ORAM is celebrating LGBTIQ Refugee Pride by giving the folks whom we serve a platform to share their stories. This blog is the first in a two-part series that highlights the diversity of the displaced queer community, as well as the diverse forms of aid that ORAM provides in response to their unique needs.
Ronnie (he/him), a gay man from Uganda, now resides in Nairobi. He runs a catering business called Ronniez Delicacy, which ORAM supports with seed funding, and he trains five other LGBTIQ refugees in cooking and catering.
"When I was eight years, I was the one who was preparing meals for my siblings," Ronnie recalled. "..Because my mom and dad had separated... So it's something that is passion-driven..."
Ronnie has a message that he would like to share with other queer asylum seekers: "We are here. Whatever's happened has happened... So let's get up, let's not look at what is beside us or what is going on, let's use the little opportunities that you have to be great."
Carlos (he/him, pictured on the right), a bisexual man from El Salvador, now lives in Mexico City with his transgender girlfriend, Kailani.
Unfortunately, Carlos' time in Mexico has not been easy. Not only was he kidnapped when he tried to cross the Mexico-Texas border, but he also faced a lot of discrimination when he traveled by train from Tapachula Chiapas, Mexico north to Mexico City. He's thankful to ORAM for referring him to legal aid so that he can eventually seek refuge in the U.S.
Carlos told us that his experience in Mexico "has been really bad because I was here in Mexico for a long time and I tried to enter the United States but I was kidnapped in Nuevo Laredo for like eight days. I couldn't enter the U.S. because I didn't have the money to pay off the mafia."
White (she/her), a lesbian woman from Uganda, currently lives in Nairobi. She asked us to refer to her as 'White,' a pseudonym, and to refrain from picturing her in order to protect her identity.
She is the founder of the Foundation for Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer, and Gender Non-Conforming (GNC) Refugees (FLBQR), a Community-Based Organization (CBO) that does advocacy work and provides clients with housing and job opportunities, including beadwork. ORAM is proud to support FLBQR.
White started FLBQR because she realized that "the help that was given to LGBT persons here in Nairobi was mostly focused on gays — lesbians and queer women who had children were left out. So we came together and we [realized]... We share the same problems and challenges... We came to a conclusion that we could come up with an organization that helps lesbian, bisexual, queer, and GNC refugees."
Alina (she/her), a bisexual Ukrainian woman, recently fled Ternopil, Ukraine and moved to Berlin.
After all that she had gone through since Russia's invasion, Alina was relieved when ORAM provided her with housing.
"ORAM did this unbelievable thing for me," she said. "They found long term housing for six months for me. And at this moment, I'm living here in this apartment and I feel so comfortable."
In the near future, Alina hopes to marry her girlfriend in Berlin. Another one of her dreams is "to become a graphic designer, a freelancer, working on myself and my future. And here I can have the opportunity to do that, to start it, to rebuild my new life."
Kailani (she/her), a transgender woman from Guatemala, now lives in a shelter for trans women in Mexico City.
She is celebrating the fact that she was recently able to obtain a Mexican 'humanitarian visa,' with help from ORAM. Kailani hopes to relocate to the U.S., in search of job opportunities and a more accepting community to live in.
Kailani's word of advice to other LGBTIQ refugees is, "don't despair... everything takes patience... we have already been strong and we must stay strong. In Tapachula, I have been in the immigration legal process for three years and... I just had a breakthrough."
Reflecting on her experience as a trans refugee, Kailani said, "We all technically have the same rights, but if we're not men or cis women then we really don't. The fact is that being a trans girl takes away many rights from us, so to be a trans girl you have to have a lot of courage…"
We will share Part II of this series soon.
In the meantime, the entire series can be found on our Twitter, and the individual stories can be found on our Facebook and Instagram @ORAMRefugee. We encourage you to engage with these stories — and their storytellers — on our social media channels.
Please also consider donating today so that we can protect and empower more LGBTIQ refugees like Ronnie, Carlos, White, Alina, and Kailani globally.