Mali on the verge of criminalising homosexuality
This week, we start in Mali, where its national council has drafted a penal code to criminalise homosexuality. Next, we head to Botswana, where newly elected President Duma Boko is proposing temporary work and residence permits for undocumented Zimbabweans. Finally, we stop in Namibia, where young voters are rallying for LGBTQ equality.
But first, in Cameroon, Minority Africa speaks with Willeam Bille Ekongolo, known as Solomon Grundy 237, on TikTok. He used his platform to explore Cameroonian history while sharing insights on word origins, and addresses the challenges faced by individuals with albinism.
Read the excerpt here👇🏽:
In Cameroon, “Solomon Grundy” turns to TikTok to challenge stereotypes about albinism
Willeam is one of several renowned persons with albinism reshaping perceptions in the Cameroonian social media landscape. Growing up, he was sheltered from stigma by his family but caught up with harsh realities as he reached adulthood.
He tells Minority Africa he started watching YouTube videos and discovered a new world: content creation. “Guys who were able to teach and entertain you on a platform other than television,” he says. “This style of consuming programmes changed my life because I realised I could watch them immediately after and not wait for a rebroadcast”.
With a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism and a specialisation in Social Majors, Willeam felt prepared to enter a field often dominated by entertainment-focused creators. “I had to break the ground and bring something other than entertainment.”
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This Nigerian anthology on queer joy wants to make you “Feel Good”
Much has been said in criticism of the fetishisation of queer suffering. For a long time, queer characters in books, films, and art have been robbed by their writers of the fruits of human existence. From Ijeoma in Chinelo Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees (2015) to Dumisani in Tendai Huchu’s The Hairdresser of Harare (2010), queer characters are often left to reconcile with endings that are, at best, bittersweet and, at worst, tragic. Tenderness, companionship, spirituality, sensualism, and joy seem devastatingly out of reach for many queer media characters.
Queer joy, as a movement, seeks to radically depart from the doom and gloom historically associated with queer media to tell stories that uplift and inspire. Proponents of the movement present queer characters falling in love, enjoying healthy familial relationships, and wholly accepting themselves and their identities.
There are trade-offs to be made here: The excessive focus on what is cloying and sentimental in queer joy-inspired works may feel almost deceptive and far removed in time and place from the realities of being queer in Africa and anywhere in the world.
“A big gamble”: Inside a savings group for refugees living with a disability in Uganda
New Covid-19 infections and deaths seem rare, but not its associated effects on refugee persons with disabilities in Uganda, who are rewriting local narratives about their status as they build their local financial means.
32-year-old  Guya Martin, one of the refugee Persons with disabilities in Uganda’s Rhino camp refugee settlement, had to prepare for how to overcome the pandemic’s scourge on their livelihood. He and 15 other persons with disability teamed up to form God is Great Association (GIG), a savings club that unites and services refugees living with a  disability in the Omugo refugee settlement.
In January 2022, Uganda reopened schools country-wide, ending a two-year-covid19  lockdown – one of the world’s longest. As the country’s president Yoweri Museveni made this announcement, Guya felt a sense of joy at the thought of his children’s return to school. But it was a joy that didn’t last long.
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Young Namibian voters push for LGBTQ+ equality
As Namibia heads to Nov. 27 presidential and parliamentary elections, young LGBTQ+ voters say political parties are out of touch, failing to evolve with the times and have prejudiced views that marginalise LGBTQ+ people.
Of around 1.5 million registered to vote, people born in 1982 and after make up 62% of the electorate, according to the Electoral Commission of Namibia.
But despite concerns among young people about economic and social inclusion, including LGBTQ+ rights, political parties have so far paid little attention to the issues.
Elaine Chanel Forbes, a 25-year-old transgender activist in the capital Windhoek, said she felt insignificant and “less of a human being” as party manifestos did not mention LGBTQ+ rights.