Dear Friends,
Yesterday we woke up to the following message in our community Discord from Mugambe Ronnah, one of our leaders:
“Hello friends, I hope everyone is fine. We have an emergency in Kenya right now. Our homes have been set into flames and some have been injured including a 3 years old son to a lesbian. We please need urgent response to this emergency.”
This is not how we imagined the very first edition of our newsletter.
In fact, Malik, our friend and vice president in South Sudan, had drafted a first edition to introduce us to the world as Freedom Spectrum of East Africa (or FSEA for short), a grassroots organisation supporting LGBTQIA+ refugees and their families in East Africa.
This thorough introduction is coming soon as well.
But yesterday, our community members in Kakuma Camp, Kenya were attacked and their shelters set on fire. Multiple people, amongst them 3 year old S., were seriously injured in this horrific act of violence.
We are extremely lucky that a supporter donated a larger sum a few days ago so that we could cover the emergency costs. Thanks to this generous supporter and our planning, all victims including little S. are able to get treatment currently.
But this has wiped out our savings.
I hate to launch this first issue with an ask, I truly do.
We have such plans for the newsletter, too.
We are planning to introduce ourselves, our stories, and our friends in East Africa will be sharing news directly with you.
Many of these stories will be of hardship, grief, violence and persecution. We know this, and we need you to know it as well.
At the same time, we’re also looking forward to sharing stories of happiness, hope and thriving, building, love, family and support.
But today is a sad day, and though we were able to cover the costs of this emergency, we are in need of long-term support.
Our current monthly need is about $2500-2700 USD/month to cover all costs of living, including ground rent in Juba, food and medicine. Additionally, we hope to be able to set aside a balance to be used for emergencies, so that when violence finds our community members in East Africa, we are prepared to help with the funds necessary.
If we could choose, we would prefer for there to be no violence to be afraid of. And we’re working towards that as a long-term goal, by fundraising for rent for a safer home.
If you’d like to support us, here are three simple actions you can take today:
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and stay updated on the community and FSEA’s work
Donate to our cause so that we are prepared to cover the cost of living for our communities in East Africa: Donate here
Share this newsletter with your friends, family and network so that more people can learn of our stories.
With love and solidarity,
Anker
FSEA volunteer and board president
PS.
A note for transparency:
Our plan is that most of our newsletters will be written by our East African leaders and community members. Today, I’m taking over writing this newsletter as Mugambe and Malik have more urgent needs to attend to. Rest assured, that any letter that reaches your eyes is approved by the community.