Based on a life story interview with Tigan (15 September 2019)

I am a simple person and I love simplicity. I care about people so much; sometimes my friends complain, asking, ‘Why do you care about other people so much? You need to care about yourself too.’ It’s my weakness. I’m also a happy person, and I’m very sarcastic, overly sarcastic but I’m serious on some issues. I always speak my mind. It has been so hard for me to admit, but right now I can admit that I’m a gay person; I identify as gay. I’m a man attracted to fellow men, emotionally and sexually.

I am from Uganda. I’m a refugee here in Nairobi, Kenya. It’s a journey I didn’t choose, as I always thought I would stay in my country and be happy, like, forever. But then something happened, and I had to make the journey. I was not ready for it; I had never been out of my country at all; I always used to have my family with me, because I was one of those persons that didn’t have that many friends. I was always with family. So when I got issues with my family, when they found out about my sexuality, they disowned me and it really shocked me. I didn’t have anyone else. I learned my lesson, that I have to open up to friends outside, try to open up to other people and not only depend on family, because family can leave you and you are left with nothing.

When my family found out about my sexuality, they were like, ‘Are you gay? We can’t live with that.’ I was disowned by my family; I was blackmailed by the boss I was working for then. That’s why I had to run for my life. It was a horrible experience but thank God I can talk about it right now. At first it was very hard for me to talk about it, even at UNHCR. When I went to register and had my first interview, they asked, ‘Tell us why you left your country?’ It was really hard. But in fact, the officials there were very okay, because of course they have heard a lot of stories. I was surprised that they were so easy on the subject.