the world.

Over the past year, we’ve seen the power of Twitch in engaging younger generations and rallying support for causes they believe in. Why do you think Twitch has become a powerful tool for fundraising for a cause?

Twitch has been crazy-inspiring for charity events. There’s this huge call to action whenever I see one of my friends doing a charity event. It’s really great because it carries the same type of energy as a charity race or walk-a-thon, except it’s completely global. It’s such an amazing opportunity to showcase what you care about but also to be a good ally. In my case, I was just grateful to have the platform to inform others on a cause that I held close to my heart.

Is there anything else you’d like to say or you’d like people to know?

I grew up in a time where I was told blending in was safer. I am so fortunate to have both the culture from my mom and dad’s nations, but it always felt like people preferred one half of me to the other. This charity stream felt like such a milestone for me and anyone who’s felt discriminated against for their race or heritage. Nobody has to fight alone, nobody has to feel less than, nobody has to feel neglected. We can always help each other.