Help LGBTQIA+ Refugees At Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya

Brand Ambassador from myGwork and StepUp.One Faye Savage interviews Kiyemba Andrew for Refugee day on the 20th June and discusses what can be done to help Refugees in Kakuma Refugee camp, Kenya.

*** Warning some of this content is very distressing***

Tell me about yourself, Kiyemba Andrew and how you ended up at the Kakuma Refugee Camp?

My name is Kiyemba Andrew. I am 28 years old and proudly gay. I'm a leader of over 289 LGBTQIA+ people at Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. I was born in Uganda (East Africa) but currently living in Kakuma Refugee Camp. I have been living at the camp since April 2019, I left Uganda for fear of my safety and life due to being part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

I am the Team Manager at StepUp.One and over the last three years, we have reskilled and employed over 250 refugees from UNHCR Refugee Camps. Our vision is to reskill and employ 1 million refugees in 1 marketable skill over the next ten years.

Please tell me more about Kakuma Refugee camp?

There are 500,000 refugees from different countries like Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Uganda and South Sudan all residing in this camp. Out of the 500,000 refugees there are over 1,500 LGBTQAI+ refugees residing within the camp. Most of those in the camp have been there a very long time, some were born in the camp and know nothing else, unfortunately, these Refugees will most probably remain in the camp for the foreseeable future.

‘The LGBTQIA+ community in Kakuma

Refugee Camp in Kenya are

In Grave danger’

Can you tell me about the treatment of the LGBTQIA+ refugees within the camp?

The camp is so homophobic to us that we are discriminated by doctors at the Government Hospitals where we may get free treatments and medication. We often have to go to private clinics where we have to pay a lot of money for treatment.

Everyday we are attacked by our straight refugee neighbors and locals who are extremely homophobic and transphobic. Locals call us a curse on their land and they say we are the cause of the drought in this area.

Our shelters are set on fire, we are attacked with machetes at night, lesbians are raped, infant refugees are assaulted, and we suffer stoning and beatings.

The LGBTQI+ community in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya are in grave danger. Our lives are at risk every second of every day in the refugee camp. We are being tortured and suffering malnutrition. We are lacking medical treatment and are living in extreme poverty. We need immediate evacuation from the camp, we continue to ask for relocation to safe countries.

‘All I want if for LGBTQIA+ refugee community

and I is to have all have a job,

so we can all be self-sufficient’

How is the treatment within the camp affecting you personally?

It’s living a life I never wished it to be, there’s so much hardship, I Ieft my home and it’s not good here. It’s not safe. I come to this camp, to feel integrated into a community, a community who doesn’t like us. I always feel displaced. All I want if for LGBTQIA+ refugee community and I, is to have all have a job, so we can all be self-sufficient.

Can you tell us more about the article on your website following the death of Death of gay Kakuma refugee Chriton "Trinidad" Atuhwera?

Atuhwera suffered severe burns from a firebomb attack on Block 13, where a group of LGBTQ refugees live at Kakuma camp, during the early hours of March 15.

The 22-year-old gay activist's passed away at 11:30 a.m. local time on the 12th April, due to complications caused by burn wounds and lack of proper treatment, according to gay African activists.

How can the rest of the world help the LGBTQIA+ community, to ensure their safety?

• You can write to the UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency) in Kenya and demand immediate evacuation and safe relocation of the LGBTQIA+ community via email: [email protected] or write a letter and post too: P.O. Box 43801-00100 GPO, Nairobi, Kenya.

• You can sign the petition at change.org here.

• You can spread the word for us and share our petition with others within the LGBTQIA+community and allies and encourage them to get involved to help!

What can businesses do to support the LGBTQIA+ community and other refugees within the camp?

There are three ways in which you can help us via our StepUp.One organisation:

• You can become a mentor

• You can become an Ambassador and give us a voice

• You can become a trainer

• You can provide us with employment opportunities

  
  

To find out more please click here [Inset link to Article How StepUp.One is helping Refugees in Kenya get out of poverty.

How to get in touch?

Please visit the StepUp.One website: https://stepup.one/