On 3 July 2014, a 4-part series about further violence in the Kakuma Refugee Camp aired on Kuchu TV, a platform created by Ugandan LGBTQIA+ activist, Victor Mukasa. Victor’s work at the Kakuma Refugee Camp started in 2014 after the first attack on the Ugandan LGBTQIA+ refugees in the Camp. You can read more about the attacks and Victor’s work here. You can read more about the founding of Kuchu TV and the history of the Camp here.

In 2014 a group of Ugandan trans refugees played netball in the camp, and other homophobic refugees attacked them and stoned them because according to them they “played sport like girls”, and they “played a girls’ game – netball”. Building up to this attack, they had already been previously attacked many times, but didn’t always report it, because the security at the Camp did nothing when previous reports were made. After this stoning, the victims reported it to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for protection. Later homophobic and transphobic attacks resulted in death from the attacks and one victim committed suicide. Victor said

“this is where I came in, I already defended them in Uganda, it is people that I knew that ended up in this situation. So, I came in, as somebody who can amplify what happened in Kakuma Refugee Camp.”

It was a very personal struggle for Victor, both because the majority of the refugees are Ugandans (whom he knows) and also because as an activist in the Diaspora who was granted asylum in the US, he understands what they are going through.

One of the platforms Victor used to amplify these homophobic and transphobic attacks was Kuchu TV. Here is the first of four episodes about these attacks:

The Kuchu Diaspora Alliance in the US (KDA-USA) was founded by Victor to highlight issues faced by Kuchus (a Swahili word adopted by the Ugandan LGBTQIA+ community in the Camp. The word loosely translates to “queer”.) from the Diaspora and back home. The Kuchu Alliance fundraised for the LGBTQIA+ refugees in the Camp and partnered in fund raising efforts with the Global Rights Institute, which is the human rights arm of the Global Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC). Together they raised enough funds to rent more that 80 small houses for these refugees and paid their rent for months.

In this video clip from The Victor Mukasa Show, Victor speaks to Liesl Theron about how his early work and involvement with the Kuchus at the Kakuma Refugee Camp started, and how after these funds were raised, other global activists became involved. This involvement would not prove enough, as Victor was again approached by the Kuchus in June 2020.