By Per Koch, Oslo, Norway
Nakafeero is a young lesbian activist from Uganda leading a group of LGBTQ refugees in a camp in South Sudan.
First of all: One young female member of the group passed away in October. This has been hard for the whole group. Nakafeero is now looking after her one year old daughter. I have been speaking to them both on WhatsApp, and I am glad to see that little A is happily exploring the world around her. She is a wonderful kid!
(With exception of Nakafeero, I will not use full names here. Attackers have been known to use names to track down gay and trans people.)
A does not know how serious the situation is yet, and that is good, as she deserves some time when she can feel safe and loved by everyone.
Medical problems
She did recently get malaria, however. If treated immediately, you will get well again, but if you do not get access to medicine you might die. The symptoms are a bit like the flu, with fever, nausea, headaches and diarrhea. You really do not want the disease to reach its cramps, fainting and coma phase. Thanks to your help the members of Nakafeero’s group have never reached that stage in the South Sudan camp, as they have had the funds needed to pay for the treatment.
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| Being treated for malaria. |
Yes, there are doctors in the camp, as well as a small hospital, but the treatment is not free. For a decent malaria treatment, we may look at a bill close to 200 US$. A regular visit to the clinic is often around US$ 100. Any surgery will cost you some US$ 300, and yes – that has been needed in 2025 as well.
All the refugees in the camp have had malaria at one time or the other. It is a disease that returns again and again. So, we need to fill up the small buffer we have to meet emergencies like these.
Schooling
Nakafeero and her crew are also working on providing the kids with some education. They have bought some books and writing appliances for this purpose. This is not much, but better than nothing. We are now trying to find some money for a whiteboard. There are quite a few kids under 15 years old in Nakafeero’s group of LGBTQ refugees.
Electricity
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| Fixing the electricity |
In this case we did not have all the funding needed, but I chimed in to get this done. They are now back to normal, at least in this respect.
Seeking asylum
As previously noted, the new American policy as regards refugees, killed off any hope of more members of Nakafeero’s group getting asylum in the USA.
Recently there have been some signals from the Canadians regarding accepting some refugees from the camp. We will keep you posted as to how that goes.
Again: If any of you has any information about how to help the refugees out of the camp and into a safer country, please let me know.
The group in Kenya
Some have asked about what is happening in Kenya. Nakafeero and many of her group moved to South Sudan as there was a – at the time – a realistic chance of getting asylum in the US. However, some stayed behind in the Kenya camp.
Nakafeero reports that they are doing well, all things considered, even if the threat of anti-LGBTQ violence is as big ever. The protective walls we set up with the help of our donors, are still protecting them. Nakafeero is in continuous contact with them, and we do from time to time provide them with some financial support.
In both camps money is needed for food and medicine. The UN and various NGOs do provide them with the basics, but that is in no way enough to give the kids enough of the kind of nutritious food they need to grow and thrive. This applies to the adults, as well, obviously. And sometimes, just sometimes, they – as all of us – need some extra to celebrate friendship, life and hope.
So I hope you can help us with some funds so that we can help the group survive in the year to come. Any amount is of help!
You can donate over at FundRazr.
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