Friends Ugandan Safe Transport Fund

20 Nov

News from Uganda: New anti-gay Bill in advanced stages

New anti-gay Bill in advanced stages
Daily Monitor – November 20, 2014

In contrast to the nullified Act, the new Bill avoids any explicit references to homosexuality, but seems to co-opt sections of the Penal Code, which prescribe, among others, a life sentence for “unnatural sexual practices.”

Unnatural sexual practices are defined in the draft Bill as a sexual act between persons of the same sex, or with or between transsexual persons, a sexual act with an animal and anal sex.

The proposed legislation also expands the definition of “promotion of unnatural sexual practices” and proposes a prison sentence of up to seven years for the promotion of homosexuality.

Funding for purposes of “promoting unnatural sexual practice” and protecting, housing or transporting homosexuals can also result in imprisonment of up to 10 years.

AND

Mr Frank Mugisha, founder of Sexual Minorities Uganda, told this newspaper homosexuals living in Uganda can expect renewed pressure.

“During the period when the law was in place, we experienced a steep increase in violent attacks and discrimination – not only from the police, but also from the surrounding community,” he said.

Mr Mugisha said expanding the definition of “promotion of unnatural sexual practices” will make it extremely difficult for his organisation to operate.

“Even my Facebook and Twitter accounts might get me arrested, since I am writing about homosexuality. With this legislation newspapers and media outlets could also get in trouble if they publish stories about homosexuality.”

Read the whole article:
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/New-anti-gay-Bill-in-advanced-stages/-/688334/2528396/-/14e5eauz/-/

We expected this. We knew it was in the works.
APPEAL – We have much work to do. If you are able to support this work of funding the Ugandan conductors who are assisting LGBT Ugandan people who feel they must flee to another country to live, please donate to Friends New Underground Railroad.

Thanks,
Gabi Clayton

08 Nov

We Have Lost Tony – One of the Railroad Conductors. We Need to Raise Money for His Burial ASAP

This is a hard thing to write about. We are all grief-stricken. One of Friends New Underground Railroad’s Ugandan conductors, Tony, died today.

FNUR co-manager Talcott Broadhead wrote:

“There was a lot of bitter today. Not much sweet, sadly. A Ugandan conductor and dear friend who I have been working with for the past 6 months passed away a few hours ago. May he rest in power and …well….just rest. He moved mountains. He moved people. He is in my heart now forever.”

In Tony’s memory:
“If you have come here to help me, then you are wasting your time…But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” –Lila Watson

Another Quaker we work with wrote:

“I have lost a brother and a friend. He rescued almost 300 people, including children. And did it all while he had typhoid, malaria, active tuberculosis, worms, acute dysentery, poor nutrition, and who knows what else. When he collapsed with the blood clot, the medical staff was amazed at all the other things wrong with him. And through it all, he carried on, with clear thinking, and even with humor (especially when I kept telling him to eat!)

In another culture and another time, he would be a legend greater than Oscar Schindler.”

Tony developed a blood clot in a lung. In Uganda, the second you don’t have cash to pay for your care the hospital throws you out. Tony’s care therefore was inconsistent. In the last two days he was cared for by a lovely man who we also work with. So his final days were in a loving and peaceful environment.

Tony’s family completely rejected him in his life and even in death they have turned their backs on him. The man who cared for him at the end wrote,

“Even his family isn’t interested or even accept his body because he was gay.”

It was such an honor to work beside Tony. I will miss this man who was an amazing friend and activist. This is a really a hard time for those of us who knew and loved this man and had the honor of working with him.

Tony was an inspiration for us in so many ways, and now we will carry him and carry on in this work that he was so passionate to do.

But first we need to bury his body. We need to raise $785 to have Tony buried ASAP. And we have less than $10 right now and none of us have the funds to pay this.

Please donate what you can to help us bury Tony and ask your friends to do so as well.

Thank you,
Gabi Clayton, co-manager of Friends New Underground Railroad

23 Oct

Soundings: “Olympia Friends offer hope to persecuted Ugandan gays”

by John Dodge, Staff writer – The Olympian – October 22, 2014

“Within two months of the bill’s passage, Olympia activists Gabi Clayon and Talcott Broadhead persuaded the Olympia Friends to sponsor a Friends New Underground Railroad project, raising money to help LGBT Ugandans escape their country under fear of persecution, arrest, violent beatings and death.

“Uganda’s constitutional court struck down the egregious anti-gay bill on Aug. 1, 2014, citing a legal technicality, but sidestepping any ruling on the merits of the bill.

“But striking the law from the books has not made life any easier, or safer, for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender Ugandans. Many LGBT Ugandans remain in hiding, fearing for their lives and desperately trying to flee the country, Clayton said.”

Read the whole article here: http://www.theolympian.com/2014/10/22/3384958_olympia-friends-offer-hope-to.html

Thank you to John Dodge for a great article about Friends New Underground Railroad and for including our Halloween fundraiser. We appreciate that he took the time to cover our project and the research that he clearly did.

22 Oct

Testimony from Michael, a Railroad Transporter

Greetings from my rainy and sunny town. It’s this time of the year when birds of all different parts of the country flock the banks of River Nile. They create sing heavenly music and many people come to watch them. Generally, as Christmas Season closes in, more Ugandans are likely to be in a happy mood, business picks up, Ugandans living abroad return home to spend the holidays with their families.

Unfortunately, those happy and smiley faces are hiding hatred inside. As a transporter who has traveled all over Uganda as I do my business, I have come to learn that it will take a while for Ugandans to be more welcoming and accepting of gay people. Over the years I have been doing a personal assessment of the situation and I have learned that for every 5 Ugandans I have spoken with, four are willing to commit a hate crime against a gay person, and they believe it is okay and not a crime to kill a gay person. When the anti-gay law was introduced in Uganda many politicians rose to stardom because they supported the law. When the Courts of law decided that the anti-gay law should be thrown out on technical grounds, the Ugandan government didn’t take responsibility to explain to the average Ugandans what was happening.

At the end of the day, local Ugandans, especially in the rural communities and villages, still believe the law is active, and when they see that the police aren’t doing their “work” they take the law in their own hands. That’s why there is an increased mob justice and attacks on gay persons in Uganda.

I have been in the transport business since 1973. I took on this business from my father who was also a transporter, and my grandfather was one of the first cab drivers during the colonial days. This business has given our family exposure and opportunity to learn that human beings can always be different in one way or another. I have met different people with different lines of thinking. I have met the good, the bad, the humanists, the believers, the gay, the straight, the cult leaders, the witches, the reds, the blues, the blacks, the whites, etc. This has taught me very important lessons of life, and I have come to accept and love human kinds however they may come to my life.

However, there is one character – W.A. – who touched my life (am afraid I can’t mention names – but he was one of the very first Friends New Underground Railroad conductors, and was beaten so badly that he lost a kidney, and still suffers from other injuries.) In 2008, he was standing at a bus stop having spent about five days in police cells. He looked sad, starved, abused, and not healthy. He wanted a lift, but he had no coin on him. But since I had space in the cab car I was driving, I decided to drop him off.

Along the way, we found a policeman being beaten by a group of university students who were striking. He told me to stop, and he moved out of the car and shouted at top of his voice “stop, please stop.” I wondered what this boy was up to. Well it worked, and the students stopped beating the police officer. He went on to preach to the students a message of nonviolence and how the day can be won when people agree to disagree. I tooted the horn of my car so that this young man could come back into the car and I drop him off. He was wasting my time yet he wasn’t going to pay even a coin. All along, the policeman was seated on the ground bleeding and the students were listening. W.A. asked me to allow the police officer sit in the car, so we could take him to the hospital. I feared saying no. As if W.A. was going to pay, I obeyed.

As we approached the hospital, W.A. started talking to the police officer. As they talked, I learnt that a few days ago, it was the same police officer who had arrested W.A. for his involvement in gay activities. This same police officer had flooded W.A’s police cell, and he was the same officer who hates gay people. It here I learned that W.A. was gay and runs a gay organization. And now W.A. was here saving him from a mob and taking him to the hospital. After taking the police officer to hospital, he went ahead and called the very police station where he had been and even went back to make a statement regarding the beaten police officer.

This act of love and forgiveness touched my heart and changed my life forever. I was like, okay so gay persons are more than simply same sex?!! It was something new in my life and to cut the long story short. W.A. became my first gay friend and he also introduced me to several other gay persons.

The recent events in Uganda have seen me make sacrifices to offer a service not many transporters are willing to offer. With one heart, I have used my business to transport over 400 gay persons out of Uganda at great risk. Organizations like Friends New Underground Railroad and a few individuals have made sure that I am always paid so that I can do the work without any setbacks. My drivers are always happy to work on these risky missions because they have always been treated with respect.

All the Quakers who unite themselves in Friends New Underground Railroad are very understanding and always sending apologies whenever there is a delay. Am so proud to be on their team.

Friends New Underground Railroad, your work is priceless!

Thanks and Best Regards

Michael

Please make a donation to support the work of Friends New Underground Railroad.

16 Oct

“If Everybody Runs Away, Who is Going to Help Others?” The Story of SM, a FNUR Conductor in Uganda

Am called SM. I was born in January 1973 in Jinja Township. I was born to GR and IM. I come from a family of 3 brothers and 3 sisters. Am the last born. I love swimming and beach volleyball, I also love wearing leather.

I went to Victoria Primary School and Wakitaka Senior Secondary School in Jinja town.

From early childhood, I developed a liking for fellow boys as compared to girls, and this didn’t go down well with my parents who always encouraged me to interact with both girls and boys. At the age of 15, I realized that I have strong sexual feelings towards FM who was our neighbor. This crush was too much, and it landed me in trouble when I wrote a love chat to F, though I did this innocently and I didn’t know what to expect. Everybody started judging me, and I was nicknamed Omusiyaga which means a gay man in our community.

My dad, who took close interest in this matter, thought I was mentally disordered, so he asked his doctor friend to talk to me and also check if there were any medical issues. To him, this was the most embarrassing thing to his family, as F’s parents reported the matter to the local authorities. Local officials called for a village meeting where I was punished publicly by the cane.

Later that week, after the doctor checked me out, he reported back to my dad that everything was okay, but only that I have a small and almost under-developed penis.

To avoid the shame on the village, dad organized that I join the boarding section of the school, at the school boys’ hostel, I accepted this offer with one heart, but I was equally feeling so ashamed of myself in the village.

Everything changed when I joined the boarding section of the school, I was happy and I also found boys who felt the same way. Somehow we had to hide everything from the teachers and school administration or I risked being suspended from this boarding section. In second school term, one of my friends told me I was so cute and lovely. This is when we both realized that sexually we are different from other people. I had my first kiss with WA on the eve of my 17th birthday. This was the most wonderful thing which ever happened to me while growing up. I even started sharing a bed in the mid of the night with A.

To fast forward, our happiness didn’t last long, as A fell in love with another boy, I felt used and abused, and somehow we started a fight which fight was reported to the school head. The headmaster just called both our parents and told them the news; this was like the end of my road. Though the school had suspended me, also my dad abandoned me at the school property, and he swore to kill me if I ever even tried to step on his compound.

I died alive. I considered taking my life, so I bought a rope and searched for a tree in the bushes near the school gardens. As I attempted to hang myself, a snake charged at me and I had to run. This was so traumatizing. Without transport or any money on me I walked for over 18km in the night to an uncle whom I was sure would be welcoming, only to reach his place when he had already received the news. So I become homeless at 17. I did all sorts of things to survive as a street boy, til I landed on a group of tourists who used to start at the Nile Backpackers in Jinja. This was a golden chance, or so I thought. I used to clean the compound and do the garden work, til some started paying me for sex. They could sleep with me, and once they left, another group comes in I did the same. Little did I know that I had become a sex worker, yes I was, and it gave me some money to even start a salon business nearby, I earned some money as I also grew in age, but my life was seriously in danger.

At 25, having spent years without hearing from my family, my mother came back to my life to haunt me, because Jinja is a small town, I was busted, and my secret life once again became an open book to everybody. Mom made it a point that she disowned me publicly, and told everybody who cared to listen that I am a gay sex worker. It was time to run and find another place to begin a new life. So I moved to Mukono about two hours away.

But because I had already mastered the art of survival, beginning a new life in Mukono wasn’t so hard; my own challenge was to find clients who wanted sex services. So financially, I was grounded but I got a job in a salon as a hair stylist, with this small job at least I was able to buy food and pay my rent.

At 26, I had been in different battles with the police and the law but I had never been detained in a police cell. But I ran short of luck later in 2001 when I was arrested for cross-dressing (I was wearing a legging and a top for ladies) Though it was a small crime, I was paraded on UBC TV station and the news was that I dress like that so that I could take advantage of unsuspecting men who can take me for a woman, so that I could drug them and steal their belongings. Of course this wasn’t true, but without any legal support I was detained for more than 3 days. Somehow Mom who was watching the news saw me and she came down to the police station, not to bail me out, but to tell the police officers that I am gay and that she can even bring witnesses if am presented in the courts of law.

That evening on 18th Aug 2001 I was given a police bond which I jumped and moved on to Kampala leaving Mukono for good. Life in Kampala was about the sex trade and clients were available in different hotels and bars.

In 2010 I realized that I was living with HIV. This was the worst news and my whole world came down at once. I tried reconnecting with my parents but nothing worked out, though I went to [town name], as even some of my friends in Kampala started looking at me as a sick person and due to die any time. Without friends, I had to start making new friends and that’s how I got into contact with an organization which works with and for people like me. I got a lot of support regarding my HIV, and I made new friends and I even fell in love through our meetings with different people in the community.

The end of 2012 saw me being wanted by the police for a homosexuality case I never committed and that’s how I ended up into hiding at a safe place in [town name], knowing that I have nowhere to run, I considered applying for refugee status, but I resisted, this saying to myself if everybody runs away who is going to help others? So I started working hard and strong as an activist, mastering the art of working in hostile environment. In 2012/July I was assigned to T to be his assistant in the Human Rights Desk, Legal Aid and Risk Management.

I have been involved in many struggles, managing with very little resources. So many people have reasons to be afraid for their lives and know they cannot live here anymore, so I have helped in the crossing of over 83 LGBTQ out of Uganda to safer areas.

Despite living with HIV/AIDS am so happy with the work I do.

Change doesn’t just happen. It takes you and me. Please join with Friends New Underground Railroad and the Quakers who are believing in change.

Please make a donation to support the work of SM and the other conductors that Friends New Underground Railroad works with.

14 Oct

Join us! Hop on the Halloween Train Dance and Auction – A Benefit to SAVE LGBT UGANDANS – Friends New Underground Railroad

Halloween Night! Friday, October 31
7-10 p.m. A no-alcohol event.
Olympia Friends Meetinghouse
3201 Boston Harbor Rd. NE

Continuing the legacy of Quaker social justice, the Olympia Monthly Friends (Quaker) Meeting has created a “New Underground Railroad” to support Ugandans aiding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who are fleeing their homeland for their lives.

$10 suggested donation, kids free
Dance to the DJ! Funk! Soul! Monster Mash!
Kids and adult costume contest!
Prizes for funniest and scariest costumes!
Live dessert auction l Silent auction

Download and share this poster for the event:

and this 4-up flyer:

More information?
Gabi Clayton — phone (360) 888-5291 or email:
gabiclayton@friendsnewundergroundrailroad.org

www.friendsnewundergroundrailroad.org

10 Oct

Emergency medical funds needed for an FNUR conductor who has assisted close to 300 LGBT Ugandans

We need to raise at least $875 in emergency funds to aid one of the FNUR Ugandan conductors who is in the hospital dealing with multiple medical crises.

On Monday this conductor, who collapsed from a clot and who has some medical knowledge, wrote:

“Its not all good and am in a situation where I can’t help myself. I have clot which is moving towards my vital organs. I am hospitalized right now and I need medical help now according to the medical report.”

He had surgery Monday for the clot and the operation was a success. We were able to send money to cover the operation. He was in intensive care and then the general ward.

Then yesterday, on Thursday, he was denied medication and medical care because of lack of money to pay the hospital bill.

The friend who has been assisting him and communicating with us wrote:

“To the hospital we are broke poor people who seem not to have anybody who can help us and we can’t give out any security details. Am going to ask the hospital to discharge him so we don’t accumulate the bed bill tonight. Besides he isn’t being attended to so its better I take him back to his roomed house where I will look after him. If he dies from the complex surgeries he had God knows I did my best.”

“The current need from the money needed for his medications etc. Tube feeding all his medication and hospital bed admission and care and transport as I move up and down.

“Africa is such evil no money no medical care. [Conductor’s name] is on drips and connecting wires but one nurse understands he will disconnect him so that I don’t land into mob trouble which will compromise our security and exposes both me and [conductor’s name] who have kept a dark closet to help others on extreme danger

“am here with him in the general men’s ward. When am so broke and crying I rush out. Its 9am here and the situation isn’t so good since he hasn’t received any medication since 1pm when he was moved from the other unit.”

Then 12 hours ago:

“The hospital didn’t discharge us last night so am trying to get a discharge this morning.”

And an hour ago:

“For sound medical reasons [conductor’s name] had to remain in the hospital. Am now back to the hospital to watch him for a night. Sometimes the very people who are supposed to save lives end up being so heartless.”

Help us send the urgently needed money for this conductor’s hospital bills and for medication – antibiotics after surgery, painkillers, medication for his typhoid and malaria.

Please make a donation to help this man who has saved so many people!

Thank you.

06 Oct

CL’s Story – Living in the Jaws of Death Because of Our Sexual Orientation. And An Appeal.

Story from a passenger of Friends New Underground Railroad.

September 22, 2014

Dear Levi Coffin II,

How are you? I believe you are well. I got your contact from your representative here whose name am not free to mention in this letter.

My name is CA aged 23 and a bisexual. I have been a third-year student pursuing a bachelors degree in business administration at one of the private universities in Kampala until recently when our presence was threatened.

We are a group of LGBTs almost reaching 78 in number at this university and belong to a bigger group named —— that has membership across other universities both public and private. We estimate ——’s membership overall to be in the region of 900 or more.

I had my boyfriend at another university and we hit it off well save for the time when the anti-homosexuality law came into force.

We started getting threats from fellow students including one very sad one that I recall vividly. A girl who was open and was not shy about her sexual orientation confronted some guys who were pulling another girl’s hair at a basketball tournament and calling her names. The bold and open girl saw a scuffle and went near to find out what was happening. On realizing that the guys were now lynching her friend and accusing her of shaming their faculty by engaging in abominable acts of homosexuality, she held one of the guys by the collar and gave him heavy blows on the face. This infuriated his colleagues and they all pounced on her, almost leaving her for dead.

Three other members of —— at this university and I took her to the university sickbay. The university nurse was very receptive but just administered first aid and referred us to Entebbe Hospital. She was taken to the hospital in a university guild van. At the hospital, we were well received and the girl had a deep cut on the forehead that required stitches. These she got and other medical interventions.

After three days at the hospital, news spread that there was a group of girls that are lesbians and were taking care of a friend who was assaulted. The guys came in droves to the hospital to make an attack and were repulsed by the hospital security as they shouted and chanted anti-homosexuality slogans.

While this was good gesture from the hospital, it didn’t do us further good as the hospital management kindly asked us to pack our stuff and leave just for the safety of other patients and also the property which would be damaged if the guys attacked again. Now that this girl was slightly better, but still weak, we managed to take her to one of our friend’s room.

The rest of the girls and I went back to campus to continue with our studies, but we were totally wrong. I and my two other friends stayed in the hostel within campus. We arrived at around 8 pm. No sooner had we arrived and unpacked our stuff up than we were simultaneously confronted by four guys who were masked. One guy held me by the neck and I really struggled for breath and speech. I could not even scream for help.

One girl managed to escape and she called two of our friends in the adjacent rooms to come to our rescue. One of our rescuers came with a big club which she used to hit each of the three guys who were still pounding the girls hard. One guy was terribly injured and the other three ran away. The injured guy was picked up by university security and we later learnt that what happened to us was a machination of some members of the university guild. So the guy was let off easily, not prosecuted, and none of us was ready to follow up the case for fear of reprisals.

We secretly met and decided that we had to take another move for our safety. We had to shift from the university hostel and find accommodation in rented rooms outside the university where we would not be easily traced. We could come and attend lectures and disguise our movements back to our hideouts (rooms).

This game plan lasted for not more than three months and we were soon busted when the guys again attacked my room which I shared with three other girls. We were now locked inside at around 11:45 pm and ready to sleep. The guys banged the door and we shouted for help, thinking they were thugs, until we heard the guys threatening to torch us if we didn’t open the door. We refused to heed and fortunately our landlord alerted the police who were prompt in responding. When the guys saw the police patrol car lights, they took off. So we are happy that this time God was on our side and we survived assault.

We could not sleep in the room that night and had to go seek temporary shelter at a chapel disguised as having a night prayer. The following morning we fled to Nakawuka where one of our colleagues had an aunt. We were severally tormented by our fellow students and we realized that we had very limited space to express our discontent even to the administration. All previous attempts to have our tormentors well brought to book were futile as they seemed to be well protected.

Some 29 of us had leave the university” 6 went to Rwanda, 2 went to South Africa and 21 are desperate to flee as they are in constant fear of reprisals from the community any time they get wind of their sexual orientation.

Please all who will read this letter know that more students have left this university either at their own will or been expelled because of their sexual orientation. We have now concluded that this being a Catholic University paints a dark picture that catholic institutions are ideologically bankrupt in as far as respecting the rights of LGBTs. We are aware that even nursing students are expelled in droves based on reality or perception of their sexual orientation. No wonder this has not spared even the seminarians. They have also been showed the exit for either being perceived to be gays or expressing themselves as such.

Therefore, I and my friends (21 in all) are in need of support through the contact you have used before to get other victims out of Uganda. We are also proud and thankful to Friends New Underground Railroad (FNUR) for existing to provide support through their contacts to have people like us who are publicly tormented, hated and even killed for being what we are moved out!!!!!

By the way, let no one be deceived that the revocation of the law against homosexuality has made things any better for us. Instead it has invigorated the public to take the law into its hands and we are braced to see more lynching, abuse, evictions and sacking from employment.

All we want is kind-hearted people to help me and my peers flee the country as soon as practically possible because we can never predict when bad luck will strike and we are assaulted or even killed. We are scattered, but are in touch with the FNUR conductor here who knows how best to organize us and have us leave.

Besides, our confidence is now in FNUR, after the big name LGBT organizations here have stated categorically clear to us that they don’t have financial resources for people who flee. They encourage us to stay and confront the tormentor. To us this is unreasonably unfair as it would put many lives in harm’s way.

Please have all the freedom to share this letter if this will help bring to the fore what the LGBTs in Uganda are enduring even after the law was revoked.

Great news – CA was taken out of Uganda by one of the Railroad’s conductors on Thursday night along with four other lesbian women. So she and the others are on their way to their new lives.

So as of today – October 5, 2014 – our donors have financed the Ugandan conductors to aid 595 individuals to escape: 581 LGBTQ adults, 6 straight allies, and 8 children.

And we have 16 more in hiding with this conductor. We need your help to raise $185 each for the transportation costs, so we need to raise $2960.00.

Please help us with your donation and tell your friends:

Donate through PayPal here:

or find out about how to send a check here:
http://friendsugandansafetransport.org/donate/

Thank you!

22 Sep

J’s Story: Letter from the Wife of a Former FNUR Conductor

“One thing I have learnt is that if you are married to an African man you better gain a better understanding of what keeps him busy. In our African society, we women don’t pay a lot of attention to what our husbands are doing. But the recent events have really changed me and I think it’s my responsibility now to tell every fellow African woman to gain a better understanding of what her husband is doing.

“I was raised in a strict Christian family, and my dad expected the very best from me. Little did he know that the man I could call my husband and father of my children had a totally different approach to life. While still at the University, my mother mentioned that there must be something wrong with my boyfriend. Being a young excited university student I totally ignored my mother’s comments. Even after our cultural wedding and church ceremonies, my siblings never approved our marriage. But being a loving woman I assured my husband it will all be well and it will work out.

“Throughout our university days, my husband had kept a big secret: he was welcoming and accepting of all gay people. When I learnt about this later in life, I thought he was gay. That’s when I confronted him, and we talked about it; yes by then I was a very homophobic and hateful person. His explanations didn’t make a lot of sense since I was this born-again Christian. I talked about it with my mother who confided in me that my brothers always found my hubby in bars with boys dressed like women, gals and gals kissing but still mixed with them freely. This explained my mother’s hatred towards my husband. It was hard for everybody in the family to understand. My father stood his ground and re-stated his words, “I warned you against that man, I never wanted him to be your husband and now you are a disgrace to this family.”

“My only option was divorce, but as a Christian that wasn’t an option besides everybody in the family concluded without reason that my hubby is gay. To make it simple for you to get a picture, I was no longer welcomed at home and also my children were no longer accepted by their grandpa and granny. From there onwards I realized I have only my hubby, I wanted to make it on my own but I didn’t want to raise my children as a single mother.

“SK (my hubby) did all he could to make me understand. He is not a liar so I believed him though it took years for me to come to terms with what was happening. About four years ago, he told me about his lesbian sister and the pains and her struggle. This touched my heart and I decided to befriend his sister. She told me so much about herself; this was very important as it slowly softened my heart and as time went by my hate towards gay people died. To me. she did a good job to make me non-homophobic. When she got serious problems with my hubby’s family after the signing of the anti-gay law and yet we didn’t have the money to help her leave Uganda to go to Germany where she had contacts, I proposed to my hubby that we sell our car to help her escape. It all worked well, she left Uganda and she is now settled in Berlin, Germany starting a new life.

“This was the beginning of a whole new chapter in our life. My hubby started operating secret movements to help gays escape Uganda through very risky missions. Later, he got into contact with a one Levi of Friends New Underground Railroad and the Quakers. Through their support, my hubby was able to help over 80 gay people escape the horrible situation in Uganda. At one point, we housed over ten gays in our garage at our house. The Friends New Underground Railroad came in to help, and they were moved to (interim country). It was a good work but so stressful and financially draining, and my children always wondered why we are keeping those people in the garage.

“In the course of his actions, he become so empowered and strong. Little did he know that he was raising his risk. He risked so much while giving out information to the homophobic in our small town. When the anti-gay law was overruled; the locals took the matters in their own hands and we became targets. This was the hardest situation I had to deal with: I was always crying how about my children, and what can I do. The Friends New Underground Railroad was right there to stand with us up to the last minute. Yes, it was time for us to run and leave Uganda. Uganda is no longer home. We left behind entirely everything; everything and we are starting from zero.

“The Friends New Underground Railroad and their supporters have been so helpful in getting us settled, now that we are living in Kigali Rwanda where everything is different from Uganda. It will be awhile before we get back to the normal life we were used to. My three children have to learn French. I was lucky that because I can speak and write French, so it was easy for me to get a job. But my hubby hasn’t been so lucky, and it has affected his esteem within the family.

“One day, I will be strong enough to tell my story on camera. As for now we still have so much to deal with, we request the world for privacy as we try to recover.”

…..a wife to a former Conductor (JK-Mrs)

Note: On September 2, 2014 we released Statement of a FNUR Conductor, xxxxx aka “Katende Sam (Mr.)” and that links to J’s husband’s statement: “Never say Never” by xxxxxx aka Katende Sam (Mr.) here in PDF format.

Of course, the work of the Friends New Underground Railroad continues!

We have a waiting list of 21 LGBT people and we need to raise $3885.00 to cover a conductor’s expenses to get them out of Uganda. We also a debt of $2300.00 which is the balance as yet not repaid emergency loan to FNUR which was used to get 45 LGBT people out who were in a critical situation.

PLEASE HELP by making a donation to support the work of other Ugandan conductors who are working in the field!

Thank you!

14 Sep

Alert/Appeal: 27 Nursing Students in Danger! Please Help Us Get Them Out!

FNUR has received word from a trusted ally on Friday that 27 lesbian nurses have been expelled from a Catholic mission hospital in eastern Uganda. Their families won’t take them in, and they are currently in hiding, in situations that will not last for long. The local council is about to mount a search for them (we have no idea what would happen to them if they were to be found.) This is an area where they have been brutal attacks on LGBT individuals. They all want to get out just as fast they can.

Because of the immediate danger, we have already paid the $70 each it is going to cost to get them to safety (a total of $1,890), and we hope to post further on this dangerous evacuation shortly. But when it comes to the funds, we don’t actually have them! (We’ve gotten a loan from a supporter.)

We know we keep asking, but when so little in the way of funds can potentially save a life, we aren’t shy!

FYI we will be asking again as we have another 23 people waiting with another conductor.

Please help! Donate here.