Kakuma Refugee Camp - Tumblr Posts
Content warning: Rape, sexual assault, discrimination, homophobia, hate crimes, HIV, STDs.
I’m making this post to raise awareness of the violence and discrimination that has been happening and continues to happen to queer people in the Kakuma camp in northwestern Kenya. Tumblr user transsmith2023 knows the situation well and told me the following,
“The queers are living in a very terrible situation comprised of persecution, torture and discrimination of all sorts that has costed many lives and severe injuries to those who still living.
You can help us through advocating for our equal rights and freedom with the help of both social media platforms, main streams if you have access to them.
You can link us to the queer organisations, personnels so that we can helped.
Private sponsorship program is open, let the queers that side know about our existence. They may be in position to privately sponsor us. Forexample America right know has welcome corps.”
He goes on to say, “Because of our orientation, we are refused jobs, limiting our access to necessary resources. Many of us are homeless and sleep outside, leaving us increasingly vulnerable to violence. We cannot afford food and water, living in poverty even more extreme than the camp’s general population . Many victims of rape and sexual violence contract HIV and other STDs, but cannot afford the medicine which could save their lives.
Our story has been platformed by major NGOs, including Amnesty- https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/05/kenyas-kakuma-refugee-camp-not-yet-safe-for-lgbti-asylum-seekers/ ,
https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/06/07/kakuma-refugee-camp-trans-lgbtq-amnesty/ , https://theconversation.com/amp/lgbti-refugees-seeking-protection-in-kenya-struggle-to-survive-in-a-hostile-environment-182810.
Despite this attention, we face no material aid and no protection from the violence which haunts us daily.”
As a queer person I side with all the queer people who are in Kakuma and I hope this post does something to help.
Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya is home to 200,000 people, and of those 60,000 are LGBTQIA+ or queer. I learned about their situation from @kakuma-queer
Alongside the hardships of living in Kakuma, these people suffer persecution for their identities, including physical harm and verbal harassment from local townspeople and other refugees, denial of services and resources due to their orientations and identities, and lack of access to specialised healthcare.
A 2023 Amnesty International article:
A 2021 report by Organisation for Refuge, Asylum & Migration:
GoFundMe links:
GoFundMe fundraisers have been organised to get the money needed to improve the situation for queer people in Kakuma.
@kakuma-queer97 also has a PayPal to donate directly:
Yesterday, here on tumblr, someone reached out to me, seeking help. And now I am here seeking yours. I don't care about your opinions and views. The matter of the fact is that everyone deserves to be treated as human beings, and they deserve the rights of human beings as we all do.
Right now, we have a violation of the LGBTQ+ community in Uganda after its government passed one of the harshest anti-gay laws, which includes punishment by death.
Here are two Al Jazeera articles on this:
1. Displaced twice: Gay Ugandans on the run face upheaval in Kenya
2. Ugandas anti lgbtq law causing wave of rights abuses activists say
Yesterday, @annoyingpaintertragedy (please take a look at their blog) reached out to me regarding this. They mentioned that many of Ugandas lgbtq civilians were forced to flee Uganda to neighboring Kenya. But situations are just as bad in Kenya. They spoke of the Kakuma refugee camps where they now live along with many other refugees.
I myself am just now learning of this. But if you have any information or links of organizations that may help regarding this situation, please send them to me or add them to the reblogs.