Founded on 20 December 2024 by Frank Fabian Kagimu, Noah Venter and Rethabile Lebakeng, Haven of Pride Africa came about as a response to the growing crisis faced by LGBTQI+ displaced persons, particularly trans asylum seekers and refugees from Uganda and the broader East African region who flee their home countries due to persecution, seeking safety in South Africa, only to face new challenges in their pursuit of protection, dignity, and self-reliance. Recognising this urgent need, Haven of Pride was established to provide critical support, advocacy, and empowerment for LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and refugees.

Vision

A world where transgender refugees and queer displaced persons live freely and safely, with access to essential resources, acceptance and equality supported by a trusted community.

Mission

To provide safety, dignity, and empowerment for displaced transgender individuals by fostering inclusive support for their health and rights amidst persecution.

Goals

• To provide safe shelter and support.
• To promote well-being and self-sufficiency.

Contact

Email: havenofpride@gmail.com
Facebook

Fondée le 3 décembre 2024, Santé Lisungi/ASBL est une association de défense des droits LGBTQIA+ en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), dont la priorité est la défense des personnes trans et intersexuées. L’objectif de leur travail est de faciliter l’accès inclusif aux soins de santé pour les personnes trans et intersexuées, ainsi que pour les autres minorités sexuelles et de genre. L’association n’est pas encore enregistrée.

Founded on 3 December 2024, Santé Lisungi/ASBL is an LGBTQIA+ advocacy organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with trans and intersex advocacy as their main priority. The focus of their work is to facilitate inclusive access to healthcare for trans and intersex people, as well as other sexual and gender minorities. The organisation has not been registered yet.

La Vision / Vision

Devenir une référence en matière de soins de santé sûrs, inclusifs et équitables pour les minorités sexuelles et de genre en République démocratique du Congo.

To become a benchmark in safe, inclusive, and equitable healthcare for sexual and gender minorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

La Mission / Mission

Contribuer à améliorer la qualité de vie des minorités sexuelles et de genre en favorisant un accès inclusif aux soins de santé.

To contribute to improving the quality of life of sexual and gender minorities by promoting inclusive access to healthcare.

Objectifs de l’organisation / Organisational Objectives

L’association poursuit notamment les objectifs ci-dessous :

• Promouvoir la santé et le bien être, l’inclusion et l’accès facile à une prise en charge médicale holistique de qualité dans un environnement inclusif et sécurisé ;
• Sensibiliser les minorités sexuelles et de genre sur la santé sexuelle et reproductive en leur donnant des bonnes informations relatives aux différentes pathologies qui touchent à leur sexualité pour un accès équitable aux soins;
• Renforcer les compétences des professionnels de santé de la structure et des alliés sur les notions de genre et prise en charge thérapeutique juste, équitable et inclusive pour mettre fin à la discrimination, stigmatisation, marginalisation, et toutes autres formes de violences basées sur l’orientation sexuelle, identité de genre, expression de genre, couleur de peau, handicap physique, état serologique, taille, age, maladie chronique dans le milieu hospitalier ;
• Aider la cible à accéder à la santé positive et universelle ;
• Développer le partenariat entre les acteurs nationaux et internationaux en vue de briser certains préjugés sociaux dans le milieu sanitaire liés à l’état sérologique, à l’orientation sexuelle, à l’identité du genre, à l’handicap physique, à la couleur de peau, à la taille, à l’âge, à la maladie chronique;
• Conscientiser les décideurs politiques sur l’importance d’avoir une approche de santé inclusive qui prend en compte les minorités sexuelles et de genre, ainsi que d’autres personnes issues de groupes minoritaires dans les différents programmes du développement de pays et plaider en faveur des actions concrètes ;
• Œuvrer en faveur d’une participation quantitative et qualitative aux manifestations et forums internationaux promouvant l’inclusion et la diversité, le genre et l’égalité des chances pour tous ; et, a long terme,
  • construire des hôpitaux propres à la structure dans toutes les provinces de la RD Congo en général et en particulier à Kinshasa au service de nos cibles;
  • assurer le suivi des malades, permettant la continuité de la prise en charge;
  • contribuer dans la réduction des violences sexuelles et basées sur le genre ainsi que de leurs conséquences.

The association’s objectives include:

• Promoting health and well-being, inclusion, and easy access to quality holistic medical care in an inclusive and safe environment;
• Raising awareness among sexual and gender minorities about sexual and reproductive health by providing them with accurate information on the various pathologies that affect their sexuality, ensuring equitable access to care;
• Strengthen the skills of the organisation’s healthcare professionals and allies on the concepts of gender and fair, equitable, and inclusive therapeutic care to end discrimination, stigmatisation, marginalisation, and all other forms of violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, skin colour, physical disability, HIV status, height, age, and chronic illness in the hospital setting;
• Help the target population access positive and universal healthcare;
• Develop partnerships between national and international stakeholders to break down certain social prejudices in the healthcare setting related to HIV status, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical disability, skin colour, height, age, and chronic illness;
• Raise awareness among policymakers about the importance of an inclusive health approach that takes into account sexual and gender minorities, as well as other people from minority groups, in various country development programmes and advocate for concrete actions;
• Work towards quantitative and qualitative participation in international events and forums promoting inclusion and diversity, gender, and equal opportunities for all; and, in the long term
  • build hospitals of this structure in all provinces of the DRC in general, and in Kinshasa in particular, to serve our targets;
  • ensure patient follow-up, enabling continuity of care;
  • contribute to reducing sexual and gender-based violence and its consequences.

Des domaines d’intervention / Areas of Work

• Santé
• Droits humains
• Plaidoyer
• Autonomisation
• Immigration, réfugié et demande d’Asile.

• Health
• Human Rights
• Advocacy
• Empowerment
• Immigration, Refugees, and Asylum.

Contactez / Contact

Email: santelisungi.asbl@gmail.com
+243895555561
Facebook

Founded on 12 June 2023 by Kyazze Arnold and Nyombi Enoch, Kajiado North for Empowerment and Social Welfare Outreach (KNESWO) works with queer refugees, gender diverse migrant sex workers, and trans sex workers. Since its establishment, KNESWO has been at the forefront of advocating for the rights of marginalised queer refugee sex workers in Kenya. The organisation has provided critical support through legal aid, mental health services, and community empowerment programmes. Through its advocacy efforts, KNESWO has increased awareness about the discrimination and violence faced by its members and has successfully mobilised resources to create safer spaces for queer and trans sex workers.

Vision

A world where marginalised queer refugees, gender-diverse migrant sex workers, and trans sex workers are respected, empowered, and free from stigma. We celebrate diversity as the strength of our community, ensuring equal access to opportunities, rights, and safety for all.

Mission

To empower and unite marginalised queer refugees, gender-diverse migrant sex workers, and trans sex workers by fostering safety, advocacy, and leadership. KNESWO builds an inclusive community that celebrates diversity in culture, gender, and background, ensuring access to resources, rights, and support.

Goals

• Provide mental health and psychosocial support, including counselling and group therapy.
• Advocate for policy reforms and challenge stigma affecting queer refugee and migrant sex workers.
• Offer legal and protection empowerment for members facing discrimination or legal challenges.
• Facilitate health interventions through access to SRHR education and preventive healthcare.
• Conduct research and documentation to inform advocacy and policy change.
• Build a strong movement for marginalised communities, focusing on leadership and resilience.

Contact

Email: kneswo@gmail.com / consorti2022@gmail.com
+254707480048
Facebook
LinkedIn
X (Twitter)

Founded in Kenya in 2023 by Sheila Joy, Julie Troca, Brenda and other queer activists, Alliance Trans Shield works with vulnerable trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming, gender diverse and queer individuals, with a particular focus on asylum seekers and refugees. The organisation’s work extends to intersex people and LGBTQIA+ communities with projects specifically addressing trans and intersex needs, centering those most at risk of marginalisation, displacement, and violence. Alliance Trans Shield’s main work is survivor‑led advocacy, digital empowerment, and psychosocial support. They provide safe spaces, amplify voices through storytelling, and build solidarity networks for trans and queer refugees and asylum seekers. They also engage in regional movement‑building, resisting digital violence, and advancing sexual and reproductive health rights. The organisation has not been able to register yet due to transphobic government policies.

Vision

A continent where trans, non‑binary, gender diverse, and intersex people live with dignity, visibility, and justice free from violence and discrimination, and empowered to shape narratives that drive transformative change.

Mission

To harness digital power and survivor leadership in advocating for and empowering trans, non‑binary, gender diverse, and queer refugees and asylum seekers. Through campaigns, storytelling, and community driven initiatives, the organisation transforms digital spaces into platforms of protection, solidarity, and liberation.

Goals/Objectives

• Provide safe housing, psychosocial support, and livelihood opportunities for queer and trans refugees.
• Build solidarity networks across Africa and the Diaspora.
• Resist digital violence and promote safer online participation.
• Strengthen movement building by connecting organisations and activists regionally and internationally.
• Advance sexual and reproductive health rights for trans and gender diverse communities.

Focus areas

• Digital advocacy and empowerment: Using online platforms to amplify survivor voices and resist digital violence.
• Protection and safe housing: Supporting displaced trans and queer refugees with shelter and psychosocial care.
• Movement building and solidarity: Strengthening networks across East Africa and the Diaspora.
• Sexual and reproductive health advocacy: Promoting access to inclusive health services for trans and gender diverse communities.
• Storytelling and documentation: Preserving histories and lived experiences through blogs, workshops, and collaborative archives.
• Intersectional advocacy: Addressing overlapping issues of displacement, disability, gender, and sexuality in our projects.

Contact

Email: alliancetransshield@gmail.com
+254748092583
LinkedIn
Substack

Founded in Kenya in 2023 by Atwine Emmalia, a transfeminist human rights defender, and other activists (names withheld for security reasons), Action for Trans Refugee Kenya (ATREK) came together in response to the urgent need for safety, support, advocacy and community-led services for transgender refugees, asylum seekers and other gender-diverse people living in Kenya. ATREK is a refugee-led, community-based organisation. ATREK primarily works with transgender and gender-diverse refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people living in Kenya. The organisation particularly supports transgender women and other gender-diverse people who experience homelessness, violence, discrimination, social exclusion, poverty, insecure housing and barriers to healthcare and essential services. The organisation’s work also supports LGBTQIA+ refugees and asylum seekers, including people living with HIV, human-rights defenders and other community members facing heightened vulnerability. ATREK aims to ensure that transgender and gender-diverse people are meaningfully included in community responses, advocacy and decision-making.

ATREK works to promote the safety, dignity, health, human rights, inclusion and self-determination of transgender and gender-diverse refugees and other vulnerable LGBTQIA+ people in Kenya. The organisation’s work includes providing or coordinating emergency support, safer-space and shelter assistance, psychosocial support, human-rights advocacy, health information and referrals, community education, capacity building and livelihood empowerment. They also work to raise awareness of the specific challenges faced by transgender refugees and to advocate for more inclusive and responsive services.

At present, the organisation is not formally registered in Kenya. ATREK continues to explore safe and appropriate pathways toward formal registration while carrying out our community work and supporting transgender refugees and other vulnerable LGBTQIA+ people.

Vision

A safe, inclusive and empowered community in which transgender and gender-diverse refugees and other LGBTQIA+ people live with dignity, equality, freedom, security and full access to their human rights and opportunities for sustainable development.

Mission

To build and strengthen a safe, inclusive and resilient community of transgender and gender-diverse refugees through emergency support, protection, advocacy, psychosocial well-being, access to health and human-rights information, skills development and sustainable livelihood opportunities.

Goals/Objectives

• Promote the safety, dignity, rights and inclusion of transgender and gender-diverse refugees and asylum seekers.
• Support access to safer shelter, emergency assistance, food and other essential needs for community members facing crisis and homelessness.
• Improve access to transgender-inclusive healthcare, HIV-related services, sexual and reproductive health information and appropriate referrals.
• Provide psychosocial support, peer support and community-based responses to trauma, isolation and social exclusion.
• Strengthen awareness of human rights and advocate against discrimination, violence and exclusion.
• Build the leadership, knowledge, skills and capacity of transgender and gender-diverse refugees.
• Create sustainable livelihood and economic-empowerment opportunities that support independence and resilience.
• Build partnerships and strengthen collaboration with local, regional and international organisations working on refugee rights, LGBTQIA+ rights and social justice.
• Ensure that transgender refugees are meaningfully represented in discussions and decisions that affect their lives.

Focus Areas / Projects

• Safe Shelter and Emergency Protection: ATREK works to support transgender and gender-diverse refugees who are experiencing homelessness, unsafe housing, eviction, violence or displacement. The organisation seeks to provide safer accommodation, emergency shelter support, food, basic necessities and protection assistance. Safe shelter is especially important because many transgender refugees face discrimination and harassment when trying to access housing.
• Transgender Health, HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: ATREK supports access to accurate health information, transgender-inclusive healthcare, HIV prevention and treatment services, sexual and reproductive health information and referrals. The organisation also supports community members who face barriers to accessing medication, healthcare facilities and other essential health services.
• Psychosocial Support and Mental Well-Being: ATREK provides peer support, community connection and psychosocial support to transgender and gender-diverse refugees affected by trauma, violence, forced displacement, isolation, discrimination and insecurity. The organisation promotes healing, resilience, self-care and supportive community networks.
• Human Rights Advocacy and Protection: ATREK documents and raises awareness of the human-rights challenges affecting transgender refugees and advocate for safety, dignity, equality and inclusion. The organisation also participate in networking, learning and advocacy spaces to ensure that transgender and gender-diverse refugees are represented and their experiences are heard.
• Livelihoods and Economic Empowerment: ATREK promotes skills development and income-generating opportunities to strengthen economic independence and resilience. The organisation’s livelihood activities have included creative and artisan-based initiatives, sewing and bag-making, clothing and fashion-related work, and other community-led economic empowerment projects.
• Community Education and Capacity Building: ATREK provides information, training and capacity-building opportunities related to human rights, health, safety, leadership, community organising and self-reliance. The organisation supports transgender and gender-diverse community members to develop skills and participate meaningfully in leadership and advocacy.
• Community Building, Networking and Partnerships: ATREK works with community groups, service providers, human-rights organisations and other partners to strengthen support systems for transgender refugees. The organisation participates in learning and networking opportunities and collaborate on initiatives that promote inclusion, protection and community well-being

Contact

+254758646254
Email: actionfortransrefugeekenya@gmail.com
Instagram

Trans Arrivals Kenya (TAK) was founded in 2022. TAK supports trans migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in Kenya.

Vision

A safe and inclusive society where all trans refugees live with dignity, free from discrimination and harm.

Mission

To empower and protect trans refugees by ensuring access to safe housing, mental health support, HIV care, and fundamental resources.

Areas of Work

TAK primarily works to support trans migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in Kenya by addressing their unique challenges and advocating for their rights in the following areas:

Humanitarian support and emergency assistance

• Providing safe shelter for trans migrants facing homelessness or violence.
• Offering food, clothing, and other essential supplies to those in crisis.

Legal assistance and advocacy

• Supporting trans migrants with asylum applications, legal documentation, and protection from discrimination.
• Advocating for policy changes that recognise and protect trans asylum seekers and refugees.

Healthcare and well-being

• Connecting trans individuals with gender-affirming healthcare, mental health support, and HIV/AIDS services.
• Offering counseling and peer support to help individuals cope with trauma and discrimination.

Economic empowerment and skills development

• Providing vocational training and entrepreneurship programmes to help trans migrants achieve financial independence.
• Creating employment opportunities through partnerships with inclusive businesses and organisations.

Community building and awareness raising

• Creating safe spaces where trans migrants can connect, support each other, and build a sense of belonging.
• Conducting awareness campaigns and training sessions to educate service providers and the public on trans rights and issues.

Advocacy and legal support

• Advocate for the rights and legal recognition of trans migrants and asylum seekers.
• Provide legal assistance and resources to help with asylum applications and documentation.
• Engage policymakers to push for more inclusive policies for trans individuals in migration and refugee systems.

Shelter and safety

• Offer safe housing and emergency shelter for trans individuals facing homelessness or violence.
• Establish a safe space where trans migrants can find community, support, and protection.

Healthcare access

• Ensure access to gender-affirming healthcare, including hormone therapy, mental health support, and general medical care.
• Provide support for individuals navigating Kenya’s healthcare system.

Economic empowerment and livelihood support

• Offer skills training, entrepreneurship programs, and employment support for trans migrants.
• Partner with organisations to create job opportunities and financial independence.

Community building and peer support

• Foster a sense of belonging through peer-led support groups and community events.
• Provide counseling, mentorship, and emotional support.

Research and documentation

• Document human rights violations and challenges faced by trans migrants in Kenya.

Contact

Email: transarrivals@gmail.com
+254 789 145162
Facebook

Watch our interview with Chosen Becky, 26 June 2026

Founded in March 2021 by a trans man, Donwell Mpofu, Trans Guardians Alliance (TGA) is a South African organisation working with LGBTQIA+ migrants and asylum seekers, with a particular focus on trans individuals and LGBTQIA+ parents and their children. The organisation provides holistic support services for displaced LGBTQIA+ migrants, including emergency shelter, access to healthcare and documentation, psychosocial support, early childhood education, and advocacy for inclusive migration and protection frameworks. TGA was registered in October 2021 as a non-profit organisation.

Vision

A South Africa where displaced LGBTQIA+ people can live freely, safely, and with dignity, enjoying equal access to rights, services, and opportunities.

Mission

To protect, support, and empower displaced LGBTQIA+ communities through direct services, advocacy, and the creation of safe, affirming spaces for healing, growth, and leadership.

Goals/Objectives

• Provide life-saving shelter and basic support to displaced LGBTQIA+ individuals.
• Advocate for inclusive migration policies and practices.
• Strengthen the capacity and visibility of trans and queer refugees.
• Support LGBTQIA+ parents and children through inclusive early childhood education and family-centred services.

Focus Areas

• Emergency shelter and support services.
• Early childhood education (Talent Smufferttes Day Care Center).
• Legal and documentation assistance.
• Mental health and psychosocial support.
• Capacity building and leadership development.
• Migration and asylum advocacy.

Contact

Email: transguardiansalliance@gmail.com / donwellmpofu@gmail.com.
+27 71 974 9574
Facebook

Watch our interview with Donwell Mpofu, 3 July 2026

Founded in Kampala, Uganda as a grassroots coalition by John Grace and others on the 1st of August 2020, Uganda Minority Shelters Consortium (UMSC) specifically prioritises and centres trans and gender diverse (TGD) youth who have been disproportionately targeted and driven underground by recent legislation (e.g. Anti-Homosexuality Act). While UMSC’s work is deeply rooted in TGD survival, their mandate encompasses the broader LGBTQ+ community, including LGBT+ sex workers, LGBT+ HRDs and LGBT+ PLHIV (people living with HIV). The organisation also focuses on LGBT+ individuals with intersecting vulnerabilities, such as displaced TGD youth and those living with disabilities. UMSC operates as a coalition of over 25 decentralised grassroots safe spaces and community-based protection organisations. Because TGD individuals are often the most visibly targeted within the broader LGBTQ+ umbrella, UMSC’s main work involves providing highly secure emergency housing, physical protection, and trauma-informed psychosocial care. The organisation utilises Peer Health Navigators to bypass hostile public clinics—where TGD persons frequently face intentional misgendering and abuse—to safely link them to life-saving HIV/AIDS services. The organisation is officially registered and holds formal national-level public health legitimacy, as it is officially accredited by the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC).

Vision

A Uganda where marginalised communities, centring trans and gender-diverse youth, achieve true independence and self-determination. A future where TGD individuals are completely empowered to live with absolute bodily autonomy, build self-sustaining livelihoods, and access healthcare entirely on their own terms—free from systemic violence, arbitrary eviction, and reliance on hostile institutions.

Mission

To cultivate the absolute independence, resilience, and self-determination of marginalised communities—centring LGB, trans and gender-diverse (TGD) youth, sex workers, and individuals living with HIV—by building a self-sustaining, decentralised network of safe spaces across Uganda. UMSC is committed to breaking cycles of reliance on hostile institutions by empowering vulnerable populations with independent, stigma-free HIV/AIDS service linkages, trauma-informed psychosocial support, and the tools required to defend their own human rights and bodily autonomy.

Goals/Objectives

• To facilitate the transition of displaced and unhoused LGB, trans and gender-diverse (TGD) youth from precarious survival to enduring independence by maintaining protected, decentralised shelter networks that provide the essential foundation for reclaiming their autonomous livelihoods.
• To develop community-led, stigma-free health linkage infrastructures that empower LGB, TGD individuals overcoming homelessness to oversee their HIV/AIDS care and holistic health with absolute self-determination, effectively ending dependency on hostile or exclusionary public health systems.
• To expand localised, peer-driven psychosocial frameworks—such as our Resilience Circles—designed to dismantle the trauma of displacement and internalised shame, providing our community members with the mental fortitude necessary to achieve total structural and personal independence.

Focus areas

• UMSC’s core thematic areas are Emergency Housing and Transitional Shelter, HIV/AIDS Health Autonomy, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), and Structural Independence.
• For trans and gender-diverse (TGD) community members specifically, their projects are meticulously designed to disrupt the pipeline from AHA-related eviction to chronic homelessness. The organisation operates specialised safe spaces that provide immediate physical sanctuary for displaced TGD youth. From this secure foundation, they run trauma-informed “Resilience Circles” tailored to help TGD individuals process the acute trauma of homelessness and systemic violence, rebuilding their mental resilience.
• Furthermore, to ensure TGD members can safely transition to full independence, UMSC’s Peer Health Navigators facilitates secure, peer-led health linkages. The organisation bypasses hostile public clinics—where TGD persons frequently face intentional misgendering, blackmail, and service denial—by physically escorting them to trusted, non-hostile care centres or distributing underground HIV self-testing kits. 
• Their ultimate project focus is equipping formerly unhoused TGD youth with the physical safety, mental resilience, and health autonomy they need to permanently exit crisis survival and rebuild self-sustaining, independent lives.

Contact

Website
Email: minorityshelters@gmail.com  / umsc@minorityshelter.org 
Facebook
Instagram
X (Twitter)

Watch our interview with co-founder, John Grace, 14 August 2026

UMSC documentaries

UMSC in the media

• PlanetRomeo Foundation: https://www.planetromeofoundation.org/umsc; 
• Global Press Journal’s feature “Shelters in Uganda Unite to Safely House LGBTQ People” https://globalpressjournal.com/africa/uganda/network-hope-shelters-uganda-unite-safely-house-lgbtq-people; 
• 76Crimes’ article “Five homeless shelters welcome LGBTQ Ugandans” https://76crimes.com/2020/10/23/five-homeless-shelters-welcome-lgbtq-ugandans; 
• GoFundMe campaign story “Donate To Uganda’s LGBT Shelters” https://www.gofundme.com/f/minorityshelters; 
• New York Times piece https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/world/africa/usaid-africa-uganda-lgbtq.html; 
• LGBTQ groups question US health agreements with African countries — Washington Blade, February 2026
• LGBTQ Ugandans targeted ahead of country’s elections — Washington Blade, January 2026
• Mpox outbreak in Africa declared global health emergency — Washington Blade, August 2024
• Ugandan Constitutional Court to consider challenge to Anti-Homosexuality Act — Washington Blade, December 2023
• Uganda Minority Shelters Consortium — Official Website
• How Police and Criminals Use Uganda’s Antigay Law to Find Blackmail Targets — Wall Street Journal

In June 2020 the Ugandan LGBTQIA+ refugees in the Kakuma Refugee Camp reached out to activist Victor Mukasa, saying

“Victor, we are dying, we are dying in the refugee camp”.

Not much had changed since the last time Victor had worked with the refugees in 2014, even though global activists and organisations had become involved. By 2020 Victor had established The Victor Mukasa Podcast and Talk Show and decided to feature the plight of the refugees in a live conversation.

The Kuchus (a Swahili word roughly translating to “queer”, adopted by the Ugandan LGBTQIA+ refugees in the Camp) needed food, bedding, medicines — everything. Victor started fundraising campaigns again using crowdfunding and approached targeted donors. Close to $70,000 USD was raised.

The other thing Victor did was to mobilise resources for psychosocial support, which was a growing need due to the trauma caused by the continuous attacks and previous attacks. Victor mobilised psychologists from the US, Europe, Australia and Israel who would counsel online on a pro-bono basis to support the community members. They would themselves come up with a schedule for sessions and each therapist could indicate how many hours per week they could donate to counsel the Kuchu refugees. There was a team of about 15 therapists. Attention was also given to trauma counselling for children. 

Later, resources were used to start a school in Block 13 (a section of the Camp with the highest population of LGBTQIA+ refugees) for the children as they were refused entry to the general schools and also beaten for being children of LGBTQIA+ people. Kuchu teachers from Block 13 mobilised for teachers who came in from outside. Victor also organised entertainment for the children, such as puppet shows, movie screenings and sometimes when activists from Europe came, they brought their children to play with the kids in Block 13. 

A 2021 report, “The Challenges Facing LGBTQI+ Refugees in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya” by the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM) and Rainbow Railroad, highlights the plight of the refugees within Block 13.

There was also a Kuchu refugee, Regina, (who has now moved to Ottawa) who was a nurse and she and another refugee who is a pharmacist, started a medical program, procuring antibiotics, pain tablets and first aid kits to help the Kuchus when there were attacked. 

On the political side, Victor started calling on advocates in Africa and beyond. That is when the Consortium was found. The Consortium was made up of organisations such as the Black LGBTQ Migrant Project, Jass Associated, Coalition of African Lesbians, The Victor Mukasa Show, Triangle Project and the Global Interfaith Network (GIN). Pan Africa ILGA (PAI) was also a part of the Coalition for a period. This larger group of organisations that joined the cause took the advocacy to a higher level. The Coalition started a campaign, #FreeBlock13, which raised the issues faced by the Kuchus, but also served as a fundraising platform. Members inside Block 13 in Kakuma Refugee Camp could use the website to also share their stories and personal experiences of living in Block 13. 

On the Victor Mukasa Show, Victor hosted a special talk at the start of the Coalition’s Free Block 13 Week of Action; April 7 – 13.

Lucretia, a Ugandan trans woman based in Kakuma Camp, wrote a heartfelt essay to an online news blog about her friend Chriton Atuhwera who was known as known as “Trinidad Jerry”, who died in the UNHRC’s hospital after an arson attack in Kakuma’s Block 13. 

Watch more videos from The Victor Mukasa Show about the Kakuma crisis.

Founded on 19 April 2019, Entrepreneur Empowerment and Advocacy (EEA-Health) seeks to empower the trans, intersex and gender non-conforming (TIGNC) refugee communities of Kenya. It provides crucial support to asylum seekers fleeing Uganda’s oppressive anti-LGBTQ+ laws. EEA-Health aims to create a safe and empowering environment for those who have faced persecution, helping them navigate the numerous challenges they encounter upon arriving in Kenya. The organisation is registered, but not as an LGBTIQ+ organisation due to safety issues. EEA-HEALTH is a member of the Grassroots Justice Network.

Vision

To empower trans, intersex and gender non-conforming (TIGNC) refugees and asylum seekers by championing their rights through legal, social, and economic initiatives. To create a safe and inclusive environment where every individual, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, can thrive and reach their full potential.

Mission

To advocate for equal rights and create sustainable welfare for TIGNC refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya. To empower TIGNC individuals through legal reforms, policy advocacy, and economic empowerment initiatives to help them achieve better livelihoods and live with dignity and respect.

Thematic Focus Areas

Advocating for ITGNC rights

EEA-Health is dedicated to promoting the rights of TIGNC refugees and asylum seekers. Through legal advocacy, they fight for law and policy reforms that recognise and protect the rights of sexual minorities. The organisation collaborates with queer-friendly lawyers to offer pro-bono legal services and consultations, ensuring that TIGNC individuals have access to justice and legal protection.

Legal protection for refugees and asylum seekers

The organisation provides comprehensive legal and paralegal services to TIGNC refugees and asylum seekers, addressing issues such as asylum claims, discrimination, and human rights violations. Support includes offering security and safety training, raising awareness against homophobia and transphobia, and supporting victims of abuse through consultation and legal intervention.

Gender-based violence (GBV) and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) awareness

EEA-Health actively advocates against GBV and IPV within the local and TIGNC communities. They conduct campaigns and provide education to raise awareness about these issues, offering support and resources to victims. Their programmes aim to create safer environments and promote respectful and non-violent relationships.

Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights awareness

In collaboration with Amplify Change and the Trans Refugee Empowerment Network Africa (TRENA), the organisation runs awareness programmes on sexual and reproductive health rights. This 18-month initiative (2024—2025) focuses on educating TIGNC individuals about their health rights, providing essential health services, and ensuring access to reproductive healthcare.

Psychosocial support for people who use drugs

EEA-Health offers psychosocial support for TIGNC individuals who use drugs, including trans sex workers, those on hormone therapy, and individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Supported by UHAI-EASHRI in 2022-2023, this programme provides counseling, health services, and support networks to help improve the overall wellbeing of these individuals.

Climate change advocacy

Recognising the impact of climate change on LGBT+ refugee rights, EEA-Health advocates for climate justice and its implications on vulnerable communities. They engage in campaigns and educational programmes to highlight how climate change disproportionately affects LGBT+ refugees, aiming to develop adaptive strategies and resilience within these communities.

Community support and inclusion

EEA-Health believes in creating a welcoming and supportive environment for all. They offer a range of services and programs that empower TIGNC refugees and asylum seekers to achieve their full potential. The organisation’s shelter provides a safe space for up to 10 refugees, while their advocacy and support services ensure that every individual feels valued and respected. By addressing these thematic areas and leveraging their strengths, EEA-Health continues to champion for the rights of TIGNC individuals, advocating for a just and inclusive society where everyone can live with dignity and respect.

Areas of Work

• Provide safe housing and emergency support: To offer secure shelter for ITGNC asylum seekers fleeing persecution and ensure access to essential services for displaced individuals.
• Enhance economic empowerment and sustainability: Developing livelihood programs through vocational training to catalyse financial independence through skills development and entrepreneurship.
• Strengthen legal and documentation support: To ensure asylum seekers obtain legal protection and documentation through legal aid and advocacy for those facing discrimination or violence.
• Promote health and well-being: To improve access to sexual and reproductive health services, including HIV/AIDS care and mental health support through campaigns and referral systems.
• Advance advocacy and protection for ITGNC refugees: Raising awareness on LGBTQ+ refugee rights and Gender-Based Violence through advocacy and policy engagement to enhance movement building.

Contact

Website
+254757615931 / +254792747788
Email: refugees@empowermentadvocacy.org
Facebook

Founded on 20 January 2018 by Salma Alaoui, Adam Cherifi and Zeyne Oulmakki, Dynamique Trans (Trans Dynamics) works primarily with trans people in Morocco, including non-binary, gender non-conforming, and intersex individuals — especially those from underrepresented communities. This includes trans migrants and refugees living in Morocco, who are among the most affected by systemic marginalisation, legal precariousness, and social violence.

Vision

Dynamique Trans envisions a world where all trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and intersex individuals — especially in Morocco and across the Global South — can live in safety, dignity, and freedom. The organisation believes in full bodily autonomy, gender self-determination, and the collective right to thrive beyond systemic oppression, colonial legacies, and gender-based violence. Their vision is rooted in intersectional feminist, anti-imperialist, and anti-capitalist politics. Dynamique Trans is committed to building non-mixed, self-organised spaces led by the most marginalised. They draw strength from our histories of resistance and honour the struggles of those who came before us.

Mission

The organisation’s mission is to affirm the right of every person to define their identity, access care without stigma or discrimination, and participate in building liberatory futures. Dynamique Trans exists to strengthen the self-organised power, safety, and wellbeing of trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and intersex individuals in Morocco. They work to build autonomous, non-mixed spaces by and for those most affected by gender-based oppression and systemic injustice. Through peer-led accompaniment, community care, legal and psychological support, knowledge production, and grassroots advocacy, they aim to resist marginalisation and reclaim collective agency.

Objectives

• To create safe, non-mixed community spaces for trans, non-binary, and intersex individuals to organise, heal, and thrive.
• To provide accessible and stigma-free legal, psychological, and gender-affirming support services tailored to the needs of trans communities in Morocco.
• To reduce health and safety risks for trans people through harm reduction practices and peer-led accompaniment.
• To promote collective wellbeing and mental health within trans and intersex communities through care-centred, trauma-informed approaches.
• To strengthen community knowledge and resistance through popular education, training sessions, and critical knowledge production led by those directly impacted.
• To engage in grassroots advocacy against legal, institutional, and societal transphobia, and to support campaigns for justice, dignity, and systemic change.

Focus Areas

• Gender-affirming healthcare and hormone journey accompaniment, with a focus on harm reduction and peer-led support.
• Providing peer-based support, follow-up, and harm reduction strategies around gender-affirming care and hormone journeys.
• Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), including safe and informed access to trans-inclusive SRH services.
• Legal support and documentation assistance for trans people facing discrimination, administrative barriers, or violence.
• Psychological and mental health support tailored to trans and intersex realities.
• Community care and collective wellbeing, including healing spaces and emotional solidarity.
• Popular education and political training through workshops, community gatherings, and knowledge-sharing sessions.
• Research and critical knowledge production centering trans and intersex voices from Morocco.
• Grassroots advocacy and campaigning for gender justice, bodily autonomy, and systemic change.

Contact

Website
WhatsApp (no calls; messages only): +212 704 834 000
Email: contact@dynamiquetrans.org 
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Instagram

Founded in 2018, Refugee Trans Initiative (RTI) is a trans-led community based organisation that aims to create visibility for trans refugees and the local trans community. The organisation was founded by Vanilla (Tcheugoue) Hussein, a trans refugee woman, along with the help of Doreen Andrews and Purity Paige Tumukwasibwe, and other trans refugees who believe in the rights of trans women by creating awareness of the issues faced by trans refugees and ensuring empowerment of trans women through advocacy, safe housing, livelihood development and seminars amongst others.

Challenges faced by trans refugees in Kenya include:

• Trans refugees are faced with discrimination because of their gender
• Trans refugees face gender based violence from their partners and torture most of the times from the transphobic community
• Trans refugees face a lot of depression and low self esteem
• Trans refugees are faced with low income jobs and joblessness because of their gender and end up in the harsh conditions of sex work.

Vision

A free trans refugee community, the freedom to be one’s true self, and an empowered trans community.

Goals

• To ensure trans refugees are self-sufficient and able to run their day-to-day activities without fear of prosecution.
• To fight for trans refugees through activism and advocacy to ensure that they are able to be independent and have the freedom to be their true selves.

Objectives

• To create awareness and advocate for trans refugees’ rights.
• To create a safe space for trans refugees and trans sex workers.
• To empower trans refugees on social and economic growth.
• To carry out health forums on trans refugee health and well-being by distributing condoms and lube and encouraging the use of PrEP/PEP.
• To train trans refugees to obtain a high level of high self esteem and through psycho-social support.

Areas of Work

• Advocacy.
• Empowerment.
• Healthcare.
• Shelter.

Contact

Website
+254 702 371 502
Email: refugeetransinitiavite@gmail.com
Facebook
Instagram

Watch our interview with co-founder, Purity Tumukwasibwe, 9 May 2025

Watch our interview with co-founder, Vanilla Hussein, 7 August 2026

The Fruit Basket (TFB), founded in 2016, is a trans- and migrant-led organisation based in Johannesburg South Africa. The organisation was founded by Thomars Shamuyarira, a trans migrant from Zimbabwe. TFB is a a Non-Profit Organisation that works to advance the welfare and rights of LGBTQI+ migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers who come to South Africa seeking protection. TFB hopes to have representatives in all countries that host LGBTQI+ migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. 

Context

From their website:

“The rights of LGBTQI+ persons on the African continent are severely constrained, leading many to leave their countries of birth and seek sanctuary elsewhere. South Africa is one of the few countries globally that grants refugee status on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, the system, however, does not work as it’s supposed to and many LGBTQI+ migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers find themselves undocumented. Without proper documentation, they cannot find employment or gain access to services and programs. The Fruit Basket helps restore the dignity of this marginalized community through assistance with the documentation process and information, skills development training, relief work, and, also working as a referral system, connecting the community with different service providers. We fight and will continue to fight for our region to be inclusive, where everyone regardless of nationality, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or beliefs has access to quality healthcare, meaningful education, and employment in their host country.”

Vision

To advocate and create a society and environment that allows for access to all services that are available to LGBTIQ+ migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees to be able to live up to their full potential and well-being.

Mission

To promote equality and opportunities in a safe and secure environment for LGBTIQ+ migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.

Values

• To respect the gender, cultural and religious differences of all LGBTIQ+ migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.
• To be focused on the needs of all LGBTIQ+ migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.
• To keep absolute confidentiality on all matters relating to all LGBTIQ+ migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.

First LGBTQI Safe House in South Africa

In September 2023, The Fruit Basket marked a historic milestone by opening the first LGBTQI+ Refugee Safe House in South Africa. This initiative came in direct response to the alarming passage of the Kill The Gays Bill in Uganda (Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023), a law that has led to rampant persecution and violence against LGBTQI+ individuals. As news of the law spread, an influx of trans and queer persons from Uganda sought refuge in South Africa, looking for safety and security away from the oppressive environment of their home country.

Recognising the urgent need for support and safety, TFB took swift action to establish a safe haven for those fleeing persecution. The initial opening of the safe house provided accommodation for 10 trans and queer refugees, offering them not just shelter but a supportive community where they could begin to heal from the traumas they had endured. This was a groundbreaking moment, as no other organization in South Africa had undertaken such a significant step to directly address the needs of LGBTQI+ refugees.

Due to the overwhelming demand and the continued influx of individuals seeking refuge, TFB soon expanded the safe house to accommodate 16 persons. This safe space is not only a physical refuge; it represents a beacon of hope and a commitment to human rights for some of the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQI+ community.

At the safe house, residents have access to essential resources, including counseling, legal aid, and workshops aimed at empowerment and resilience-building. The sense of community fostered within the walls of the safe house has provided solace and support to those who have faced unimaginable hardships.

The establishment of the safe house is a testament to TFB’s dedication to championing the rights and dignity of LGBTQI+ refugees. It highlights the organisation’s pioneering spirit in addressing critical issues faced by marginalised communities and its unwavering commitment to advocacy and support. As TFB continues to grow and respond to the needs of LGBTQI+ refugees, the safe house stands as a symbol of resilience, hope, and the power of community in the face of adversity.

The Fruit Basket in the Media

Thomars wrote an article for MambaOnline about refugees and the need for their inclusion in conversations about LGBTQI+ rights. Thomars is one of the founders of the Queer & Trans Refugee Advisory Network, formed in 2024.

Thomars was also interviewed by MambaOnline about his story and advocacy.

Contact

Website
+270642157577
Email: info@thefruitbasket.co.za / thomars@thefruitbasket.org.za
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LinkedIn

Founded in 2015 by Rikki Nathanson, Trans* Research, Education, Advocacy & Training (TREAT) was the first trans-led, and gender-diverse focused organisation in Zimbabwe. TREAT’s mission is to inform and transform attitudes and address injustice and inequalities faced by the trans diverse population in Zimbabwe. After being arrested under charges such as criminal nuisance for using the “wrong” bathrooms in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Rikki Nathanson realised the huge gap in the general public’s ignorance and miseducation about gender, transgender and gender diverse people. Rikki relocated to the US, claiming asylum. Sam Ndlovu has been the Executive Director of TREAT since 2019.

Vision

TREAT is an initiative that seeks to address the rights issues in the education, advocacy and training about and to, the basic violations of the human rights of the trans* diverse and gender non-conforming population of Zimbabwe. It envisions a Zimbabwe where everyone is free to express their gender within, across and beyond the male-female binary without fear of discrimination, stigma or victimisation.

Mission

To inform and transform attitudes and address injustice and inequalities faced by Trans diverse population in Zimbabwe.

Focus Areas

• Health: including the Sexual Reproductive health rights (SRHR), Hormone Replacement therapy (HRT) and psycho social support.
• Justice: the protection by the law around issues such as abuse and violence in all forms.
• Socio-economic: including among other things, discrimination faced in schools, workplaces, medical and other facilities, families and the general population at large.

Contact

Website
Email: treatorg22@gmail.com
Facebook

Watch our Interview with Rikki Nathanson

We interviewed Rikki on the 11th of April 2025 about her life and activism.

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.

The violence the Kuchu TV series focused on was the incidents of stonings, beatings, poisonings and verbal abuse perpetrated against the more than 45 Ugandan LGBTQIA+ residents in the Kakuma Camp. Victor speaks about the violence that occurred on Friday the 27th of June, where one of the Ugandan refugees was attacked by a group of refugees. He was beaten up badly because, according to the other refugees, he committed the crime of being gay. Statements by other refugees included the argument that

“This camp is for refugees. It is not for wild animals.”

The group of attacking refugees followed the victim back to his group of fellow LGBTQI+ Ugandan refugees and began beating them too. The victims ran to the security of the Camp. The security, instead of protecting them, asked them why they showed that they were gay, thus blaming the victims for their own beatings. Not receiving help from security, the victims marched out of the Camp for two hours to the offices of the UNHRC in search of protection. This protection was not provided to them by the UNHRC. Victor goes into more detail about the situation in the videos below.

In a 2023 report, “Kenya: ‘Justice Like Any Other Person’ — Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against LGBTI Refugees”, Amnesty International and the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) documented the hate crimes faced by LGBTI refugees and those refugees in the Kakuma Camp.

An article by Amnesty International states that

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) asylum seekers and refugees living in one of Kenya’s biggest refugee camps routinely suffer hate crimes, violence, including rape, and other serious human rights abuses, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) and Amnesty International said in a joint report. ‘LGBTI individuals in Kakuma camp have suffered physical and sexual violence and other serious human rights abuses, including violations of their right to be free from torture and ill-treatment, because of their sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or sexual characteristics,’ said Victor Nyamori, Amnesty International’s Researcher and Advisor on Refugee and Migrants Rights. Such hate crimes are a criminal manifestation of the discrimination LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers face.

The testimonies collected in the Report point to systematic and pervasive inaction by police in Kakuma refugee camp to effectively, promptly, independently, and thoroughly investigate allegations of hate crimes reported by LGBTI asylum seekers and refugees.

Esther, a 41-year-old lesbian woman, reported being raped twice in Kakuma camp. In early 2018, she was attacked by two men carrying knives while she was showering in a plot near the camp gate. One raped her while the other held her down. Later that year, she was raped a second time by four men during a burglary at her house, in the presence of her seven-year-old son with whom she was sharing a bed.

Winnie, a lesbian woman, had a business in the market, where LGBTI friends used to buy. She told the researchers that one day in 2019 she was away from work and left one of her children to take care of the business. A group of people destroyed the stall and injured the child, saying that the LGBTI customers were affecting other businesses. When she went to report the crime, the police told her to look for the attackers and bring them to the police station to be arrested.”

Victor worked with the refugees in July 2014 again due to more violence against the Kuchu refugees. Read more about the Kakuma Refugee Camp here.

Series 1—5 on Kuchu TV

“Kuchu” is a Swahili word roughly translated to mean “queer”. It was adopted by the LGBTQIA+ community who fled Uganda after the signing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law on 20 December 2013.

At the time, Victor founded the Kuchu Diaspora Alliance (KDA-USA) in the United States, which works to address the needs of LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers. Victor created Kuchu TV as part of the work of the Kuchu Diaspora Alliance.

On 29 June 2014, Kuchu TV aired a 5-part series contextualising the violence perpetrated against LGBTQIA+ residents of the Camp.

About the Kakuma Refugee Camp

The Kakuma Refugee Camp is based in rural Kenya in Turkana County. “Kakumu” means “nowhere” in Swahili. The Camp was established in 1992 to house “The Lost Boys of Sudan”, who were children who escaped the war in Sudan, Somalia and some camps in Ethiopia. The original size of the Camp was estimated to be 12,000. Currently the population is over 200,000 refugees from more than 20 countries. The Camp is often the site of violence as there are ongoing tensions between the impoverished refugees and the local community. This violence is fuelled by the fact that, compared to the wider region, the Kakuma Camp has better health facilities and a higher percentage of children in full-time education, due to the humanitarian aid that the Camp receives from organisations such as the International Rescue Committee.

Following the passing of the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill, a large community of Kuchus fled to the camp. This community is often most affected by the violence as the UNHRC (UN Refugee Agency) and the Kenyan Police Services and Government do not protect the LGBTQIA+ community.