Black Trans Femme needs debt relief
"That you are well, protected, nurtured, cherished, artistically free, held in kindness and to be respected and loved." – Olave’s daily prayer for black girls, womxn and femmes everywhere, 2020
Let's help Olave breathe, create and live more freely and erase her debt.
Olave Nduwanje is a 36 year old non binary trans femme, queer feminist and writer. As a Black Trans Femme, she is faced with a multitude of violences that make safety and stability largely inaccessible.
For Olave the journey to be herself as been one where her whole life has been turned inside out. Olave has been experiencing what many black trans femmes experience; to live as their authentic self is to risk everything. From their lives and safety, their jobs and financial security, to their general acceptance in society.
Olave is one of the most kind hearted, honest and beautiful souls. On top of societal, mental health related and emotional hurdles, Olave has also faced a disproportionate number of financial challenges. Trans girls, womxn and femmes often get paid less than their cis hetero and cis queer counterparts, next to getting denied housing, denied getting descent primary healthcare and experience workplace discrimination and harassment at alarming levels. Olave has seen it all.
Dealing with addiction on top of these challenges, her debt mounted to €35.000 euro’s, most of which she took responsibility for herself and paid off in the past 3.5 years. Leaving a lingering debt of €8000,-
And this is where YOU come in.
We at the Black Trans Art & Joy Fund* want to actively supporting black trans people while they are alive and here with us. Providing them with community care and giving them their flowers, joy and peace today, not tomorrow.
The funds you donate will be used to
Support Olave in her art and joy. We would like your help to erase her debt. She has done an otherworldly job in already decreasing it by 75% in the past years. We, the Black Trans Art and Joy Fund, want to take the burden of her shoulders, so she can breathe more deeply and start making more space for her art, her legacy and above all; her JOY.
To provide her with a fertile foundation to continue her work on without the distraction and pressure of debt, is something that we deem possible and necessary.
So open your pure and give what you can. All funds will be directly transferred to Olave.
More about Olave’s work, activism and legacy:
Olave’s presence is enough and worthy of your care and coins.
And..Olave’s art and activism has created change that our children and grandchildren will talk about. Olave’s teachings have saved lives, and has propelled new initiatives.
Her work is a bouquet of flowers dedicated to questioning the status quo when it comes to queerness, transness, social inequality, and politics. All her work is characterized by her amazing depth of feeling and wisdom, vulnerability and care for humanity.
Please check out Olave Talks on You Tube, a show where she interview queer, black activists, thinkers and table-shakers.
Currently, Olave’s work can also be read in the (Dutch) book Being Imposed Upon and De Goede Immigrant.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6My6hb-49c (Olave and Alok)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R84MAPicOhk (Olave talks - Queer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeF-OPyS3Tk (Olave talks – Misgendering)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XRrlaj6_R4 (Olave about the future of migration – Oneworld)
*
The Black Trans Art & Joy Fund is a private initiative by Naïmah Janse, Sharona Lautoe and Xiomara Virdó that centers community care for Black Trans people. We do this by organizing crowdfunding initiatives, as well as sharing and connecting networks, and offering practical support to provide the community with space to create, share their art, and above all: experience joy.