Bob Anderson is in his mid-twenties. He interned in IT support, and under normal circumstances he would now be busy developing his career, enjoying hiking at the weekends or relaxing with a book or a game. But nothing is normal in Bob’s life, for reasons quite beyond his control. He was born in Uganda, and he’s gay.
“In Uganda, being LGBTQ+ is not just frowned upon – it is life threatening”, he explains. “The government passed one of the harshest anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the world, criminalising our very existence. People like me face arrests, violence and even death simply for being ourselves. I had no choice but to leave my home, my family and everything I knew.”
Seeking sanctuary
Rejected by the people he had been closest to, Bob initially found a way out of Uganda by getting a job as a CCTV security officer in Qatar. After just three months there, however, he was arrested for having the Grindr app on his phone, something he hadn’t realised was illegal (because Qatar is also a homophobic country and Grindr is associated with LGBTQ+ people). After two years and three months in prison, during which he lived in constant fear, he got even worse news: he was being sent back to Uganda.
“Returning to Uganda was very devastating”, he says. “My family had for certain moved. I had no place to come home to. I was alone and my life was at risk. I had no choice but to flee for a second time.”
Like many Ugandans in that situation, he saw Kenya as the most practical choice of destination, and at first the impression he got was positive.
“When I reached Nairobi, the city is vibrant, people are busy. You get that feeling like you are going to be welcomed by everyone. You have made it, you will be successful, you will get a life.”
The quest for support
Navigating the social system proved to be difficult, however. Without the right paperwork, he couldn’t book appointments, and nobody responded to his emails. He was forced to sleep on the streets, feeling hopeless. Finally, he managed to connect with a charity which helped him to get an appointment with the UN so that he could be formally registered as an asylum seeker. He also got much needed mental health support and was put into emergency accommodation for 30 days. When that time ran out, he found himself back on the streets, but a community group directed him to Refugee Independent Support Organisation (RISO), where he is staying now.
“RISO is a community-based organisation that provides for refugees and asylum seekers like me. They offer shelter and other services and they also provide safe space for individuals who face persecution due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s here that I found a sense of security and hope.”
He also found a new purpose, serving as RISO’s communications officer.
“It’s been a long journey, but I’m really grateful to be in a place where I can contribute to making a difference for others in similar situations. Though in Kenya, this struggle continues because the government refuses to grant us refugee status. We who have the LGBTQ+ profile are blocked from accessing suitable opportunities. The Commissioner for the Department of Refugees in Kenya recently stated that the Kenyan government has no plans for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. This leaves us unrecognised, unprotected and in constant danger.”
Denied status – denied assistance
“Even when we reach out to private organisations to sponsor us, they tell us we need to get refugee status and get assistance through government programmes through the UN. The truth is that we are caught in a vicious circle with no way forward unless we get refugee status. It is difficult and frustrating situation, but we continue to hold hope and we don’t blame this organisation because there are very many people out there who need help.
“You cannot waste resources on someone when you know that at the end of the day, that person is not going to be allowed to leave the country he is in to relocate to another country. So the host organization now are putting their resources into asylum seekers in other areas. They are leaving us in Kenya because they know the government is blocking us, so they want to focus resources on people who will really benefit from them.
“We are really having a huge problem with that. There are people who have been here for more than 10 years. LGBTQ+ people, they are registered asylum seekers, but they have never been called for the refugee status determination appointment or they have never got the refugee status approval letter. They literally have no status. So we are locked in a cage, really.
“The international community needs to step in and engage or in any way possible. The UNHCR needs to engage the Kenyan government to allow LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers to be resettled when they get an opportunity from a private organisation.”
It’s still more difficult for people like him who don’t even have passports, he explains. Under Kenyan law, asylum seekers can’t get international travel documents until they’ve been registered as refugees. They feel trapped in an endless limbo, unable to move on with their lives.
“We are facing backlogs on essentials. The rent, security concerns. Recently we had a raid here. When we had gone to get equipment, they raided our shelter. They stole office equipment, laptops, cameras. So we really need a lot of assistance in capacity building so that the place keeps on operating. I really want to thank the management of the Refugee Independent Support Organisation because I’m not alone here. They give us a grain of hope. At least we are not homeless. We have a roof over our heads. But we still need support and advocacy.”
Living in Limbo
It’s difficult even to get medical assistance, he explains. All LGBTQ+ refugees are registered in one place regardless of where they’re actually living, so if he got ill – even if it was an emergency – local doctors wouldn’t help him, and he would have to undertake a 14-hour bus journey to find treatment.
“You flee your home and you arrive in a foreign country with all that trauma of losing your family for who you are, and then the same discrimination comes down on you. We are really going through it here and we need all the assistance we can get.”
If you would like to help support the shelter where Bob is staying, you can send donations to help them pay rent, replace the materials lost in the raid and afford a Christmas meal.
