18.11.2023, 03:36
There are 19 LGBTQ persons, including their 3 children and an 8 week old infant who are from Uganda and live in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya that don’t have food to eat today because they are being discriminated against and can’t get work and live saving health care that they need to pay for food and for medication for HIV.
They are running out of food tomorrow until Dec 3 when the World Food Programme will distribute a monthly food ration that is not sustainable for 1 person to eat for the entire monthThe people who live in Block 7 in Zone 3 in Kakuma who are from Uganda and who are LGBTQ formed a committee to advocate for each other and to get funding from people like you who are willing to help. This is the link for this table drive.google.com/file/d/1RZjBMQayTM7BGRC-pwQUiahi7w86LWjm/view?usp=drivesdk
that l they made Nov 14 that shows how much money in Kenyan Shillings they need every week to pay for food, medication for HIV (ARTs) and the other live saving essentials. It is a total of $906.43 US per week.
They cannot receive shipments. Nov 17 on a call on WhatsApp they told me that they also need money for baby formula, sanitary pads for menstruation, money for a solar panel to charge their phone and for power that costs $8,000 Kenyan shillings each, 15 mosquito nets that they need to stop the spread of a malaria that cost $600 Kenyan shillings, mattresses to sleep on, blankets, a fence for protection for the area where they live, bras and panties, diapers, soap for bathing, deodorant and razors for shaving.
This is a critical situation and I’m asking for your support to help kick start this 3 day campaign and to raise money for the 15 LGBTQ adults and their four children who live in Block 7, Zone 3 in the Kampala refugee camp in Kenya. This money is necessary to pay to buy food to eat and meds for HIV and what else they need to do to survive and to help themselves.
This is the link for the Go Fund Me petition to contribute for this :
www.gofundme.com/crisis-for-the-lgbtq-people-who-live-in-kakuma
The LGBTQ people who live in the Kampala refugee camp are stopped from getting work.
The LGBTQ community who live in Kakuma experience extensive and deliberate delays from the Kenyan authorities when applying for asylum. Hamu has been waiting since 2021. Without being granted asylum in Kenya the LGBTQ refugees don’t have a resident permit that they need in order to be hired and work.They cannot leave Kampala to find better job living opportunities without a work or resident permit and they are stopped from being hired inside the camp. They are being denied information to apply for asylum in other countries. This is money that they can’t live without because they need it to pay for food and their living expenses.
LGBTQ asylum seekers who live in Kampala experience discrimination in Kenya when they go to look for any kind of job that pays wages. People will not hire them because they are LGBTQ. They find this out because they do not speak Swahili and they find out that they are from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Republic of Congo. The Kenyans know that refugees from these countries, where Swahili is not usually spoken, come to Kenya because they are fleeing persecution because of their sexual and gender identity and understand that these people are LGBTQ.
Please give what you can. People are glossing over this like it’s a scam. It is not
15.11.2023, 22:10
I added new details and information about the kinds of discrimination that the LGBTQ people who live in Kakuma experience. I also wrote information from a phone conversation on WhatsApp that I had with the LGBTQ people who live In Kakuma on Nov 15.
New title: HelpCrisis for the LGBTQ people who live in the Kakuma refugee camp in KenyaKenya. Please help!
New petition description:
The LGBTQ people who live in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya are experiencing a life or death crisis.crisis Theythat don’thas havebeen happening for years. The 900 LGBTQ+ people who live in the Kakuma camp in Kenya who I know about experience every day discrimination, violent attacks, rape and can’tare paykilled forby medicationothers forwho HIV. Tenlive there. Ten people who live with HIVHIV, including children, who now live in Kakuma now, including children, cannotcan’t get their medication for HIV that they need to take every day. day. There are many others who are not open about their HIV status and people who are living with HIV who are sick that need HIV medication and don’t have this. Trans and non binary individuals who live in the Kakuma refugee camp do not have access to hormone therapy.
Neue Begründung: The LGBTQ+LGBTQ peoplefolks who live in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya are murdered all the time because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. They experience other forms of hate crimes and human rights violations . The LGBTQ folks there areroutinely discriminated against because of their sexual orientation and gender identity by others who live on the camp, including the staff. Transstaff and nonby binary individualspeople who livecould inhire thethem Kakumawhen refugeethey campgo doto notapply havefor jobs. They are denied access to hormonehealth therapy.care, Theeducation and experience unreasonable extended delays for their asylum claims by the Kenyan government.
Because the LGBTQ community who live in Kakuma experience routine deliberate delays from authorities when processing their asylum claims and they cannot have limiteda resident permit that they need to get a job. This is a vicious cycle of oppression that keeps the LGBTQ in Kakuma from getting ahead and having enough food, water, clothing and medication for HIV that the need to live every day. They are prevented from access to the same kinds of help and opportunities that other asylum seekers have .
People in Kakuma don’t get or have monetary support from the UNCHR that runs the Kakuma refugee camp. The World Food Program gives a minimal monthly ration to leaveevery person for food that is not enough for a person to eat every day. Many people who I spoke with Nov 15 did not eat that day.
Most people who are LGBTQ who live in the Kakuma refugee camp are from Uganda. Uganda laws makes being a person from the LGBTQ community a crime that is punishable with 10 years of prison and also death. People who are stoppedLGBTQ flee Uganda and come to Kenya seeking safety and opportunities and they are not safe in Kenya also. They do not speak Swahili, which is the language that is spoken in Kenya. People in Kenya understand that they are from makingUganda money.because of this and find out that they are LGBTQ because they know that LGBTQ people from Uganda are refugees in Kenya. People in Kenya discriminate against LGBTQ people and stop the LGBTQ asylum seekers who live in Kakuma who are from Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and the Republic of the Congo from getting hired for work. They lack emotionalneed this money so that they can pay for food, medication for HIV, clothing and mentalother healthlife support.saving Thisessentials.
In makesan itarticle hardwritten May 19, 2023 called : “Kenya: Kakuma refugee camp complex not yet safe for themLGBTI refugees.” Amnesty International Kenya’s Executive Director, Irungu Houghton says: “Despite a constitution that protects life and dignity for all, LGBTI asylum seekers suffer discrimination as well as homophobic and trans phobic attitudes from government officials, the police and other service providers.”
When I asked the LGBTQ rights activists in Kakuma who I spoke with on WhatsApp Nov15 if they report the violent assaults they experience to advocatethe forauthorities themselvesthey told me that they do go to the police and the local Kenyan government and no one is willing to live.help or provide any safety.
Hamu Smith, who is an LGBTQ rights activist and a member of the LGBTQ community who lives in the Kakuma refugee camp has organized a fundraising campaign on GoGetFunding that is called: Support the Queers in Kakuma Refugee Camp. This is the link to lean more and to donate: gogetfunding.com/support-the-queers-in-kakuma-refugee-camp/
Hamu Smith is asking people to contribute to help the LGBTQ refugees in Kakuma so they can pay for HIV medication,medication that they don’t have, hormone therapy and for food, cooking oil, water and what they need to survive every day . This is the link drive.google.com/file/d/1RZjBMQayTM7BGRC-pwQUiahi7w86LWjm/view?usp=drivesdk to a table that Hamu Smith and others in the Kakuma camp section 5 made that shows how much money they need every week for food, HIV medication and supplies for cooking using the Kenyan Shilling. It is a total of $906.43 US per week.
Could you please give $25 and share this petition with others who you know who can help? Thank you.
Signatures at the time of the change: 16
13.11.2023, 18:42
Thank you to all of the people who have read and signed this petition and for your support. This is really great! I have shared this letter with Hamu Smith who also signed it. Hamu Smith is an LGBTQ rights activist who lives in the Kakuma refugee camp. He is the person who I met on X (before called Twitter) who told me about the current living conditions and needs of the LGBTQ community who live in the Kakuma refugee camp. I learned from him that people who live with HIV in Kakuma, including youth, do not have and can’t pay for medication for HIV that they need every day.
Today I read an article in the UN Chronicle called Differential Treatment: Restricted Access to Newer Antiretrovirals written by Sarah Zaidi. I learned about these 4 groups that could help that I will send this petition to. These groups are UNAIDS (Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS), Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria, US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
If you want to help with this please let me know. My email is eliza.dudelzak@gmail.com.
The right to life saving health care and access to treatment for HIV is a human right that everyone should have, regardless of where they live or their ability to pay. Sarah Zaidi wrote that: “The most commonly used treatment in developing countries [such as Kenya] contains the drug Stavudine (d4T). This drug causes serious long-term, irreversible side effects. Although it is not recommended and is not used in the U.S. and most other places, people who live with HIV who live in developing countries and refugee camps continue to receive some combination of treatment containing it because of its low cost. The next best treatment option containing Tenofovir (TDF) is double the price.” The newest and most effective AVRs are out of reach in price for people in developing countries and who live in refugee camps.
Hamu is writing for financial contributions so that people who he lives with and knows who live in the Kakuma refugee camp can pay for food and cooking supplies and medication for HIV that they have access to now.
If you can contribute $25 to $50 today this will be live saving. This fundraising campaign on GoGetFunding is called: Support the Queers in Kakuma Refugee Camp. The link is gogetfunding.com/support-the-queers-in-kakuma-refugee-camp/
Thank you very much to all of you. I hope that you have a good rest of day. Best, Eliza
