Honouring Legacy, Community, and a Full-Circle Moment: Winning the Kalpesh Oza Award
On November 30, 2025, I had the profound honour of receiving the Kalpesh Oza Award, a recognition that holds both historical weight and deep personal meaning.
Kalpesh Narendra Oza (January 1961 – June 1995) was a microbiologist, artist, and AIDS activist whose life and work shaped the landscape of HIV advocacy in Canada. They were a force within the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP), the Canadian HIV Trials Network, and ACT UP Montreal, and a familiar face at the iconic Desh Pardesh festival. Their unforgettable performance piece, “Living with AIDS on Roller Blades,” made Kalpesh known across both Canadian and American activist networks which is a testament to their creativity, courage, and commitment to visibility. Their passing was mourned not just locally, but internationally, with a tribute in Khush Khayal, one of the few newsletters at the time serving queer South Asians around the world.
To receive an award named after someone who fought so fiercely against stigma, silence, and injustice is an honour I hold with immense gratitude.
Returning to Where It All Began: ASAAP
For me, this moment is especially nostalgic because ASAAP is where my journey in the HIV/AIDS sector truly began.
ASAAP, The Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention, has spent decades supporting, advocating for, and empowering racialized, newcomer, and LGBTQ+ communities through harm reduction, education, cultural programming, and HIV prevention. Their mission is rooted in fighting stigma and building community with compassion and cultural humility.
More: https://www.asaap.ca/
Back in 2019, fresh out of the University of Waterloo, I joined ASAAP as a Research Assistant for the YSMENA Program—a groundbreaking initiative supporting young sexual-minority men from the Middle East and North Africa. YSMENA not only conducted community-driven research, but created essential pathways to sexual-health knowledge, mental-health support, and peer connection for MENA youth navigating identity, migration, and belonging.
More: https://www.ysmenaprogram.com/
Shortly after, I was offered a permanent role as a Community Engagement and Evaluation Coordinator, a position that allowed me to build deep relationships with MENA LGBTQ+ individuals, grassroots groups, and community leaders. Those relationships shaped my entire career. They taught me the meaning of community care, collective resilience, and what it means to truly show up for people.
That work eventually led to one of the greatest milestones of my early career: becoming ASAAP’s first program manager at the age of 24, thanks to new IRCC funding to support LGBTQ+ newcomers and refugees during a time of immense uncertainty—right as the pandemic was sweeping across the world. It was an era of crisis, but also one of unity, innovation, and shared determination.
Walking back through ASAAP’s doors to accept this award felt like coming home.
A Legacy to Carry Forward
Receiving the Kalpesh Oza Award is more than recognition, it is a reminder of the lineage we carry. The activists, artists, leaders, and everyday community members who fought before us created the path we now walk.
As we mark World AIDS Day, we honour lives lost, celebrate lives thriving, and recommit to the ongoing work:
De-stigmatizing HIV
Ensuring access to prevention and treatment
Supporting newcomers, refugees, and racialized communities
Fighting for health equity, safety, and dignity
Uplifting queer and trans communities across all intersections
This award is a full-circle moment, but it is also a call to continue.
To Kalpesh, to ASAAP, to my mentors, colleagues, and community, thank you.
May we keep breaking silence, amplifying unheard voices, and building a world where no one faces HIV stigma alone.
With gratitude,
Moe Akel - He/Him
