Donate: Exiled Egyptian Trans Man

My name is Hossam and I am an Egyptian trans refugee in Lebanon. I am reaching out for your support raising a total of 2190$ to survive the next six months months. This amount will cover my rent, utilities as well as debt that urgently needs to be paid back next month. If I don’t act fast, I will be homeless and I will lose the very little stability I have struggled to build after the years of turmoil I have gone through ever since my arrest and detention in 2019. Your donations would help me stay housed and stand on my feet while I am waiting for my resettlement.

I am currently in Lebanon seeking resettlement through UNHCR. In Egypt, I experienced 19 months of unfair imprisonment. After my release, I had to flee to Kenya because my life was in danger. My shelter in Kenya was then raided by the police. I had to leave Kenya to one of its neighboring countries before finally reaching Lebanon in 2023. I struggled to find employment as a trans person so I had to do gigs every now and then to make ends meet.

Your generous donations in a previous GoFundMe campaign has tremendously helped me but the campaign could not resume due to logistical problems and I had to create a start this one because hardships have gotten worse recently.

The last months have been extremely challenging because of the war. Aside from the sounds of bombings that kept me awake all night in fear, everything in Lebanon has more than doubled in price — a country already strained by a financial crisis — and I became unable to cover rent, food and utilities. I am becoming more indebted to people just to be able to live and my life has come to a standstill. Although the war has ended, the country is still in ruins. They are paying more attention to people’s documents now and I am unable to work because of the mismatch between my gender identity and the gender marker on my documents. Jobs that employ people without documents pay around 80$ to 100$ a month and you have to work around 12 hours a day.

Breakdown of how your funds would help me:

Rent: 200 USD x 6 months = 1200 USD

Living expenses and utilities: 120 USD x 6 months = 720 USD

Debt: 240 USD

Western Union transfer fee: 30 USD

Total: 2190 USD

I hope that this message gives a sense of urgency of what I am currently going through. Please donate with whatever amount you're able to generously give-- this is an ongoing campaign for the next six months. Before January comes around, I urgently need 590$ to pay for my rent and utilities as well as to repay my outstanding debt.

Hossam