Please help this group of LGBTQ refugees

Individually, they fled persecution and violance in their home country. In the small group they formed together in a UNHCR refugee camp in Africa, they live in hope on day they will be resettled in an LGBTQ friendly country. They have refugee status, and where two steps away from being resettled when Donald Trump stopped all immigration.

The group have no source of income, no opportunity to work, and experience a miserable existence, trapped in a United Nations refugee camp, with a growing fear that their hopes and dreams are squashed again by politics and prejudice.

They need financial support to buy food to supplement their meagre rations, medicines, medical treatment, and the bare essentials for the women and children.

Over 5 years ago, homophobia in their respective home countries changed their lives forever. Threatened by abuse and physical attack, they fled, each subsequently finding their way to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Kakuma camp, Kenya.

There, collectively with many other LGBTQ residents, they suffered prejudice, hate and physical violence from homophobic camp residents.

Life in Kakuma was grim. Food rations consisted of grains, oil, and water. Their medical needs were often neglected or played down. Such reality has historically been documented by leading humanitarian organisations (for example, Amnesty International and Rainbow Railroad, to name just two).

The group pictured above consists of 13 LGBTQ adults and six children, whose respective mothers are three of the four women in the group. They're a close-knit group that looks out for each other while enduring a life none of us may comprehend.

In the new year 2024, the group discreetly moved from Kakuma to a similar camp in South Sudan. Despite the dangers and political unrest, they hoped to receive better attention to their asylum status recognition and be included in a viable program for resettlement in a friendly third country.

Conditions in the camp were and are dismal. Sanitation is unfit for humans, and food rationing compromises their resilience to infection and disease.

Since moving camp, they have been officially recognised as refugees, issued formal documents proving the fact, and along with many other LGBTQ camp residents, became part of a resettlement program which offered them the chance of a new life: Equality and freedom denied to them since fleeing their respective home countries in Africa.

In May 2025 local and world politics dealt them a severe blow to their hopes and potential safety. Their resettlement was two steps from completion, but has now been withdrawn.

Added to such disappointment is the reality that their sexuality has become an issue with the South Sudan authorities, who now want them evicted from the UN camp. While the UNHCR have a duty of care towards them, each day they now fear what fate awaits them, and whether they'll be facing the same homophobia they fled from years ago.

This is NOT A SCAM. It is a genuine and proven humanitarian reality. The facts are real and authentic. In 2023, I established a website to give them a voice to the world - www.https://lgbtq-kakuma.com

Although the website is outdated due to their current situation, it still tells their individual stories and describes hardships similar to those they endure today.

I am one of a small number of advocates for the group. We need more people to raise funds and provide other support. Even sharing this fundraiser page can spread knowledge of their unenviable situation, perhaps leading to a higher rate of donations.

I send all donations in full to the group, using the safe and reliable SENDWAVE app, to their dedicated mobile money phone. I liaise with their team leader, and the funds received by them are used in ways essential to making their lives a little more comfortable. I record and account for funds generated by this fundraiser and details of funds sent.

The group's collective situation of isolation continues to rob them of the freedoms and liberty the rest of us take for granted. This has a direct impact on their mental health, causing trauma, anxiety and depression. Knowing people from around the world care and support them is a lifeline they treasure and appreciate. Probably, more so than you and I might imagine.

HOW YOU CAN HELP.

Donate regularly or as a one-off.

Write a support message on the funding page.

Share/distribute this fundraiser across your social media, with friends and family.

Read more about the group on their website. Or contact me for updates or more details.

Become an advocate for the group's well-being. Fundraise, write about the group, and publish your thoughts and views on your chosen medium.

Whatever way you may choose to help, you can make a difference.

Thank you.

My name is Robert Hamilton. I am British. You can contact me for more information via this funding site or their website.

I became aware of this LGBT group's situation in early 2023. I didn't believe asylum seekers or refugees under the protection of the United Nations lived on the precipice of existence. I was wrong.