RELIEF FUND 7

http://www.youcaring.com/african-human-rights-coalition-358969

 OR

DONATE DIRECT
to Paypal directly at [email protected]

OR

TAX DEDUCTIBLE:  DONATE HERE to the organization African HRC (Social Good Fund)

“I have lost all my dignity. I do not feel like I am a human being. I have lost my home, my job, my family and my country, which I always loved.”

I use the name Milo – I am a gay man from Uganda and cannot use my real name because I fear for my life. Last year, President Museveni signed a Bill into law that could have placed me in prison for life. It was terrifying. Many of us were outed in the Ugandan press and we were targeted by family, friends, landlords, school principals, employers and community.

My life changed dramatically when my family found out I am gay and then one day my brothers beat me so badly I had to run for my life. I was sure they would find me and kill me. So I fled to Kenya where I am a refugee with UNHCR.

I have lost all my dignity. I do not feel like I am a human being. I have lost my home, my job, my family and my country, which I always loved.

It is not safe for gays and lesbians and trans people in the refugee camp as the other refugees call us Satan and want to beat us. So I had to find a place to stay. I was given a small amount of money each month by an organization to survive. I could pay small rent to live in a slum area and I could eat food once a day.

I did not have a bed to sleep on no blanket and no pot to cook in. I joined with other refugees and now we are four together sharing our small money, but we still cannot pay the rent this month because the organization that helped us before is no longer giving us any monthly money.

So we are told we have one day to pay or go to the street.

It will be a long time before my next appointment with UNHCR and I do not even know where they will send me or if I will be lucky enough to be resettled.

I am told that it could take even more than another year. If I go back to Uganda I am sure I will be killed. If I stay how will I survive this nightmare? I am not sure how I can hold this life in place. I may not have a place to sleep even from tomorrow. I am so urgently in need of your help.

Now my only hope is African Human Rights Coalition. If they can raise enough money they will provide us with money for rent and food. And we will have the security we need to survive each month until our fate is decided by UNHCR.

African Human Rights Coalition has over 50 refugees asking for help and with stories similar to my story.

With your help we can find safe places to stay and eat 2 meals a day.

So I am asking LGBT people and friends for help. We need to raise $1,050 per person to provide food, rent and utilities for the next 6 months while UNHCR continues to process our claims. The more AHRC raises, the more people can be helped. Please chip in now. Our situation is urgent and critical.

With my prayer for a better day and I thank you – Milo.

This campaign for direct humanitarian relief is not tax deductible – however from this campaign all the money goes to refugees except a percentage for Indiegogo and Paypal.

The money raised here will be shared equally amongst 4- 50 refugees in Kenya – depending on the amount raised.  The first $160 will go to immediately pay this months rent for Milo and his friends. The second $85 will pay for another 4 men who are also short on this months rent.

*******

DONATE to Paypal directly at [email protected]

OR

TAX DEDUCTIBLE:  DONATE HERE to the organization African HRC (Social Good Fund)

This Campaign is being managed by The African Human Rights Coalition, and Melanie Nathan.
To read more about our work please visit www.africanHRC.org

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NEW RELIEF FUND 5 (March 2015)

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lgbti-refugee-relief-fund-5–2/x/9186720

NEW FUND- RELIEF FUND 4 LGBTI AFRICA – https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lgbt-africa-relief-fund-4–2

• Food and shelter | to provide direct support for safe-houses in Cameroon, The Gambia, Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal, Kenya and Angola:
• THE GAMBIA – We need urgent help for 3 Gambian men seeking refuge to leave The Gambia. There are more who will probably follow. The tendency is to head across to Senegal, where there is very little help and no camp facility for housing. We would like to establish a safe house at a cost of $500 per month.
  READ more http://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder/theyre-going-to-kill-us-lgbt-gambians-fear-theyre-next-in-po
• To help LGBTI refugees in countries where there is  either no UNHCR camp or where people cannot be housed safely by UNHCR because they are gay (LGBTI) and are further at risk in refugee populations.
• To help Asylum seekers who have made it to the United States:
  Currently we need help for 4 asylum Seekers:URGENT Accommodation is needed in San Francisco (Bay Area) for lesbian couple – they will need a home from Dec 8th  (If we cannot find a host home this will cost $650 per month);Accommodation is needed in San Francisco (Bay Area) for 40 year old gay man;Accommodation is needed for a 21 year old gay man;

NEW FUND – OPEN:  RELIEF FUND 3 – CURRENT –  TO DONATE  – https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lgbt-africa-relief-fund-3

The Indiegogo Campaign to raise urgent critical money for LGBT Ugandans and other African LGBT people seeking support for shelter, food and medicine (and some who are in hiding) has reopened due to the critical need and ongoing requests.  People who have yet to find remedies to the humanitarian crisis resulting from persecution and public outings.  The critical need for humanitarian funds continues and is more dire than I originally thought it would be.

This is a crowd sourcing campaign that is not tax deductible. All monies less Indiegogo, paypal and bank service fees go directly to people in need in various African countries. We need to raise about $5,400 per month to support the groups who have passed our protocol.

CLOSED:  Rescue Fund 1: We raised $14,025 – most of which has been distributed to those in need. Nine percent of that went to Indiegogo and a small amount remains for distribution. The Campaign must continue. Donations can be sent to [email protected] via Paypal. These donations are not tax deductible.

CLOSED:  RESCUE FUND 2 – Raised $3,233 –  No job, no community, no home, no money… this campaign will provide direct help for food and shelter.

OPEN:  RELIEF FUND 3 – CURRENT –  TO DONATE  – https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lgbt-africa-relief-fund-3

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lgbt-africa-rescue-fund-2/x/532915#activity

No job, no community, no home, no money… this campaign will provide direct help for food and shelter.

Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people are living in exile in their own country, as a direct result of:

1. The Anti-Homosexuality Act, effective in March 2014, criminalizes same sex relations, imposing sentences of 14 years to life in prison. It outlaws so called “promotion” of homosexuality – which has already shut down major HIV/AIDS medical clinics;

2. The public outings of LGBTI Ugandans in the Ugandan Tabloids, and police parading of LGBTI people in public, effectively call for lynchings, witch hunts and mob vengeance;

3. A major public march of 10,000 people was led and supported by Ugandan Church leaders, soldiers and police in uniform; even the President of Uganda was there to praise the new law which institutionalizes the persecution of LGBTI Ugandans.;

4. Mothers, fathers, siblings, friends, neighbors and village elders banishing LGBTI Ugandans from their villages, landlords evicting them, employers firing them, universities and schools revoking scholarships and expelling students, threats and assaults, arrests and more….

These are modern day Ann Franks and it is happening on our watch – did we say never again?

THE SUCCESS OF THE RESCUE FUND

In March, I campaigned for a small Rescue Fund and raised $14,025. I used this money to provide shelter, safe-housing, transport, passports and food for over 30 LGBT people in Africa  who I vetted carefully. The entire amount, except for the Indiegogo, Paypal and bank transfer fees went directly to those in need.

Many LGBTI Ugandans in hiding or living as refugees in neighboring countries have run out of food and still many others are seeking help. Time is of the essence and this is critical. As money comes in I will send it out immediately. No amount is too small.

In truth we need much more than I am asking for here – however this amount will help us feed those LGBTI who are now dependent and who have literally run out of food and a few people who still need rent.

RESCUE FUND 1

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill is Law in Uganda and Nigeria

THE LGBT AFRICA RESCUE FUND

H E L P  LGBT escape* persecution in Africa

Presidents Museveni  and Jonathan have signed laws that will send LGBT people to jail – 14 years to life

Laws prohibits  promotion of homosexuality – will result in bans of all organizations

Over 198 have been publicly outed via Red Pepper Tabloid

Police are parading those arrested for being gay in front of press and forcing anal exams

Mobs are threatening vigilante action

Lets save lives together!

THE RESCUE-RELIEF FUND

THE STORY

I have established a Rescue Fund to help persecuted LGBT Africans escape* from their countries, as well as supporting safe housing, and quests for asylum.

I was born in South Africa and became an attorney during the Apartheid era, before immigrating to the U.S.A. in 1985. I am a former Marin County Human Rights Commissioner, and founder of Private Courts, a conflict resolution and global human rights advocacy firm based in the Bay Area. All my advocacy work has been pro bono. I blog at oblogdeeoblogda.me, and use my writing as a platform for my advocacy work.

• I learned at a young age about the Holocaust and scapegoating and the importance of Jews in the Diaspora to help others escape persecution. As a member of the global LGBT community I could not sit back and ignore the plea for help generated by my writing, from Africa’s LGBTI community.The letters I have received will break your heart and they are numerous.

While the US has made strides in equality for LGBT people, African countries such as Uganda and Nigeria have passed Draconian legislation, that has served to increase persecution against gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

Currently LGBTI people are being arrested, taunted, paraded in front of press, outed in tabloids, seized and assaulted in incidence of mob justice, and all this after being rejected, ostracized by family, friends and Government alike. They are terrified and have nowhere to turn, as President Museveni signed a Bill that will put many of them in prison for life. This is URGENT~

Most of the persecuted are from Uganda where the President is about to sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which mandates Life in prison for gays.

The stories of rejection by parents, family and friends, the arrests under these laws and resulting assaults, insidious mob justice are horrendous. Many fear for their lives:

• By contributing to this Rescue Fund you will help me to save more gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people from Africa escape terrifying persecution. For some this is a matter of life or death. I have been doing this since 2010 and can no longer do it alone. The need is far too great.

What We Need

We need to raise as much as possible – there will be many more to help. The more we raise, the more we can do. This is how the funds will be used:

I have a list of many people who have been verified and need to leave Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gambia and the list is growing. 100% of the funds raised will be used for fees for passports, visas, transport out of the countries, and safe shelter and food, pending relief:

$100 pays for passport
$200 pays for a visa
$350 provides food and shelter for a month in Africa pending escape
$1,100 – $1,600 buys an airticket – or
Place of settlement – $1,000 travel cash

 ALL MONIES GO DIRECT TO PEOPLE IN NEED, except for Indiegogo percentage and .5% to cost of  Prizes. This is not tax dedcutible.

For those seeking help at contact [email protected]

Questions about Fund – [email protected]

At this time there is not a single USA organization addressing this problem of direct funding to help victims escape. Please write to me if you have specific questions you would like answered. [email protected]

*ESCAPE – Some people have questioned the use of the word ESCAPE – concerned it taps into sterotyping views of Africa.  Allow me to explain. I have received scores of heartbreaking letters from persecuted LGBTI people who all have a common phrase:- “Please help me escape” – I am sorry to say but in the instance of this form of persecution – Africa had earned the truth! The truth being that there are thousands of Africans seeking to escape those who believe their love is “UNAFRICAN!”   Let me ask you – had Ann Frank said “Please help me escape?” Would you have denied her the use of the word?  Then why should Africans in hiding for persecution be forced to use another word?  I honor the request of the survivors of this persecution and will keep using the chosen word.

Closed Indiegogo Campaign – but fund raising continues here at OBLOGDEE http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rescue-fund-to-help-lgbt-people-escape-africa/x/6400968

FUND CAN BE SENT TO [email protected] VIA PAYPAL
DONATIONS ARE NOT TAX DEDUCTIBLE