Cameroon: Homeless trans woman illustrates what U.S. cutbacks have done

LGBTQ rights activist and journalist in Cameroon.

Yas needs shelter and health care, but Cameroon lacks resources to help

COMMENTARY

In Douala, Yas, a 37-year-old trans woman, lives in extreme poverty and constant danger. Rejected by her family and a victim of repeated violence, she is now homeless, without healthcare and without protection. Her situation illustrates the dramatic vulnerability of trans people in Cameroon, deprived of refuge and support.

Disappearance of shelters, worsening vulnerabilities

In the past, a few shelters accepted LGBTI people, providing them a minimal level of safety. But since the United States suspended Pepfar funding, these spaces have disappeared.

Douala now has no shelters to accommodate victims of rejection and violence. Yas is emblematic of this neglect: For two months, she has been surviving in an abandoned hair salon, exposed to insecurity and stigmatization, in precarious conditions where she tries to keep fellow squatters unaware of her gender identity, .

Unanswered appeals

Despite appeals from the Global Fund through the non-profit organization JAPSSO, no solution has been found for Yas. Follow-up efforts by the non-profit SOS Solidarity Rights and Health similarly left Yas without safe accommodation or medical care.

These failures highlight the glaring shortcomings in the protection of trans and LGBTI people in Cameroon, and the urgent need to establish sustainable support mechanisms.

Immediate eneds

Yas’s situation calls for urgent action:

Whose Pride is it, anyway?

Safe shelter, to leave the shadows and escape threats.
Medical and psychosocial care, to treat her physical and psychological wounds.
Supportive assistance, to help her regain hope.

A call for solidarity and collective responsibility

An urgent appeal to local organizations, international partners, human rights defenders, and people of goodwill: Yas needs immediate protection. Her case is not isolated, but rather a symbol of a collective emergency.

Supporting Yas means defending and reminding everyone that no one should be condemned to live hidden away in an abandoned building to survive. Donors and partners must restore funding and strengthen protection mechanisms for trans and LGBTI people in Cameroon.

To offer help for Yas, write to Jean Jacques Dissoke at info@76crimes.com.