Cameroon: Blog readers again help feed 3 gay inmates
The three ill-fed victims of Cameroon’s anti-gay law at Yaoundé’s central prison will soon receive another delivery of much-needed food thanks to generous readers of this blog.
The three young men are serving sentences for no crime other than being homosexual.
Two of them, Olivier and Albert, are nearing the end of four-year prison sentences. They are partners, ages 26 and 24, who both trained for careers in the restaurant business, had saved up money and opened a small eating establishment in Yaoundé.
HELP US HELP THEM
But in 2014 a homophobic neighbor reported them to police. They were arrested, tried and convicted of violating Article 347-bis of Cameroon’s penal code, under which same-sex intimacy is punishable by a prison sentence of six months to five years.
Eric, a 24-year-old singer and dancer, has been serving an eight-month sentence, also for violating Article 347-bis. He was charged with homosexuality by police who arrested him in January outside a cabaret where he was performing. They found lubricating gel in his possession and photos of naked men on this phone.
Like Olivier and Albert, he is scheduled to be released in late September.
Prisoners get only one meal a day, so they need the supplementary nutrition that support for this blog’s Not Alone / Pas Seul project make possible.
The donations have come from Mexico, the United States, France and Luxembourg.
Readers were also invited to send the prisoners some words of encouragement in addition to the food. Reader/donor Kenneth Fyrsterling has already sent a long message of encouragement to the prisoners, which this blog published in French and in English.
The budget for the August-September delivery is 100,000 CFA francs (about US $175). Of that, 20,000 was donated in cash in Cameroon. The remaining 80,000 is in the process of being transferred from the foundation’s account in the United States to activist journalist Steeves Winner in Cameroon.
The money will be used to purchase a month’s worth of rice, tapioca, sugar, bouillon cubes, tomatoes , onions, pasta, cooking oil, etc., and for the expenses of making sure that it is delivered to the prisoners as planned.
The food will be delivered to the prisoners by the LGBTI advocacy group Humanity First Cameroon, this month’s partner organization in the project. The previous month’s delivery was made by the LGBTI advocacy group Camfaids (the Cameroonian Foundation for AIDS). Cooperating with sometimes-squabbling local advocacy organizations is part of the goal of the project.
The food purchase and verification of the delivery will be overseen by Winner and by Jason Mballa of Adepev (the Cameroonian group Action for the Development and Fulfillment of Vulnerable People). Mballa is a member of the project’s local advisory committee for the Pas Seul / Not Along project.
For more information about each of the three prisoners, read these articles in the blog:
- Goal after prison for homosexuality: Reopen a restaurant
- Cameroon: ‘Get out of this hell’ is gay prisoner’s first goal
- Gay Cameroon inmate is eager to get back to songs and dance
For more information about the Pas Seul / Not Alone project, read:
- This blog’s archive of articles about the project
