Trinidad Jerry

Poet, human rights activist and inspiring young LGBTQ+ man, Trinidad Jerry hoped to be safe when he fled his homeland and was given sanctuary at Block 13 at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.  Sadly his story was not one of triumph though his impact on those in the LGBTQ+ was powerful, as was the poetry and friendship he shared with Geoff  Allshorn. 

 

To know more about Trinidad Jerry please go to

 #JusticeForTrinidadJerry – Humanist Blog (humanist-world.net)

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Luther King

Here Luther King shares his own experience as being a LGBTQ+ person in Africa and Geoff Allshorn responds with the hope we have at HIN-Rainbow Refugees for a new definition of what it means to be LGBTQ+ around the world.

Lion’s Heart – Humanist Blog (humanist-world.net)

 

Facing Persecution for being Queer and in Africa

In this piece, Geoff Allshorn provides some of the cultural contexts that has led to the demonization of LGBTQ+ African people.  He also goes into detail about what can be expected when rainbow refugees seek sanctuary in the Kakuma Refugee Camp but are instead faced with further persecution, violence, and even death.

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You Must Needs Be Strangers… – Humanist Blog (humanist-world.net)

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Imagine fleeing from your home country ... Where they kill you for those sorts of things.

Refugee advocate Teresa Kuhl  ('Mama T' to her many adoptive rainbow family members in Kenya) introduces the reality of life and death in Kakuma, and she calls for the resettlement of LGBT refugees as a matter of life-saving urgency.

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Kakuma - The Land of Forgotten LGBT Refugees –  (medium.com)

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Loving Thy Neighbour -and Family

​"I recall a Sunday last year, when I received dozens of greetings from online LGBT+ refugees who had been rejected by their biological families, and yet these young adults greeted me from the other side of the world with what I presumed was a traditional African mark of respect towards an older person: “Hello father…” – and then I realised that it was Father’s Day and they were sending greetings to their new dad."

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Geoff Allshorn explores the real meaning of family around the world. His interactions demonstrate the innocence, the youth and honesty, the lives and hardships, and the vulnerability of these refugees, who all face violence, persecution and hardship - and yet retain the beauty of their LGBT inner selves.​

Loving Thy Neighbour - Humanist Blog (humanist-world.net)

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Baby Patricia

Teresa Kuhl pays tribute to baby Patricia, the sweetheart of Block 13 in Kakuma, who died far too young. During her short life of less than five months, she was tear-gassed by the UNHCR when LGBT refugees gathered to appeal for food and protection. Amidst the poverty, homelessness, crime, rape, starvation, and illness in the camp, Patricia (affectionately named 'baby COVID' by her hundreds of adoptive aunts and uncles at Kakuma) can still make a difference if her death leads to change and resettlement.​

Kakuma - The Land of Forgotten LGBT Refugees –  (medium.com)

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Robert

Robert has recently arrived in Australia as a Rainbow Refugee.  HIN supported him in his journey out of persecution to a new homeland where freedom as an LGBT+ is the norm. Listen to his interview with David Ayliffe (founding member of HIN)

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