I am Zaya, a gay man from Rweru in Burundi, aged 32.
I was a fisherman back in Burundi. Fishing was my life, across Lake Victoria, a massive lake crossing the borders of Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Most of my time was with men on lakes and lake shores. I developed feelings for men rather than women. There were many customers who used to purchase my fish, and among them three transgender customers whom I used to help cross from one Island to another using my boat.
The day that changed my life
One day, we were at the Islands of Rusinga in Kenya, where we had stopped for touring. We arranged one hotel room with two transgenders. Unfortunately, one of the room services came for bed sheets changing. We forgot to lock our door, and the room attendant just knocked and pushed the door. She found us naked and shouted an alarm, causing people to gather.
My escape
We were arrested, but fortunately, I managed to escape and ran to the lakeside. I was a fisherman and growing up around lakes helped me learn to swim in deep waters. That day, I covered a long distance for survival. I couldn’t go back to Rweru because there were people from where we had been arrested.
The news about us was spread all over. So I headed to Homa Bay In Kenya, found the Red Cross, and they took me to their main headquarters in Kitale.
And I ended up here in Kakuma
From there, they arranged transport to Kakuma Refugee Camp. I was registered there as an asylum seeker in 2020. Since then, I have been residing with my LGBTQ+ colleagues in the same Kakuma 2 Block 12 shelter.
We are struggling with the situation here. The straight refugees are homophobic, as well as the host nation. We are denied medication and have a minimum of food. We exist together in a small room and wish our lives could change to be a little more comfortable.
I wish I could live freely in my home country. But homophobia crosses many borders here in Africa, and my dream is to find a settlement in a country where being gay is an accepted part of humanity.
