| Continue to next personal story |
You'll see no faces and no names of gay East Africans on this website. It isn't safe! |
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| Personal Story No. 6 |
| Gay and Christian in KENYA, UGANDA, TANZANIA, RWANDA AND BURUNDI |
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| This website was constructed in July of 2007 Visits made to this web page since August 2007 |
| Meet us under the acacia tree. |
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| "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in also."John 10:16 |
| Other Sheep Websites Other Sheep English Other Sheep Spanish Argentina Other Sheep Foundation Executive Director |
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| Photo at right: Gays telling their stories to one antoher in the Nairobi gated apartment complex where Steve and Jose were staying. |
| Jose Ortiz, Other Sheep Coordinator for Africa |
| Steve Parelli, Other Sheep Executive Director |
Above photes:
Top Picture
Jose is leading one of the
many discussion groups
that met in our apartment.
Bottom Picture
Steve is teaching the
power point presentation
on the Bible and
Homosexuality from his
lap top.
Nairobi, Kenya
July, 2007
Top Picture
Jose is leading one of the
many discussion groups
that met in our apartment.
Bottom Picture
Steve is teaching the
power point presentation
on the Bible and
Homosexuality from his
lap top.
Nairobi, Kenya
July, 2007
| For myself, I found it within me. It didn't come to me from white people. Kenyan Man, 21 Years Old Submitted August 2, 2007 We weere arrested and kept in custody for three days for wearing ear rings and tight jeans and tight tops. In custody, a girl – the transgender – and I had to strip for the police to prove our sexuality. We were molested. __________________________________________ |
| Why you'll see no pictures and no names of gay East Africans on this website: |
| "In October 2006, a local newspaper published a list of names of suspected gays and lesbians. The gay rigths group says several people whose names appeared on the list lost jobs and were mistreated by their families." |
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My grandmother and others called me their "little girl."
Everyone in school would laugh at me: "Why do you look like a
chick?"
The boys from Nairobi took interest in me sexually.
family throws me out!
direction.
Wrongly arrested and placed in custody in Kisumu for three days.
Twice, harassed by stone throwing
Recently, arrested and put in custody for a second time.
I found it within me . . . it doesn't come from whites, it doesn't
come from the West.
- My name is Fabian "Cindy." I am the third and last born in my
family. I was born in Kangemi, Nairobi and schooled – both
primary and secondary levels – in up country.
When I was nine years old, I lost my mom. She was single and
so I was left with my grandmother with whom I lived until age
fifteen, at which time she, too, passed away.
My grandmother used to call me her "little girl." Everyone used
to call me that, even my cousin and all my family, so I didn't
see any problem with it. When I asked my grandmother why
she called me her "little girl" and not my older brothers, she
answered that I look and behave like a girl. At the time I was
still young and so didn't give it much thought.
Everyone in school would laugh at me: "Why do you look like a
chick?"
When my grandmother passed away, my uncle took care of
me. I was admitted to high school and continued up to Form 3
at which time I was expelled form school. On my first day of
school the questions started: "Why do you look like a chick?"
"Why do you talk like a chick? . . . walk like a chick?" I laughed
it off and told them that that's how I am. "I'm simply like that," I
said.
The boys from Nairobi took interest in me sexually.
In my second week of school, some good, caring students from
Nairobi – they called themselves "Jammu" which is slang for
born in Nairobi – invited me to change to their dormitory. They
told me I could stay in their cube and be myself (each cube
had about 12 beds). So I made the change.
After about four days I found a note addressed "for you, our
dear baby" under my bedcover from my new dorm friends. It
read, "Please come to the honey corner and sleep there." I
was attracted to the guys who slept in that decker. What
wonderful luck, I thought, and began finding myself accepting
their invite night after night.
The others kept harassing me for my feminist looking ways. I
didn't pay them any attention, but I did wonder why my
colleagues were different from me.
One night the dorm master caught us in action. We were
suspended for two weeks and told to come back with our
parents. Everyone in the school knew about it. It made things
even worst for me. I wondered how they would treat me now
because of this.
I told my uncle that I was harassed and forced to do what I did.
He believed me, took me back to school, and everything was
okay for the time being. This was the third term of my first
year. I didn't stop, however. I was addicted. I continued to
sleep with guys there in the dorm. Students would call us
"homosexuals" or "booty eaters." My uncle became strict with
me, refusing me to buy things like blueband and fair and lovely
lotion perfumes.
family throws me out!
By Form 3 I gave up on my academic life. I tried to stop
sleeping with dorm mates, but I couldn't. I started missing
morning and evening preps because I would stay on in the
dorms with another guy. One Thursday morning, having
missed preps, I was caught red handed with another guy by a
watchman. My second time to be caught – and not with the
same student. I was given a "G" which indicates "go for good."
Things went bad for me at home: I was thrown out – by my
uncle and all my family. I tried to repent, but my uncle wouldn't
hear me. Everyone in my family was against me. At age 17, I
began living on my own. I told them they got what they had
nurtured: after all I was their little girl. Isn't that what my family
had called me all these years? They had encouraged me to
be a little girl.
direction.
I came to the city and I met many other gay guys. I had
thought that I and my friends in high school were the only
gays. But everywhere I went I met other gays.
My life has been complicated since high school. I have
suffered and struggled for who I am. I didn't choose to be
gay. I was born gay, and brought up being gay. It is my life
and I'm proud of who I am.
In Kenya, it is difficult to be openly gay with other people. As I
walk in the streets, I can hear people say at times, "Look, he's
just like a girl." I ignore it and act like I didn't hear it. After
about a year in the city, I met "Aunty Ivy" (Emmanuel Kamau)
who introduced me to organizations that have helped me and
encouraged me as a gay man, showing me how to live in
community and with people.
Wrongly arrested and placed in custody in Kisumu for three days.
In a Kisumu club I and two friends – a lesbian and a
transgender – were arrested and kept in custody for three
days for wearing ear rings and tight jeans and tight tops. In
custody, a girl – the transgender – and I had to strip for the
police to prove our sexuality. We were molested.
Twice, harassed by stone throwing
On a second occasion, at the end of the World Social Forum –
held in Nairobi in February – I was in the park with friends
when people started throwing stones at us and calling us devil
worshipers. Others were calling us animals.
On a third occasion, when stones were being thrown at me, I
stood on my principles and said I am who I am and they
stopped it.
My faith; and my partner.
I have gone through many difficult situations – being a gay
commercial sex worker for about a whole year; molestation;
without family. But I know I believe in God and that I am a
Christian. I am a homosexual and a Christian. This is not a
contradiction. My genetics have nothing to do with my
Christianity.
I am now 21 years old and I enjoy a relationship with a 31 year
old man who loves me. I especially like him for the good
advice he gives me. We share our problems. We help each
other in times of sorrow and joy. We trust each other. We've
been living together for about eight months now.
Recently, arrested and put in custody for a second time.
Last month, on our way home from a club, my partner and I
were stopped by police. The police just looked at me and said,
"You look like a gay. So we are going to arrest you. You need
to explain to us why you dress in such a girlish way. Why do
you put on earrings, chemical your hair and wear tight
clothes?"
I told them, "Yes, I am gay; but what have I done so that you
can arrest me? Have you caught me in a certain action so that
you can call me gay?" They let the others go, but took me into
custody for the night. The following day I was released with
out any charges against me. They just wanted to harass me.
I found it within me . . . it doesn't come from whites, it doesn't
come from the West.
What do people expect of me? Even without the earrings and
the hair style, I still look like a girl. Being effeminate is
something I can't change. It is something in me – through out
me. People need to understand that "gays" are everywhere.
We need to be treated like any other human being. Gays are
found everywhere. It doesn't limit itself to one or two tribes or
communities. People have to stop saying it is Western. For
myself, I found it within me. It didn't come to me from white
people.
Life is good to me because I have accepted who I am. Still, we
have to struggle for our rights. Each and every human being
has his rights.