Moving people is a game of several moves. We might help someone move from their abusive parent’s house to a temporary location like a hotel, then move on to a less expensive temp rented room or airbnb. Then they might wait a month for a visa, fly to another country, again wait in a room while we get them a route to a safe country. It’s a brutal waiting game.
To cut costs and because sometimes our clients can’t pay for a room without being apprehended, we want to establish trans havens.
We also have, from time to time, other special projects.
- Advice For Trans Americans on Trump’s Inauguration Day
Today, Donald Trump will be inaugurated for his second term as President of the United States. We all know what kind of president he will be, and what this is likely to mean for trans Americans. Our advice remains as it has been for the past few years; for trans Americans to plan their exit from the country. We’ve already helped a large number of you to leave, some of whom we’re pleased to have welcomed in Europe, but we know there remain a huge number of you still in the USA. Many people will offer you sympathy, but you don’t just need sympathy, you need to survive.First of all, don’t panic.
As MAGA soundbites fly around and repressive executive orders are signed, we understand how easy it must be to despair. But there’s still hope, and there is still time. We believe that there are few trans Americans who can not leave their country by some means, and thus we implore you to make a plan, and follow it through. What plan you make is up to your circumstances and perception of risk, and to help you we have produced plenty of resources.Don’t wait to find out
It’s likely that tomorrow, or next week, or next month, will begin without the mob coming to round up all American trans people. The predicted disaster will not come immediately, and many people will start to relax a little. It’s not that bad, they’ll say, we’ll be OK, we’ll get through it. Our advice would be to not succumb to this, because we expect the coming disaster to be more akin to a gradual closing of the jaws than an immediate crackdown. If you take a moment to read some Holocaust history you will find plenty of heart-wrenching stories of people whose chance of escape was missed, and we do not want you to find yourselves in that position. Never lose sight of the MAGA agenda towards trans people, and make sure you are gone before those jaws close too far for you to make it.Find your networks.
Reach out to your friends and loved ones. Support each other. When Trump was elected we posted the following:We have faith that many of our fellow Americans will, in the end, help us in our time of need. You will find among your fellow citizens those who will respect and protect you, but think about your day-to-day security, and act accordingly.
We still stand by this, and we believe that those many Americans who did not want Trump’s oligarchy will support you.Make your plan, and good luck!
We firmly believe that escaping is within the grasp of the majority of trans Americans. We think you can do it, and we have spent the past few years working to ensure that not just those individuals with wealth can make it. Whether you arrive in another country in a Gulfstream or in a Greyhound, you will have escaped the reach of Trump, and you will survive. We’ve brought together as many resources and as much advice as we can elsewhere to help you plan your exit. Good luck. - Four ‘do’s of teaching English and living abroad
For many people, teaching English in a foreign country is a popular and realistic way of travelling the world. You can sample cultures and meet people that you may only have read or watched vlogs about. For many of us it has also represented a way out of our countries, allowing us to live abroad perhaps in places where we can live a life that we want to. But below the dream lurks risks and dangers which might be hard to spot or easy to overlook.
In this article, I will share some of my experience to help you get the best experience as you look to move to another country.
If you want to learn about the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or TESOL (Teaching English as a second or other language) industry a bit more there are dozens, if not hundreds, or websites where you can do that. I recommend the British Council’s Teaching English site (https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/) as a good place to learn about the job in general.
What I want to go into in a bit more detail is to look at four ‘do’s’ for trans folk if you are considering work in this field.
Do move intentionally and keep an open mind
One of the first things you might notice is there is an overwhelming number of locations you can choose from. There is work available in every continent, barring Antarctica – penguins make poor customers and don’t seem especially interested in learning English.
So first of all, think about what kind of place would you most like to live. Try to avoid thinking about where you like going on holiday as those countries aren’t necessarily the best places to live full-time. Sri Lanka, for instance, is an almost perfect holiday destination (despite the fact we’re illegal there), but living there was a nightmare of high electricity prices, very poor public transport, constant harassment on the streets, few shopping options, and high corruption. That last issue meant I overstayed my visa and ended up paying hundreds of dollars when I left.
South Korea on the other hand, is almost the opposite (although I wouldn’t bank on on the legal status of trans people there).
Try to also look past your own preconceptions. Thailand might seem like a good destination, but don’t let the prevalence of kathoey people trick you into thinking it’s a dream location, as they often talk about the prejudices they face in their daily lives.
You need to look at your personal priorities and think carefully about where the best places might be. You might find that through your homework some countries you had never considered turn out to be better than others.
Institutional intentionality
Another element of this intentionality is to look into the types of institutions and schools offering work in those locations. I would strongly advise looking at international or larger organisations. These are much more likely to have policies on equality diversity and inclusion and potentially LGBTQ+ representation. I mentioned the British Council earlier – they would be an excellent choice. Look also at International House, Wall Street Institute, and universities (although they are harder to get work in).
For my money, as a transgender person, most of western Europe would be a good bet (especially Portugal and Spain). However I also know of a trans woman teaching in Vietnam.
Do back yourself to succeed
You might find that this all seems impossible and overwhelming and there’s no way you will ever achieve this. You might tell yourself all manner of ‘logical’ reasons why you are doomed to fail:
“I’ve never taught, how can I ever succeed with this?”
“I can’t learn a new skill, I’m too [XYZ]”
“Teaching is for people with [personality / skill X]; that’s not me!”
“I don’t know anything about that country…” “I don’t know anyone there…”
“What if the students hate me?”
“What if I run into issues with the school?”
Well I’ve worked with people of all ages and backgrounds. I’ve actually trained a 62 year old who’d only started teaching university students a couple of years previously to teach preschool kids. He was great!
While you may face some issues with students or parents, this is why finding a good school is key. Not only will they be more willing to back you, they will also probably have a good training programme, and possibly some scheme to help integrate you into the country.
But even with the most supportive of employer, you still need to tell yourself ‘I can do this…’. Believe me; I have seen people from all walks of life succeed and thrive.
Do remain professional
OK, so story time: in my first TEFL job in South Korea I was terrible. I’d go out drinking every night. I’d come into work 30 minutes before class stinking of soju. My classes were poorly-planned, lacked structure and discipline. My students were bored and frustrated in my lessons. In other words, I was the worst.
But I wanted to stay. I realised – perhaps too late – that I really enjoyed the job and was hoping they would renew my contract. I asked the director if that was a possibility,
Friend; they did not renew my contract. On the last day of my contract, I got my severance pay and, because of the visa regulations, had 24 hours to leave the country. Luckily I had the privilege of being able to go back to the UK, take a qualification, and try again.
If you are looking at teaching as a means to get to a safer and better country, you do not want to be in a position where you need to scramble to get another job and go through an application process according to someone else’s timeline.
Don’t give the management the option of letting you go or dismissing you. Plan your lessons, go to the meetings, take the courses and get the qualifications, submit your paperwork on time. Yes, this does mean staying in the office a bit longer and doing the ‘boring’ stuff. But it will be noticed if you don’t. And it is appreciated when you do! It might also mean having to invest some time and money into getting a teaching qualification, but it will pay off in the long-run.
You can still enjoy the nightlife and the culture – but make sure you keep that to your own time!
Do gain local friends
Oh boy! Now don’t get me wrong; I love living abroad. I enjoy meeting all the variety of people who decided to move, and learn what has brought our paths to the same point. I have met some genuinely fascinating people. Some have lived with yak herders in Outer Mongolia. Some have been enforcers for local mobs. Some are absolute bullshit artists, but are so entertaining you have to forgive them for it.
But goodness gracious, so many of them love a moan about their host country!
I do often wonder why some people stick around certain countries for so long if they apparently hate everything about it, but be careful about getting drawn into their criticisms. While sometimes they do raise valid points, there’s often little that can be done about bureaucracy or cultural differences. I won’t say why I think they are complaining so long and loud about the place they chose to come to. I will say that it can often result in a myopic and superficial way of looking at the place.
So with this in mind, I would strongly recommend finding local friends or contacts as they will be much more useful in helping you to navigate things like healthcare provision, contract or governmental issues. They can also introduce you to other, wider social networks. I have found LGBTQ organisations and groups, sports teams, and other resources by looking locally rather than counting on the help of other “expats”.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t count on non-local people sometimes, it’s just you’re more likely to find what you need by digging a little deeper. This may mean working a bit harder – go onto Facebook or local sub Reddit groups, be a bit more ‘assertive’ in social settings, and – yes, elephant in the room – there will be language barriers. But that’s also where local friends can help.
Only four do’s?
I wrote this knowing this could only give a certain amount of information – I could easily write a book about this. I also recognise that this is rather general. It’s hard for me to go into specifics without knowing more about your personal circumstances. I hope that this has given you a few useful things to consider. I have found living abroad to be very rewarding and if you are considering it, I would recommend it – if you can do it right.
If you would find it useful, I am happy to answer questions. Feel free to reach out to me at andy@transrescue.org, and I’ll answer when I can.
About the author:
Andy (she/her) is an educator, parent, yoga enthusiast, traveller, cook, and transgender woman. She has a BSc in Psychology and an MA in Education, plus TEFL-specific qualifications CELTA and DELTA. She has been working in TEFL for 20 years, living and working in South Korea, Poland, the UK, Sri Lanka, and Kuwait. You can find her living in Warsaw, Poland with her girlfriend. But they would love to move to Madrid as soon as possible!
- How Accommodation Sharing Might WorkDonald Trump won the 2024 Presidential election, and since anti-trans rhetoric has been a central plank of both his campaign and the policies behind it, the prospects are not looking good for America’s trans people. Our advice to trans Americans is to leave the USA in any way possible before he has a chance to clamp down, so this document will consider how the trans community in safer parts of the world can ensure that there are adequate support structures in place when that happens. Our target audience today then are trans groups, allies, and activists outside the USA, who will be instrumental in providing that help.
Providing Safe Accommodation
What do we mean when we talk about help and support? Many arrivals from America will have nowhere to go, so safe accommodation will be of the most use to them. We don’t expect that support to spontaneously arise from the wider community as it did with the Ukrainian refugees, instead it’s up to us in the trans community to step up to the plate. Others will be needed to help them with legal or immigration issues, meanwhile the most important thing for them on arrival will be to know that they will not end up on the streets. This accommodation is, we think, best provided by individuals sharing their spare bedrooms or similar, and not by attempts to set up safe houses. A safe house is a complex thing to set up and get right, and on our travels we have seen more than one with significant problems.This is too big for a single group
Here at Trans Rescue, we know that our small network will not be anywhere near enough to handle the likely numbers of trans Americans needing help. To provide that support it will be necessary for a much wider coming together of groups and individuals to work in unison. This is a much bigger task than any single group can handle. It will be difficult for one international body to coordinate their support from a central point, so we think that each country should have its own groups meeting the needs of its arrivals. This could be a single point in the case of a small country, or a grouping of regional or provincial ones in the case of large countries such as Canada. We would expect that national or regional groups would work with each other in some way at a higher level, indeed we view this cooperation as essential. Our experience shows that when such entities fail to talk to each other it is inevitable that some passengers will disappear in the voids left between them. When lives are at stake there is no room for egos.How can this be done?
So, who is going to do this? It’s likely that there will be many activists willing to take up the baton, but we’d like to exercise a word of caution about going it alone. This is much too large a task for a single person, particularly one who is learning on the job. Down that road lies burnout and failure, so given the short time available to organise, it’s imperative that people work together. Whoever does it, the very nature of the job will require an extensive network to be built in a very short time, and the best placed to do this might be some of the existing support structures. Over the last few years we’ve seen very effective activism in the field of trans healthcare, and we’re guessing that groups of that nature might be best placed to provide the necessary networks. Working with local trans support groups that could find the people on the ground with spare capacity, and perhaps more importantly vouch for their not being problematic, they could then match those hosts with their arrivals. It’s likely that running such an operation will require some significant time from those involved. Far from simply putting up a website to match arrivals with hosts, this will need people to work the phones, maintain the network, check out issues on the ground, and support people wherever they end up. The volunteers running the operation will need to be aware they are making as significant a commitment as taking a second unpaid job for a few months, and it’s important that they do not overwork themselves and burn out. We think that the trans communities in countries outside the USA can provide this level of support to trans Americans fleeing a Trump presidency. We hope that this document has given something of a pathway by which that can be done, and we are looking forward to working in whatever way we can with whatever groups appear in this space. When this is eventually over, we all want to be able to look back at a successful operation to help those trans Americans who escaped Trump. Are you ready to join us? - Post Election Assistance to the USA
It’s happened, and Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States, with all that means for trans Americans.
We wish we could offer all of you one of our individual consultations to help you form a plan to get out. But we’re not going to be able to do that. Since the election was called, less than 3 days ago as we write this, we have received 130 requests for consults, and we expect the number to continue to grow. That’s far more than we can handle in a timely manner. So we are offering different services during this time.
Email. If you have emailed us asking for a 1 on 1 consultation, we are going to try to read every email you have sent. If we think a question won’t be covered by our other services, we’ll respond with an individual email besides our mail merge email. We continue to be reachable for questions at
usa-campaign@transrescue.org
but please attend one of our YouTube sessions first.
Streams We are going to be having a series of YouTube streams. Anyone can participate in these, and there will be a way to ask questions and have them answered. Some of these will be general information, and some will be on specific topics. We recommend first attending one of the general sessions, and then the one on a specific topic. There is a calendar embedded in this page below with times. We will record the live streams.
This is the link for the YouTube live stream.
Can’t make the live stream? The recorded sessions are here.
Office Hours. We will be having office hours. You can show up on an open Google Meet and talk with one of our staff. We ask everyone to first participate in one of our YouTube streams, as space in office hours is limited and better used for questions not handled by the presentations. Here’s the link for the office hours. See the calendar below for times:
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/fez-emmc-ryy
Or dial: 617-675-4444 PIN: 485 383 284 2751#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/fez-emmc-ryy?pin=4853832842751
Mutual Aid. We are organizing mutual aid resources, both in and outside the USA. We are collecting names of those who have a sofa and will host a trans person, those who can give you a spot in the outbuilding on their farm, those who can drive you to a border, and so on. If you can offer such resources, email volunteer@transrescue.org
Fifth, we are publishing more information all the time. Check out our website, particularly this article (bit dated, but still valid), our YouTube channel, and follow us on Mastodon @trans_rescue@mastodon.social. We still also have a presence on the bird site as @Trans_Rescue .
What to know up front
The situation is not hopeless. Of the roughly 80 Americans we’ve spoken with in consults before the election, we were able to help all of them come up with a realistic plan to get out. You need a passport. If you don’t have one, it’s the first step. If you haven’t applied, we suggest attending a help webinar first. We will have some info about how to best apply in the current situation. If you can’t afford one, attend our session on leaving while poor. We cannot give you money to help you leave. We continue to help people in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other incredibly deadly places. We believe anyone can leave, regardless of financial circumstance, on their own. We will have a special session addressing getting out if you have little or no money. Many of you have written to us about asylum options. Asylum is not a realistic option for leaving. Conditions for trans people in the USA at this time do not support an asylum claim. We will have a special event on asylum, but the TL;DR is it’s mostly unrealistic. Sending us material about what you think will happen in the USA is not helpful. We’re not interested in predicting the future. We help people leave. We are in the Netherlands. We would love to do more sessions at evening time, but this means being up at 3am for us. We feel being coherent is important during these broadcasts. We will have a special session on dealing with disability and disability payments. We’re struggling to find someone who can speak with authority on this issue.Special Sessions –
See calendar for times. Volunteer tourism – Nov 15 – a way to drastically cut the cost of living outside the USA. Canada – Nov 17 – Canadian visa options DAFT treaty visa and remote worker visas – Nov 18 – The Netherlands has an attractive visa program for Americans who can deposit 5500$ in an account and leave it and have a college degree or extensive job experience and will start a business (usually a consultancy) in the Netherlands. Getting out with few financial resources – Nov 19 – We think everybody can get out. Even if you’re not sure how you’ll pay the rent next month. DATE CHANGED – Now on Google Meet. Volunteer Tourism – Nov 20 – This option combines work and a holiday. This is a popular option for cis young people, but is increasingly a way to increase mobility for folks around the world. DATE CHANGED Citizenship by investment or heritage – Nov 22 – If you have ancestors from somewhere else, within 3-4 generations but especially within 1 or 2, you may be eligible for citizenship there. If you have equity in a home or own a business you may be able to move the investment and be given citizenship where you move. Disability – Nov 25 – untangling the complexities of moving when you are in the disability benefits system, or being disabled makes things more complex.Session Calendar
This calendar is on Pacific time (Los Angeles) - 2024 US ElectionA dark cloud has fallen over America, and it may be many years before it is lifted. The moment we all dreaded has arrived, the Presidential election has been called for Donald Trump. Trump’s supporters will undoubtedly act as though he is already president, and we expect in the immediate future they will act in the expectation that he will pardon any of their actions against people perceived as his enemies. We have already seen what MAGA followers were capable of on January 6th 2021, so we expect that their actions will be lawless. They have been primed for years to see trans people as the scapegoat for America’s problems, and as they search for victims it’s possible they might pick on their nearest one. We Americans in the west’s vast spaces stop to help travelers broken down far from town. We have faith that many of our fellow Americans will, in the end, help us in our time of need. You will find among your fellow citizens those who will respect and protect you, but think about your day-to-day security, and act accordingly. The one bright side is that, though Trump may have won the election it’s worth remembering that the Biden presidency lasts until the 20th of January. Between now and the inauguration there may be an increasing level of danger, but after that the conditions are certain to worsen precipitously. We believe that a Trump presidency will end any notion of safe states or of sanctuary cities, and thus our advice remains that if at all possible, as a trans person you should consider leaving the USA. Ideally you should do this before January 20. We have written at length about planning an exit, and we know that doing so in such a short time will necessitate some difficult choices. How you consider these is up to you, but start by getting yourself a passport if you don’t already have one. Then formulate your plan, whether it be getting on a plane or crossing a border, and once the document arrives, enact it. We know not everyone will escape the new American dictatorship, but we hope you can be one of those who does. Good luck.
- Eden House – Month one, and Why
We’re now 3 weeks into Eden House. It’s been a busy time, so we’re having an update.
What we’ve accomplished:
- Cleaned up
- Gotten the plumbing mostly repaired
- Been broken into 3 times, (local thieves, not transphobia as far as we know) and house security has held each time.
- Improved house security – secured the ladder, installed concertina wire atop the wall in places, replaced many of the locks, and installed motion detector lights
- Developed strong relationships with our neighbors. Honestly , the theives have been a blessing – they’ve given us a non-controversial roject to cooperate on.
- purchased basic household furnishings – cooking equipments, fridge, microwave, a plastic table, mattresses, curtains
- Made more household furnishings – we’ve made 3 sofas and 5 beds. (Tomato crates are amazing!).
- Bought basic carpentry tools, got past some gender stereotypes about what’s appropriate women’s work, and had basic tool use classes. Everyone caught on, and now is much more self sufficient.
- built a chicken coop
- Planted a garden
What Is Eden House, How is a ‘Trans Haven’ different from a ‘hidey hole’ or temp shelter?
A ‘hidey hole’ is a temporary place for a trans person to hide while we get them out. We have these in various places around the world. They’re uncomfortable bare rooms, not a place to live very long.
Some organizations make Queer homeless shelters. A place where a queer person can come and stay safely, but not very comfortably for the long term.
Instead, we’ve chosen to make a more ‘plush’ place. Trans folks can come and stay as long as they like. We help them find productive work within the context of the Haven. Some may choose to stay their entire lives, some may choose to leave soon.
Financially, we expect the place to become self supporting, a communal living space. Folks come and go at a stereotypical ‘hippy commune’, soem staying a long time. We can do much the same.
Why?
Obviously it’s a bigger undertaking than a minimal place with crammed in bunk beds. So why do it?
First, Kenya’s a big country, we regularly get folks asking us for help. Mostly in danger in a small town, they just need a place to go and a bit of travel money. Renting an apartment for each is expensive. In the end, Eden House becomes a free place to send folks.
Second, if folks are housed independent of each other, they’re without mutual support – at Eden House a job training program or remote work system or trauma support is easy to set up. Spread out, it’s not.
Third, Kenya is indeed dangerous – we picked a place with a wall, and it’ll take a lot of guts to attack a house full of people with good security (we’ve already made the house look a bit like a fortress – local thieves have been ‘pentesting’ it for us).
Fourth, institutions (police demanding bribes, local religious leaders stirring hate) have a harder target. We are already a resource for our neighbors (our neighbor benefits from our security arrangements, our other neighbor is a vendor (She supplies our chickens)).
Fifth, this is the start of a long term project– we can expand and form a constantly growing queer community. To do that people need to feel free to stay in or around the project.
To those of you who don’t remember the 80’s, Queer havens like San Francisco’s Castro and New York’s Christopher Street were important organizing centers.
If we have a strong community in one country or one city in East Africa, we can expand out and create change in the entire region. It’s not just Kenya that will change, but all East Africa.
Sixth, Kenya is a place we can get folks from the Middle East or Africa to easily, and those are some of the worst places to be trans now. Eden House makes our other operations much, much easier.
Seventh, Kenya’s a country with an improving record of human rights, largely outside the fascism taking over many countries. It might end up as a base to retreat to.
We’re excited! It’s new times. This article is a follow on to our main post about Eden House.
- Eden House Begins!
“Hii nyumba ni kama nyumba ya mungu luna ipa heshima.”
(This house is like a temple, and we respect it)
– ShillaAfter months of planning, fund raising, and work, our trans haven in Nakuru, Kenya is a reality. This post is being written in the office of Eden House.
We moved the first passengers in on August 1.
Our awesome volunteer, Simon Ng’ang’a, found us a really special place. It’s a lovely 3 bedroom 3 bath home with enough property for a chicken coop and garden. Its location on the outskirts of town is secure, quiet, and means we can move to the agricultural project vision gradually – renting a nearby field and expanding into it.
All of us in Nakuru have been working hard to turn the house from a rather dilapidated place that hadn’t been lived in for some time to a lovely home. We’ve cleaned a lot, we’ve had plumbers in and figured out the NASA like complexities of the plumbing, done a lot of small repairs, and are moving on.
We’re currently a bit in the ‘camping in our new apartment’ stage, with mattresses on the floor and a single cheap molded plastic table and chairs. But we’ve set up the kitchen (everyone but me seems to be a wonderful cook), and have daily basics like clothes washing, internet service, fridge, and so on established.
But we’re starting our move towards self sufficiency by building our own furniture.
The back porch currently has a lot of offcut lumber piled up, most of it with the bark removesd. We’re building 5 beds, a sofa, and a trestle type dining table. In preparation, I taught a basic tool use class (it’s not all one way – I finally got a proper lesson in how to wash clothes in a bucket from Sophia, I’d struggled with this before).
As much as teaching concrete skills, we’re working hard to get the women who grew up in the city used to the idea of doing for yourself.
Most of the folks in the house had little experience with self sufficiency, but they’re learning fast. In fact, after several ideas of how to build beds, we settled on an idea Arya came up with, based on used tomato boxes. And the idea of learning skills from YouTube is new to them all.We’re purchasing some basic tools, some chickens, a sewing machine, and some art supplies. Arya’s interested in starting clothing production, and Sophia’s a talented artist. Shilla brings many practical ‘farm’ talents – she’s going to start raising chickens and lead the project to put in a garden.
And yes, we have a large garden planted! Shilla took the lead on this project.
We’re doing more than we expected for this early phase of the project. We’re ready to start some skills training, but need equipment. The tools are purchased, but we could use more, and we need to purchase a sewing machine, sewing notions, some fabric, and some art supplies.
Eden House is on a residential lot on the edge of town, down a narrow dirt road. About 50% of the surrounding lots are used for agriculture. Our original plan was a house or apartment, then move into some self-sustaining agricultural project later as we grew. Instead, I think we can just grow the house where we are for some time, perhaps renting a nearby lot for agriculture.
The compound is the former home of a local MP. Politics can be violent in Kenya. For us, having a politician’s house means the property is very secure – it has a tall stone block wall topped with broken glass and a secure iron gate. All windows have secure steel bars. If (a realistic possibility here) there’s a violent protest, we’re secure.
Matching Funds For Eden House
One of our wonderful supporters (who wants to remain anonymous) has offered up a challenge. For every euro we raise, up to 2000 EU, she’ll match it 1 for 1. So let’s go, you can donate
- Trans Woman Assaulted in Kenya
May 25, Mombasa
Rita, a trans woman in coastal Kenya, was assaulted on May 15 at her restaurant chef job, after the restaurant owner learned she was trans. He and another employee attacked her, probably giving her a concussion and skull fracture.
The police came and arrested Rita, charged her with “impersonation” and “shaming” the restaurant. She was denied medical care, despite the severity of her injuries, and was placed in a cell with men. During the night she fended off a sexual assault.
Trans Rescue provided funds and some local trans women (some of the group starting Eden House) bailed her out. Trans Rescue also provided funds for medical and psychological care.
Anne Ogborn, a Trans Rescue staff member, said, “We’re particularly anxious to get Rita away from this area, since we fear she’ll be blackmailed now.”
As one of the women helping Rita said, “is it wrong to ask for a Job surely why are some people so heartless?”
We’re withholding the name of the restaurant and it’s owner to prevent retaliation against Rita. Rita is an alias.
Follow up. Rita collapsed during a follow up medical appointment and is currently in hospital. Trans Rescue is trying to raise 2000 EU to pay for medical care and to get Rita and the group of trans women she lives with out of the area on an emergency basis.
- Eden House – A Trans Haven in Kenya
In a country as large as Kenya, one place can be relatively safe while another is deadly for trans people. We can often save folks simply by getting them to another part of the country, and, often, away from parents.
A local ally rang us up recently with the sad news that there were 8 trans women in terrible conditions in a coastal town. A good-hearted local man was helping them, but he was out of funds and needed help.
They need out, and we’re getting them out. But we need a place to house them, and until we raise funds for it, they’re stuck in dangerous conditions.
Kenya has needed a trans haven for a long time. Now it’s an absolute necessity.
We want to rent a large apartment in Nakuru – a compromise between the most urbanized, accepting area and a reasonable cost of living. We’ll furnish it and set up a self government scheme.
We are working with local partners to provide training programs, mostly trade school type programs. Pastry chef, hairdressing, and similar occupations. These are often the entry to a reasonable standard of living in Kenya.
While Kenya’s record on trans rights is neither abysmal nor great, many Kenyans I’ve spoken with have expressed hope. Kenya’s a relatively new country, it’s economy is booming, and Kenyans see improved human rights in many areas as part of building their new society.
We have larger long term plans. A trans haven in a country that’s accessible to trans people with not so great passports would go a long way towards our goal of getting people to safety. We’ll be bringing in folks from dangerous places.
So, beyond this initial ‘some place safe for some trans women’ Eden House, we want a phase II. Buy land and start a hippy back to the land trans haven. These folks are Africans, they definitely do ‘back to the land’.
This is the implementation of a long term goal. We’ve been talking about establishing a trans haven in Kenya for 8 months. It’s time to do it.
Please help us. This work will cost 4000 € now, and another 4200 € over the next six months.
We believe we can find a corporate sponsor for ongoing costs, but we have to start this from the community.
Here’s our estimated costs
Eden House Costs
1700 EU furnishings 1000 EU Travel - staff member to Kenya for extraction & setting up 500 EU Extraction costs 400 EU Deposit/first month's rent 400 EU We sent a local volunteer on a reconnaissance mission 4200 EU First 6 months rent, food, utilities, etc.