'B'

‘B’ is a 32 year old gay man from Kenya. In 2008 he met David on a beach in Mombasa, “It was love at first sight”. That same day David proposed to ‘B’. They decided to meet ‘B’s’ parents so he could ‘come out’ to them. It was a difficult meeting full of shouting and arguing. ‘B’s’ parents would not accept his sexuality.

‘B’ and David decided to go ahead with the wedding. They planned a pre-wedding party. At 8pm, as the party was getting started, they heard shouting from outside: “Kill those shoga (gays) they are doing what is not African”. ‘B’ looked out the window to see more than 10 people outside shouting. They were lighting Molotov cocktails. ‘B’, David and their friends, ran outside and jumped over the fence to the next building.

They looked back to see their house on fire. The next day ‘B’ went to work. While there he received a phone call from his neighbour telling him David was in hospital, he’d been stabbed in the chest. David was severely injured, but survived. His family took him from Nairobi to Mombasa.

‘B’ had to leave his job and went into hiding. He knew he was being looked for. ‘B’ had heard that South Africa was a safe place to be. Fearing for his life, he organised as quickly as he could a visa, and flew to Cape Town. Life in South Africa was not easy though. ‘B’ faced xenophobic and homophobic abuse.

His work permit expired while he was ill and the South African government has refused to renew it. He lives in poverty in a tin shack in a township in Cape Town. He says he frequently has dreams of David.

Lindeka

Lindeka survived violent homophobic attacks on three occasions, all in Cape Town townships.

One resulted in her leg being broken and in another, she fended off a man who attempted to rape her. On all three occasions, homophobic abuse was thrown at her and used as a justification for the attack.

“You must stop acting like a man” one attacker said, “you are taking our girlfriends, you don’t have a dick. It’s a piece of shit that you are doing – come let me show you, cos you never got it (sex)” another said.

Lindeka says: “my best best friend was raped and killed because she was a lesbian. He knew she was going to tell. So he killed her.” “I’m afraid every night. I don’t know if there is someone out there waiting for me”

“I don’t trust any men, it seems to me they are all the same, they may seem friendly, but inside, they are full of evil.”

Junior

Junior fled from his home in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009 after his first boyfriend, Erik, committed suicide. Erik killed himself by drinking poison after his parents found out he was gay and threatened to send him to prison.

Erik’s father was a soldier and very powerful in DRC. He went to Junior’s house and started an argument between the two families which ended when Erik’s father pulled out his gun and fired shots at Junior’s father. Junior’s father then went looking for his son in order to take him to his dead Erik’s father.

Junior’s sister called him, warning him and Junior went into hiding until he could organise to leave the country. Within a week he had started the dangerous journey by land to South Africa. In South Africa Junior was still not safe.

In 2011 Congolese citizens in South Africa found Junior and set out to kill him. His boyfriend of 10 months intervened and was himself killed. The murderers were never convicted. Junior continues to fear for his life.

Tiwonge Chimbalanga

Tiwonge Chimbalanga is from Malawi.

In 2009 Steven Monjeza Soko and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were arrested in their home country of Malawi and in 2010 they were both charged with buggery and permitting buggery, as well as with the offence of indecent practices between males in accordance with sections 153 and 156 of the Malawian Penal Code.

Convicted, the two men were sentenced to the maximum penalty of fourteen years. According to the sentencing magistrate, the severity of the sentence was justified to protect Malawian society: “I will give you a scaring sentence so that the public be protected from people like you, so that we are not tempted to emulate this horrendous example.”

This judgement took place in spite of Malawi’s own constitution and it being a signatory state to a number of human rights treaties. Consequently, the case attracted an international outcry and both men were later pardoned on condition that they do not have any future contact with each other. Following release, fearing for her safety, Tiwonge fled to South Africa.

Olwetu & Ntombozuko

20 year old Olwetu with her partner Ntombozuko, 31.

They say that they face verbal abuse everyday in the township of Khayelitsha. They are called ‘Tom Boys’ and ‘Witches.’ Twice Ntombozuko has been violently attacked because of her sexuality.

The first time was in 2010 when, late one night, she was out with her friends. A group of drunken men started shouting at her and her friends: “here’s these bitches trying to steal our girls”. The three men then attacked. Ntombozuko was knocked to the ground and beaten. Her friends were beaten as well.

The second time, in 2013, she was walking home late one night when a group of men surrounded her and attacked her. A car came down the road and they ran. It was then that she saw the blood on her shirt.

She survived the attack but lives in fear of the streets outside her front door: “Even now I’m not feeling safe when I walk in the street”. She says the love of her partner has helped her to recover from the pain. They have been together for eight months and hope to marry.

Boniwe Tyatyeka

Boniwe Tyatyeka, mother of Nontsikelelo Tyatyeka (in the framed picture) who disappeared 7 September 2010. A year later, on 9 September 2011, her decomposed body was found in the dustbin of a neighbour. She had been raped, beaten about the head and strangled to death.

The killer (the neighbour whose dustbin in which her body was found) said he did it to change her – she was a lesbian.