Kakuma Update

By Sally Jackson, FiLiA Trustee

On 20th January, Donald Trump took office as President of the USA. Almost immediately he suspended the US refugee resettlement program as part of a series of executive orders cracking down on immigration. Many of the refugees, who had been cleared to resettle in the U.S. after fleeing war or persecution in their home countries, already had plane tickets in hand when the suspension was announced.

For our sisters in Kenya, their precarious lives are now even more uncertain. Many had places booked for travel to the US, now they are unlikely to travel and don’t know if this means they have to reapply for resettlement to a different country. 

Also, in Kenya we have had to move our sisters from their current housing as it was in an area with other lesbian and gay people and the police had started making house visits and arrests. We have managed to relocate them to a safer area.

You may remember some sisters had escaped to another country to apply for their refugee status there. This has been broadly successful as cases are moving much more swiftly than they did in Kenya, but they are surrounded by war and all the dangers that brings.

It’s another rocky start to the year for our sisters and they are affected not just by the policies of the Kenyan government but now also those in the US. However, in their typically resilient style, when we met this month, they were so pleased and excited to speak with the sisters that have been resettled in Canada, providing a light of optimism that there is a way out of their intolerable situation.

They remain forever grateful for the donations you send, enabling food, rent, sanitary provision and some medical care. One of our sisters wanted to share this message:

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to FiLiA and all international sisters for the unwavering support given to us all this time. We deeply appreciate your effort.

You can continue to support our sisters here: Make a donation to FiLiA Kakuma Campaign

Sally Jackson, FiLiA Trustee.