Nanisi

Nanisi is a single mother and identifies as lesbian. Her age is 26. Her son Pius was born in camp and is 6 months old.

“I’m Protus, presenting this profile as dictated by Nanisi Nanukhu because she doesn’t speak English. She is however fluent in Arabic and Kiswahili, the latter which all of us in this group can speak.“

Nanisi comes from a tribe called Toposa in South Sudan. She lost out on education since her country was always politically unstable. She recalls when teenagers were always captured, abducted and killed by the leading Dinka tribe. Her tribe Toposa is well known and didn’t participate a lot in politics compared to the others.

In her life, she had never had feelings for a male. She was a teenager when she realised she had feelings for the same gender, like at church services, water points, culture ceremonies, etc.

The locals were puzzled over her behaviour. In her tribe, by tradition, girls were married at 14-18 years of age. Nanisi didn’t. Her parents forced her into marriage in the Spring of 2022. She endured forced unwanted sex and became pregnant.

A few minutes of happiness were short-lived.

In October 2022 she went again to visit her parents. This was her fifth visit, intending to stay for two months and reluctant to return to her husband and a loveless marriage.

She had been given a smaller room beside the store. Adjacent to the goat’s room and the kitchen, constructed 2 metres from the main house.

One day in late November her former female friend came to visit. While her parents we out on the pasture with the goats, they played sex together in her room. But her mother returned early with the goats. She heard them together and caught them red-handed.

Her friend fled, but Nanisi’s parents subsequently beat her and chased her away.

Nanisi returned home. Her husband was violent towards her, breaking her arm. He threw her out of the house in a rage.

Distressed, in pain and pregnant.

Distressed, pregnant, and needing medical aid for her broken arm, Nanisi sought help from the Red Cross. She requested evacuation similar to people affected by the war.

The Red Cross arranged for her to get to Kakuma Refugee Camp, and she arrived here on 2 December 2022. Nanisi gave birth to her son Pius here in camp, on 23 April 2023. The children in our group

Nanisi does not enjoy good health. She is traumatised by her past and suffers bouts of Malaria. The camp police brutally detained and imprisoned her, just for attending a peaceful LGBTQ protest about conditions in the camp. The UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) got her released from prison. The medical help she needs remains a miss-and-hit affair, despite the fact she is a single mother and disabled by her arm that she still cannot use well.

She will want to thank you for reading her story, and kindly asks you to help all of us here in Kakuma 2, block 12, in whatever way you can.