Donation protected
OUR STORY
Enos is a professional chef who cooked for us while we were working on a medical project in Sokode, Togo.
He thought I was single because I don't wear a wedding ring. He asked me if I thought he could be happy without a wife and children, since he assumed I didn't have my own family.
Although I was deep in the closest while working there, I decided to come out to him, so that I could answer his question honestly. He was taken aback, and confessed that he'd been guilty of beating gays, in the past. That, in fact, gays are beaten, burned, raped, imprisoned and murdered with alarming frequency in Africa.
The next day he declared that since I came there to help lower the mortality rate for childhood pneumonia, he didn't want those children to grow up hating gays.
HIS VISION
Two years later, he is totally dedicated to the organization that he registered with the government. It's called Accepte la Difference. He has opened a small office (rent $60./month), and travels to schools, soccer matches, and anywhere he is invited to speak. He talks about all kinds of difference, starting with thieves, for example. In Togo, it is common to burn people who steal. Enos asks, " if your brother was caught stealing, should he be burned", and the reply is," of course not", and he spins it from there.
HIS IMPACT
He now has people dropping into the office for help and advice. Some come to request his talk at a school or soccer match. Although he is a straight man, he is collaborating with new friends within the community, and has a clinical psychologist helping.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
I've been sending money to help with the rent, but he needs much more. Spending his own money, he has organized soccer matches, made t-shirts, he hired someone to make a beautiful logo, and banner, he distributes condoms. There is so much more that he would like to do, with your help.
If you read about homosexuality in Africa you will be shocked to hear of the constant fear and violence that happens to gays. It is a tribal taboo, and AIDS has made the stigma even worse.
Enos is a man with a golden heart and brass balls. I fear for him every day, but he is empassioned by this cause. He says he has lost everyone who used to be his support system because of this work. He thought that cooking would be his life long passion, but he only cares about Accepte la Difference, now.
FOR ME
I am desperate to find ways to continue to help others when so much of the country feels otherwise.
Can you please help him? Any small amount will go a long way in Togo.
Enos is a professional chef who cooked for us while we were working on a medical project in Sokode, Togo.
He thought I was single because I don't wear a wedding ring. He asked me if I thought he could be happy without a wife and children, since he assumed I didn't have my own family.
Although I was deep in the closest while working there, I decided to come out to him, so that I could answer his question honestly. He was taken aback, and confessed that he'd been guilty of beating gays, in the past. That, in fact, gays are beaten, burned, raped, imprisoned and murdered with alarming frequency in Africa.
The next day he declared that since I came there to help lower the mortality rate for childhood pneumonia, he didn't want those children to grow up hating gays.
HIS VISION
Two years later, he is totally dedicated to the organization that he registered with the government. It's called Accepte la Difference. He has opened a small office (rent $60./month), and travels to schools, soccer matches, and anywhere he is invited to speak. He talks about all kinds of difference, starting with thieves, for example. In Togo, it is common to burn people who steal. Enos asks, " if your brother was caught stealing, should he be burned", and the reply is," of course not", and he spins it from there.
HIS IMPACT
He now has people dropping into the office for help and advice. Some come to request his talk at a school or soccer match. Although he is a straight man, he is collaborating with new friends within the community, and has a clinical psychologist helping.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
I've been sending money to help with the rent, but he needs much more. Spending his own money, he has organized soccer matches, made t-shirts, he hired someone to make a beautiful logo, and banner, he distributes condoms. There is so much more that he would like to do, with your help.
If you read about homosexuality in Africa you will be shocked to hear of the constant fear and violence that happens to gays. It is a tribal taboo, and AIDS has made the stigma even worse.
Enos is a man with a golden heart and brass balls. I fear for him every day, but he is empassioned by this cause. He says he has lost everyone who used to be his support system because of this work. He thought that cooking would be his life long passion, but he only cares about Accepte la Difference, now.
FOR ME
I am desperate to find ways to continue to help others when so much of the country feels otherwise.
Can you please help him? Any small amount will go a long way in Togo.
Organizer
Kathy Moore
Organizer
Pawtucket, RI