Thursday 4 August 2011

Life as a gay refugee in South Africa

Junior Mayema
By Junior Mayema

Life in South Africa as a gay black foreigner is a horrendous nightmare. Well, many days I wish it were just a nightmare. But it is the reality for me. This reality is one full of intolerance, discrimination, and prejudice. I am a refugee and a gay activist – this is my story.

I fled my home after my mother tried to inject me with a syringe full of gasoline when she discovered that I was gay. After leaving my mother’s house, I began living with my father and I attended Bandundu University. I became friends with other gay students at the university and began to date and experiment. During this time, my father saw a picture taken of me kissing another man. After confronting me, my father and mother forced me into a “healing process” run by a pastor. I was made to fast for days in order to expel the “devil spirit” out of my body.

When I did not change my behavior, my father spread the news of my homosexuality to the community. Local boys began to beat me. I was particularly weary of a notorious group that hunted homosexuals. My friends and family shunned and banished me. My life was in danger and I had nowhere to go, so I came to South Africa.

I came full of hope that things would get better; that I would be able to live my life without fear of being persecuted for who I am. And in some ways I do feel safer here than I did in Congo. But after being here for a year, I can honestly say that this hope did not come true.

Life is tough here. Firstly, there is a lot of homophobia in the Congolese community in South Africa. When I first arrived, I lived with my cousin. When he found out from my family in Congo that I was gay, he kicked me out on the street. My mother ensured that no other family member in South Africa took me in after that. Since then I have moved around a lot, living with different Congolese people, but the story is always the same: once they detect that I am gay, they kick me out.

I also lived in some shelters and there I experienced xenophobia from South Africans. Even some members from the South African LGBTI community were not helpful. Their priority is to help South African LGBTI individuals, but other LGBTI refugees, like myself, have less access to support groups and assistance. It is tiring to be reminded every day that you are ‘not a South African’, and it hurts even more when it comes from other LGBTI people.

I wish I could just get to my feet and find a job. But finding a job in South Africa is tough enough as it is; trying to find a job as an openly gay foreigner is close to impossible. I have been looking for a job since I came here and I felt that most of the managers were judging me by my ‘gay’ physical appearance. Although the South African constitution protects LGBTI people from discrimination, homophobia is deeply rooted in South African society.

The majority of South Africans, like in most other African countries, think homosexuality is a western culture emulated by some African youths who are being recruited by white sugar daddies into homosexuality.

What can be done to change the desperate situation that I and countless other LGBTI refugees in South Africa are facing? Changing the culture of homophobia is difficult, but it has to be done, step by step. More people need to start campaigning against homophobia within our communities. We need to raise awareness and take action against xenophobia and racism in parts of the South African LGBTI community. We need to create a shelter or accommodation for LGBTI refugees in South Africa to help them get on their feet.

We have to build up a job referral system for LGBTI people to tolerant or ‘gay-friendly’ businesses and managers.

It is unlikely that things will get better in the near future. Yesterday I got kicked out by yet another Congolese host, on my 24th birthday. But hope is what dies last.

Junior Mayema is a volunteer with People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP)
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7 comments:

  1. paul it is very sad what i am going through but i know that everything happens for reason in life and i salute you for sharing my life story and my everyday fight for equal rights in South Africa nd the whole africa
    yours Activist
    Junior mayema

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just read this and my heart goes out to you. Your strength in such a time of crisis is remarkable and admirable. Don't let your past own you and don't be afraid to make your own future. Never give up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is a great informative post about the experience as a gay refugee in South Africa. I hope that I will find out more interesting stuff to read from you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My name is Asanda and I have started a magazine for the LGBTI community. This magazine is to uplift the moral values of our communities and mostly to be advocacy to those that have no voice and the infringement of our rights.
    I am looking for people that will add value to the magazine both by telling their stories and writing them. Please contact me on
    asandas9@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hello.i am a somalese bisexual and my brother is a gay.we fled from kenya now we are in tanzania but we are in big trouble,we need your help.our families wanted to kill us that's why we fled but even here in Tanzania we are in big danger.thank you.contact me on:aliidris883@gmail.com.i will tell you more about us.

      Delete
  5. I am looking for Paul Semugoma and Junior Mayema to assist me in a magazine I am starting
    contact me @ asandas9@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Iam very sad, to hear that isso difficult for gayrefugees to get asylum. I am looking for an african gay refugee to have a nice relationship. I am living here in a small village here in Soutwest Germany near Airbase Ramstein. contace me at h.klag@t-online.de Thank you

    ReplyDelete

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