UPDATE*

Two Years have passed, and now Matt is safe. He has refugee status in Turkey and is awaiting his interview. His goal is to find asylum abroad in an LGBT-friendly country.

While waiting, he wants to continue studying to further his education and make his case more appealing. Qualifications will only better his case. He never got to complete his bachelor degree and being back at university will help him regain normality.

His tuition fees will cost around £2000, but we hope to exceed this to cover the cost of living.

Thank you.

10/11/2022

Adam.

Hello, my name is Adam, and I've created this fundraiser for my friend Matt. He is experiencing the unimaginable. Last autumn, he luckily escaped an attempted kidnapping by his own family whilst a student in Istanbul after they found out he was queer. Now he is awaiting his court case but until then isn't receiving any support to be able to live in exception to donations. These donations will contribute to his medical bills and day-to-day necessities. Lockdown has meant he cannot find a job and is currently surviving off donations. For those who donated before and wondering, we decided to delete the previous Go Fund Me because the circumstances were urgent and used PayPal instead. I am personally responsible for transferring the raised funds to Matt using Western Union to Turkey. 

I spoke to Matt and he asked me to transcribe his words. He also said if anyone wanted to reach him, contact him on a Instagram he [email redacted] . 

In Matt's word:

"Hi, I'm Matt. I’m 20 years old. I’m gay and recently had to escape from my family because I wasn’t safe. Im gonna tell you about how this all happened.

I wanted to write this to share my story and introduce myself. I’ve been living in secret for so long because of the fear I was in. Even though I’m still scared, I believe its important people know what’s going, I don’t want to be forgotten.

Currently I'm in Turkey, I’ve been here since 2019, and I never thought I would end up being a refugee. It started after I was a student here for one month, I was so excited because I was able to convince my family to send me to study here. In the beginning I was free, i met people from all around the world , made friends and even fell in love. For the first time in my life I wasn’t afraid to be with someone I truly loved. But I made a mistake, I was posting every detail about my daily life, and I got carried away. A picture of me wearing makeup made it way back to my family in Libya. At first I was panicking and worried, but somehow I felt brave, like even if I lost my family at least I was accepted by someone who loved me for me. With him, I could wear what I wanted. I could paint my nails, and even called be my new name, Matt. These simple things changed my life, I was happy, and I didn’t understand why family couldn’t let this continue.

Growing up I was really close to my brother; he was much naughtier than me. I felt he was different; I remember he caught me watching a film with gay characters and he said he thought it was okay. I felt he understood me. But this changed when it came to his own brother. I cant lie, I was beat up when I acted feminine in Libya. They forced me to suppress my feelings and any form of expression. It wasn’t easy and all of it made me work hard to get a student visa to study in turkey.

After my family found out, they insisted I returned and just drop my university studies. I knew what was waiting for me if I went. Ive seen and know people who have been jailed and even killed. The following month, he came. My brother showed up at my apartment. I was shocked and terrified what he would do. I feel stupid that I thought they would leave me alone, but I soon found out they intended on kidnapping me and take me back home to Libya. But my brother was not the same, he was different. He came in, dropped his thing and started asking me questions. I felt like a little boy in trouble. He hit me, beat me all over my body. I have bruises and scars all over my body now. I felt so ashamed, and when I looked up I saw he was taking pictures of me on the floor, he sent these to my family. I felt humiliated. He called them, I will never forget. He said “should I kill him now and run away? No one will know.” I couldn’t believe this was someone I grew up with, someone I had breakfast with every morning for 20 years.

I learnt that my brother was waiting for cheap airplane tickets and that he took my passport to purchase tickets. He took my simcard and locked the apartment door so I wouldn’t leave. He knew I knew and made sure I listened to whatever he told me to do. Knowing the day was coming, I felt so scared. But I managed to stay focused and began asking for help using social media. I felt like I need to survive and if I don’t try I don’t know what will happen to me. I contacted every charity I could find but I heard nothing. I couldn’t call the police because gay people aren’t always protected from their family in turkey. I used whatsapp and social media to ask for help. I was following someone called @Adamsincerely on Instagram and I knew Adam was also Libyan and gay so I asked him for help. He contacted people in Istanbul who planned my escape. I was nervous but this was my only chance. The day before the flight, they waited for me at night time outside my apartment building. When I got a message from them, I grabbed my bags and ran. I cannot explain this feeling.

The next days are hard to remember but lots of kind people donated to Paypal and Go Fund Me and Adam sent me this money. I used it to buy a new simcard, find accommodation and have food. He put me in touch with LGBT lawyers and they began working on my case. This is a very long process and requires me to become a refugee, lose my Libyan passport so I can be eligible for support. I was happy because I got legal protection, my lawyer made a restraining order against my brother. I am still working with the lawyer and I am happy to say my court date and interview for my refugee ID is in April. I have since moved from Istanbul and live somewhere much safer but also because the refugee applications in the capital are at full capacity, I can be more successful with my interview here. In Istanbul, I had a temporary job and a good place to live because there’s a lot of cheap rooms available. But where I am now, no one speaks English and I cant speak Turkish so finding a restaurant job is hard. There is no work because of COVID either. Im worried I wont find a job and my donation money will run out. I also don’t have any friends here, all my university friends still live in the capital, I feel lonely. 

Today, I feel strong. I feel like there is hope. Its been a few months since this all started. I escaped in August and its nearly Spring. I didn’t think id make this long or this far. Thank you to everyone who has donated but even people who just send me kind messages. One of Adam’s friend, a lady from England called Lisa has been so so so kind. She calls me most days and is with me every step of the way. Her donations let me eat and afford a hotel room. Im so thankful and I hope I can repay you one day. I feel so lucky that I am now connected to so many kind people and I hope when this over I can meet some of you. I will keep trying to find work and staying positive until my court date. Any advice and support from people in turkey is good for me too.

This is my story so far. It feels good to share it, I hope it does something." 

Thank you for reading.