I am Sharifah. I prefer people to call me Sheri. My age is 20, from Kamuli district in Uganda. Proudly, I am one of the lesbians living in the homophobic and horrible Kakuma Refugee Camp in block 12.
I ran away from my home country of Uganda due to persecution. Other people wanted to kill me because of my sexual orientation. I ran to Kenya to seek asylum as it was the only neighbouring nation welcoming people of my nature.
My schooling years; a talented netballer.
At the beginning of 2021, I was a high school student and went to Yale Girls’ High School for my studies. I was a talented netballer, and I earned a full school sponsorship. Studying in a single school for most of the time, I felt much more attracted to girls than boys.
Over time, I developed love and feelings with my netball partner, Jackline Namukasa. We loved, cared and looked after each other for quite some time.
Our school hosted Uganda’s netball school competition in the second term towards the holidays in the same year. Here, we interacted with many beautiful young girls from different schools. The event was for two weeks, with the visiting schools staying at our school, allocated temporarily to various dormitories.
Invasive security.
Jackline and I enjoyed the tournament until we were seen by the security cameras. We were deep romancing in the bathrooms as we were taking a shower. Before we had enjoyed sex there, not knowing new cameras and surveillance were now installed for the ‘security’ of the new pupils.
Teachers forcibly detained us in the staff room. The local police were called, along with our parents. My family abandoned me, except my sister, a teacher at the same school. She unlocked us, and our escape was successful.
This event marked one of my bitterest days in life. It was the last day I saw my girlfriend. She took another escape route, and I still don’t know where she is.
My escape, but all I did was escape to nowhere.
I ran away from home and persecution. Arriving in Mbale, life wasn’t good at all. Attempting to start a new life, I became a restaurant waitress. I struggled after being fired from that job, sleeping on the streets with no money and an empty stomach.
Fortunately, as I was moving around on the streets, I saw where they were donating blood. It was a crowded area with Red Cross signs. I approached one officer and tried to narrate a bit of my story. He told me the Red Cross in Kenya would help. He kindly paid transport fares for me to get there.
The Red Cross brought me to this camp in December of the same year. I was registered as an asylum seeker and allocated to a shelter at Kakuma 2, block 12.
To my dismay, things look the same here. The straight community is homophobic, as well as the Kenyans. We are struggling with the situation here. Our shelters are small in size. Our food is not enough, and finding medical services is very hard.
The UNHCR promise tangible solutions. Nothing is forthcoming.
Urgently, we need the outside world to pay us attention. We each need settlement to a safe and LGBTQ+ friendly country. Thank you for reading my story. We appreciate your kind and caring support if you can help in any way.
Sheri
