#Rwanda 5 questions to Albert Nabonibo, gay activist in Rwanda, 21/05/2020

1- Good morning Albert Nabonibo, government in Rwanda  claims on international scene that there is no problems with LGBTQ people. But we have others versions in reality, how do you explain that ?

At the international level, I do not know what Rwanda has to say about LGBTIQ, because I am not in the administration to know the decisions that have been made in general, but in fact at the national level because I still have a lot to say. LGBTIQ in Rwanda we have a lot of problems, we are living a very bad life, some of us are traumatized by the way we are treated and we are afraid of not having a healthy life like other citizens.

There is no law that punishes or supports LGBTIQ in the country, this is why we live in a state of unspeakable injustice, silent discrimination. as everyone else has said, we are all Rwandans and we must have equal rights. So why is it that when a child is abused he goes to justice because he knows for sure that there is a law that protects him? So how will the victim of LGBTIQ go to justice if there is no law against him?

The top officials in the country have nothing to say about this, they are silent and that is why I told you that at the international level I do not know what the country is talking about because here in the country I do not hear what they are saying, so when it comes to regional and sectoral leadership and the grassroots there is now real discrimination because there people are staying very close to each other’s people are eyes observer that makes the community members live in hiding, afraid to be exposed because the perpetrator really has nothing to punish her for. I give you an example we have of these trans people who need to live as they feel, if they need to wear a jacket or a pair of shoes but if they throw stones on them who will complain? they choose to live the way they do not feel and sometimes live in a house that hide them which causes stress for a long time.

The image of the LGBTIQ should start in the middle of the country, people are given their rights and they are given the rule of law and if necessary I would call it special because like other every category in the country has its own rules and commissions have their own specials but LGBTIQ there is nothing to say about it! When all this is done in the country right now it will go up to the international level, so now you leave your home open and go to public to announce that your house is closed! There are thieves behind you It is my personal advice that no one says.

2- What does it means to be gay, bisexual, lesbian or transgender in Rwanda in 2020 ?

The fact that LGBTIQ in Rwanda 2020 means you are die standing, it means you have a mental problem and it means that you were born incomplete missing something in your life, ask the doctors and see if being LGBTIQ in Rwanda is normal life so so funny and very sad.

Our society treats you like a strange person and even says that you are a bad devil you should die, I wonder how it happened even today with such bad words I have chosen to keep quiet, it is common for many parents to beat their children to change what they are, because they have homosexuality by saying these are demons spirits . they choose to evict their children when they see them with that trait so that they can leave home and not infect other children like them as if were not their children, the perpetrators are so overwhelmed by the lack of a place to live, and now they have evicted you, you have nowhere to go you have nowhere to complain there you will leave with no address. There is a lot of sleep deprivation, drug user, drug, stealing and other bad habits because one is deprived of life choices and chooses to defend oneself to survive, yet everything is dead wherever I say.

So all this has led LGBTIQ Rwandans to do some of their groups with their names, I refuse to call them an organization because they have no documents, let me call them groups, they are gathering depend on their orientations gays themselves and lesbians themselves and also transi are grouped among themselves so sometimes they gather to discuss their problems in general. I can't say much here just to tell you that those groups are there and many of them live in hiding from the public and they need their rights me I belong to any group because I did my coming out personally and I accepted the contempt, I believe in everything else that will happen to me and I am ready to tell the truth about life, because I do not want to put someone in danger by pointing his life no usually I mean myself.

3-How do you live this situation ? 

Personally I have been in a lot of trouble since I came out, I was abused and silently where someone would pull you out of work and end up saying you said resign yourself now, is that possible? I was so despised and deprived of the way I looked and the way I put it out, I cried but none visited me to ask me how it happened, I lost a good job and I was educated and I was not stupid, I had the skills and the ability to do the job and I had the required experience.

Now am working for the community, I got closer to my other colleagues but specially to help them in some ways because I said I'm self-taught and most of us together now don't just have that opportunity they need for my ideas that they find useful, it's just that I learned to serve the community and give them feedback. If find myself doing what I have not learned and living happier, and imagine find yourself doing what you don't have the knowledge I don't know if you achieve to something but of course I will need knowledge to serve the community and then get it right.

I lost my friends, they told me they didn't live with someone like me, and that I had a demon I lost in front of many, there were people in the family who didn't talk to me, our society didn't believe in me and they laughed at us, they laughed at us in the mountains, sometimes they felt there were other spirits using us all. I will strive for a better life, I do not ask and I am very useful. Many accuse me of doing things that make me stressful, disrupt my life, now I have chosen to be alone, because in the family I was isolated somehow I don't want to hear what someone says about me but I do not want someone to help me but they will lack of importance, there are many people who know what we have for it to benefit the family, the country and the world need us look at how many gay people own their companies, their businesses and they are respected so why to not value our existence then? I was able to find the ability to pay for myself instead of, the community I work for has a little help for me and at some point it is not permanent, what can I tell you? I don't want to live and I ask I want to live as I work because I have the ability, and I live the way I want to because it is my right I don't want anyone to tell me to live like this, because no any insecurity that I have caused in the country, if no one else has a problem with me then why is my life in trouble? It's unbelievable

4- You received threats, that's why you want to emigrate ? 

I was abused for, I was chased from the house, I testify, I was so insulted, I was insulted all over the place by my colleague, so far no one has been able to comment on it, to do anything about it, in vain that I have been able to get out of the house and have access to it. I lost my job when I got that diploma and I think about other people who have nothing else to do and feel the danger they are facing!

For my part, I urge the international community to get involved into the countries law, understand it and give advice in some particular countries. The international community has its headquarters in each country and there are also human rights activists, paid, sitting in the office waiting to read other stories and collect them as their reports from work!! I was surprised to see my names coming out of those reports without my concern but I also called them to follow up on my issues and I was not contacted, which means that these organizations should set up a system and monitor all these issues especially as they are in charge of finding solutions. In other words, they take practical steps, so what do you do after reporting the victims? Storing information only in books?

If the protection of human rights is one of their responsibilities, should they really know if these rights are respected around the world? What do they do when they are not respected? And all the information from those who are concerned, you can't take the information from the goats to the sheep, the answer is that you look at the real sheep and not the goats, the LGBTIQ are there and they need to sit down with the international organizations and set together the activities, and they follow up, I see people pretending to speak for the LGBTIQ community because they have an interest in themselves and pretend that their voice goes far enough to go to the front line to come and speak for the community, but no one is answering when there is a case found they are only there for selling our troubles and problems as if we are their products.

I didn't come out as gas with the intention of moving from one country to another, I did it with the intention of sharing my life with people and that I have the right to live as I wish with all my heart. my right, none else was mentioned there in that I did come out on my own, and even the problems I go through will be solved like mine so there will be no confusion am not mobilizing none and nothing just share my ideas, I did it and I thought about it and I will bear from all consequences.

Going from one country to another is not a lasting solution, but a solution is to talk to my country and ask to live as I am and feel, but I hate it when I don’t know because where should I go without losing my tradition? Instead I wonder if I want to get married to my lover and what is the law? What do you think about it? will I always be on the lookout for my rights?

5- What do you hope ?

I feel this question is probably being asked by the Government, or other people in decision-making bodies in the state because I have no decision! All I have to say is, from the moment I came out I saw the thunderstorms, I saw everyone was amazed, I saw myself as if I had done something extraordinary and I felt normal because at my age, people I knew felt this was normal.

The advice I give is accepted by those who give me confidence, it is necessary for LGBTIQ Rwandans themselves to first know and understand it because I also found that some people don't know it well and if someone calls me and tells me that he feels pressured by boys and maybe he has a wife and children, how do I respond? If the LGBTIQ themselves do not know for sure nothing that will come up.

Second, Rwandans need LGBTIQ themselves to say we don't need someone who doesn't know us and who we are, where everyone is said to be an activist!! Anyone who wants to do a project goes for human rights and even if they don't know the rights, they don't have the knowledge or experience to allow them, let the owners say it even if they are afraid of their safety but the heroes will speak, I did it and I mad it regardless the consequences.

In Rwanda why are there no legitimate organizations with documents on LGBTIQ? Now that I have any confidence, I don't have any, people just are praying business on us.

Every level is represented in our parliament, if you live with a disability, there is a representative in the parliament, so we also need someone to represent us in the parliament and who has come out of us and sent by us to represent us there and we do not need someone else to be there on our benefits because we do not know him.So far no one was able to send in the perfect solution, which is not strange. In order for trust to exist, there is a need to change attitudes, for parents, for society in general and for the country to let go and say where it stands and how it thinks, and now I feel like have no hope without having anyone to talk about all the issues I mentioned, instead every one is saying all is right.

Thanks