My name is Kevin

My community, my religion and tradition all contradict my life to an extent that i was forced into two different marriages that i had to escape from my country to seek for refugee because no one wanted to see me and wanted to kill me such that they remove a shame from their family 

 I had to escape for my life and for my girlfriends life she had a child from her forced marriage and we ran to Kakuma on 27th April 2019 we found that they are not helping Lgbti refugees POCs any more so I went to Nairobi 30th April 2019 we found that the Nairobi office can only help us while we are in Kakuma . 

  We didn't have anywhere else to go so we stayed asking UNHCR and Ras to help me luckily I found a fellow LGBT refugee at Ras who helped us with a place for a while to figure things out .time came when he had to get ressettled so he left and we stayed with no option but to go to the camp my girlfriend and the son couldn't so they left and now I don't know where they are I came back to the camp . Stayed at the reception centre for two weeks I fell sick but because all they had was first aid assistance and I have asthma they couldn't help me ..I survived but I have a hard time breathing and when I went to see a better doctor we were attacked and I had to run to The UNHCR compound that same day in 27th May 2020. Stayed three days there sleeping and waiting as they discussed our safety but unfortunately they brought us to Block 13 and told us they will give us police to protect us there.

Living in the camp as a Transman is a daily struggle. Every man who meets me wants to take an advantage of me may be date me and I let them know I don't need a man and I'm a lesbian and bullies start there and then. 

And for six times the homophobes have tried to rape me but have been saved by my friends.

Due to constant attacks of the homophobes on us it makes my health issues worse because I had a chronic chest problem and I'm asthmatic also with an eye problem but even when I tried to seek for help from UNHCR it was all in vain. And when i was brought to kakuma,Even the doctor wasnt aware of which medication i should get and through that process of injection my body got swollen as a result of the injections they gave me.

I asked for an inhaler in the reception and i was told they don't have them because they don't expect serious patients that i should go to to clinic seven sick for further assistance when I reached the story never changed they told me to go to a private hospital yet I couldn't afford a private hospital and to date I die of agony.

On 9th April. 2020 when I was relocated to the community and given a house with taplains/tents in the side and ironsheets, during night time i was attacked by unknown homophobic people and beaten roofs taken, my beddings, food and the taplains/tents that was on my house and my simple medicine which was helping me.life worsened and I lost hope and even when I appealed to UNHCR to get help till date it's all in vein.

On 27th April 2020 when the homophobic people vowed to kill me that UNHCR be forced to take away all LGBTIQ, we ran away to the UNHCR grounds for safety but UNHCR everytime came telling us that they can't offer me and others any kind of protection and after three days the UN official have the police boss to do everything but take us off the UNHCR grounds where we had seek refugee due to homophobic people who wanted and swore to kill me.

Teargas was used and bullets in a close range distance and on top of that I was subjected to beatings amidst my healthy conditions and during the course I fainted and was dumped on a police patrol car helplessly driven back to the homophobic community and dumped in an open space and my things stolen by the same people who swore to kill me stole my things,my only bag,clothes,mat and blanket.

Being asthmatic and allergic to coldness I wasn't even considered and no house was alloacted to me and since then I resorted to sleeping outside with no security amid this scary community who hit me and others stones everytime we sleep since I wasn't given a house and have to sleep with others outside during night and during day I have to keep in this semi arid desert heat of Turkana region Kenya.

On 18th and 19th June, 2020, a large group of homophobic people about four hundred to five hundred attacked my place Kakuma 3 Zone2 Block13. This covered everyone and the attackers weren't sparing anyone from kids to women and men. The little houses for kids were destroyed with Spears and machetes and I personal I was whipped several times and the attack lasted for thirty minutes and one hour respectively and the 19th June attack left me blacked out unconscious and close to death due to my asthma and was never helped since I was one of the missing people after the 7:00 PM EAT.

I had fell in the nearby thicket after the situation overwhelmed me and out of fear and pressure I fainted and perhaps it took me two hours to gain my senses back and by the time I walked to our courtyard and it was already late the police patrol cars had already taken all the victims and that's the far my fate was on that fateful Genocide day 

On 25th June 2020, Some homophobic people set our fence on a blaze which spread onto our house even when the police was present,no efforts were made to arrest the attackers and to date no one has ever been apprehended and the same attackers still vows to attack and kill us and end the curse as they refer to us LGBTIQ in Kakuma Kenya.

Till date, am still recording several other homophobic experiences in the camp. The situation i ran from in Uganda is hunting me in my asylum country as well.

Yet I was expecting protection from UNHCR here as am in their responsibility. I thus request everyone to help me and my LGBTI family in the camp find durable safety please.

#freeblock13kakuma