FAKE: Confronting hatred: the Joe Odero story

THIS ARTICLE WAS BASED ON DOCUMENTS THAT, ON INVESTIGATION, APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN FAKED. It has been labeled “FAKE” rather than simply removed from the blog. As a result, any readers who follow links to it will see the “FAKE” label rather than merely receiving an “Oops! That page can’t be found” error message.
— Colin Stewart, editor/publisher of this blog

Donate to the Joe Odero Fund

Joe Odero in the hospital after the attack.
Joe Odero in the hospital after the January 2016 attack

Because of his reporting, Joe Odero was bludgeoned, left for dead, and lost his brother in a revenge murder.

That all occurred because his journalism had exposed the murderous mutilation of an intersex Kenyan teenager in late 2015.

Despite a nearly fatal attack in January 2016, Joe testified in court about what the youth told him on the teenager’s death-bed. Because of the physical damage Joe suffered in that attack, Joe needed a kidney transplant to survive. Financial donations from supporters made that operation possible, along with a donated kidney from a family friend.

Joe’s testimony helped send six attackers to prison in late 2016, but Joe had to flee from Kenya to save his life.

This battered figure is what’s left of Joe’s young sister’s beloved “Mama Loice” doll, which she has carried with her as the family has repeatedly moved to escape from the men seeking to kill Joe.

Now he’s supporting the four surviving members of his orphaned family and hoping to complete his university education. Please help him.

Because his life remains at risk, he uses a pseudonym and his current location is kept secret.

The early episodes of his confrontation with violently homophobic Kenyan criminals can be read in the blog posts titled “Confronting Hatred” (See list below.) More recent events will be narrated in a book of the same title, which is currently in progress.

Joe is about to start working on a farm to raise money in addition to doing his university school work. His family gets by on about US $100 per person per month, so he needs $492 per month, and a further $1,330 to complete his tuition payments.

Goal: $7,300 for the next 12 months.

To support this courageous young man’s work, donate to the Joe Odero Fund.

These articles provide the backdrop for the “Confronting Hatred” series:

These are the articles that have been published so far in the “Confronting Hatred” series, which describe the remarkable events, courageous actions and violent reactions that led to Joe’s current plight:

Independent verification of the facts of Joe’s case can be arranged, but only by a limited number of people whose involvement would not put his life at risk.  One independent verification has already been conducted. On behalf of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a Kenyan reporter looked into Joe’s situation, interviewed him and contacted people to confirm Joe’s account. After the CPJ received that report, the organization agreed to cover the remaining unpaid portion of the hospital bill for Joe’s kidney transplant.

What remains to be accomplished is to keep Joe’ family alive while they’re in hiding and to allow Joe to complete his university education. To make that possible, donate to the Joe Odero Fund.