Hi everyone, my name is CyaraKaira a transgender refugee living in South Sudan.
Escaping from Uganda simply for being who I am. I believed leaving would bring safety but when I reached Kenya the violence followed me. I was targeted because of my gender identity. I was tortured, stripped naked, attacked, cut with machetes and forced to witness the loss of lives within our community. Those experiences changed me forever and left scars that are both visible and invisible.
With nowhere left to run, I fled again this time to South Sudan together with my sisters. We came hoping to find a place where we could at least exist without fear. Instead we are struggling daily as visible transgender refugees. We face discrimination most of the times. Accessing basic services is also really hard due to our visible identities. The current festive season has become even more dangerous especially for refugees and foreigners with frequent arrests and insecurity.
On December 24th our worst fears became reality. Our home was violently raided by an armed group. They identified themselves as military but it was later confirmed they were a rebel group known to the government. They broke into our house and demanded ransom, threatened to take us to the bush and told us they would kill us or make us disappear. For nearly five hours, we were tortured and interrogated. We genuinely believed we were not going to survive that day.
By God’s grace, I was able to call Tasha who immediately contacted a protection officer. The protection officer then involved the police, the chairman and other officials who came to our location and rescued us. We were saved but our lives remain in danger. If such a group could come once, they can return. Our shelter is no longer safe, and staying there puts our lives at serious risk.
Because of this, Tasha helped us escape and relocate temporarily. We are currently staying in a hotel that she paid for but this support ends tomorrow and we have nowhere safe to go next. We are traumatized, living in fear and running out of options.
We are really asking for you help, we need to shift and change location because our lives are really in danger and we are afraid that we might end up loosing our lives. Please any donations will mean a lot to us as we need to collect enough for the shelter. Please consider supporting us through the support link in bio/ Profile.
At the same time, I want to share an important update about my future. I am currently working with an organization that is supporting my immigration and resettlement to Canada. I have already gone through most of the interviews, including the Canadian immigration interview, and the process is still ongoing. It has taken several months but we are hopeful and patiently waiting for the next steps.
I want to sincerely wish everyone a Happy New Year. Thank you to every person who has supported us, stood with us, donated, advocated for us and shown us kindness throughout this journey. Being a transgender refugee in South Sudan is something no one would ever wish for but your support has kept us going.
Thank you for reading, for caring and for standing with us.
CyaraKaira