We’ve lost so many lives’: Why LGBTQ+ refugees are giving up on Kenya
This week, we start in Congo where over 100 prisoners were raped and burned to death in a jailbreak. Next, we travel to Kenya, where the rising hostility is driving some to desperate measures. Finally, we stop in Nigeria, where one woman is using social media to challenge disability stigma.
But first, in Kenya, progress has been made in recognizing intersex rights, but the medical sector still falls short in providing proper care. This week, we hear from Magdaline Nyambura as she shares her healthcare experience:
Read an excerpt here👇🏽:
Braving the rain and cold, she made her way to the nearest hospital, five kilometers from her home.
“I had never experienced such an occurrence. The pain was excruciating and the nearest health center was my first stop, “Nyambura tells Minority Africa.
Nyambura, 25, is intersex, with a conventionally masculine physical appearance. When she explained her symptoms to the medical officer, his reaction left her feeling alienated.
“He asked if I was a man or woman. I felt offended and walked out,’’ she says.
Forced to seek treatment at a private hospital, she had to rely on her sisters to help cover the medical bill.
Continue reading here
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In 2017, a friend invited me to a church in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s Northwest region. I hoped to improve my relationship with God through the pastor’s message. I traveled hundreds of kilometres just to attend the program, which I saw as a life-changing opportunity. But I received a shocker, though, when the same pastor chose to castigate me for being blind.
“God has told me that you will transform from a beggar to someone with a purpose in life because your sight will be restored today,” the pastor declared. I was angered by this. I had never been a beggar on the street but like many other PWDs, I was condemned to this fate because of my disability.
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“Farming is not a crime”: Kenya’s smallholder farmers are challenging a law preventing them from sharing Indigenous seeds
For 30 years, Peninah Ngahu, 58, has practised subsistence farming on her one-acre farm in Elementaita village, 175 km west of Kenya’s capital Nairobi. Ngahu, who practises organic farming, says that “accessing indigenous seeds was easy because farmers would share, sell, buy and exchange them freely.”
“A farmer who had a surplus of indigenous seeds would freely share out to those who lacked, and this ensured that every farmer had something to plant, and this guaranteed our food security,’’ Ngahu tells Minority Africa.
According to Ngahu, things changed when a new law regulating the distribution of indigenous seeds came into force.
“Currently, I cannot take my seeds and distribute them to farmers across the village because the law bars me,’’ she says. “[One] can only do that clandestinely. This has literally limited the smallholder farmers’ ability of producing food.’’
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Battling Disability Stigma, Nigerian Woman Push for Change Through Social Media
For Pelemo Ava Nyajo, living with a disability began at the age of two when her mother noticed an unusual curvature in her leg bones. After several misdiagnoses, doctors eventually identified her condition as polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, a rare and degenerative disease that weakens bones, causing deformity, fractures, and chronic pain. This diagnosis, however, came after years of uncertainty and failed treatments.
Over the years, she has undergone eight surgeries in an attempt to correct the deformities. Today, her crutches are her most reliable companions, carrying her everywhere. At 22, Pelemo has made her mark in the development, public, and creative sectors. Currently interning with the British Council and working on advocacy with Plan International, she actively challenges the barriers faced by disabled individuals, particularly in spaces that remain inaccessible.