About MAREPA
MAREPA was formed as a response to the prevailing situation of young LGBTQI+ refugees in Kenya and a desire to continuously and sustainably support them in this crucial transition of their lives.
In this, we realized that getting a safe shelter that can temporarily host those evicted from their rentals regardless of his/her/their sexual orientation would play a big role in changing our peoples’ lives. At present, we have 11 residents at the MAREPA Safe Shelter: four gay men, one bisexual, two transgender people, two lesbians, one gender non-conforming, and one child, all of whom are refugees. Since the house started in 2019 September, we have hosted more than 40 refugees within the LGBTQI+ community.
Many residents find MAREPA through referrals from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees/Refugee Affairs Secretariat (UNHCR/RAS), so most residents are registered refugees under UNHCR/RAS with valid UNHCR/RAS documents. However, we welcome any national (Kenyan) LGBTQI+ member who is found disowned, discriminated against, or looking for a temporary safe space due to attacks or threats. We also prioritize those living with HIV.
We are currently applying for grant funding to expand our services beyond residents of the Safe Shelter so that we can provide special care and support to LGBTQI+ Refugees living with HIV such as nutritional support, counseling services, linking to health facilities for medication, continuing health education and much more.
We reach out to current HIV-negative LGBTQI+ refugees with health education sessions via outreach through our COMMUNITY NAVIGATORS, teaching them about prevention measures of HIV and STIs such as using PeP & PreP, consistent and correct use of condoms and lubricants, and Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT).
We also look forward to advocating for our community's rights against violence that comes from different directions and communities. We plan to provide legal support to those who are violated either by law enforcers, partners, rowdies, clients, health workers, and organization staff by linking them to legal teams from different organizations for legal service consultation.
We also plan to engage in livelihood programs for skill-building that will give our community opportunities to learn and strengthen skills they already have. In this, we hope to conduct training on business development skills and other short courses to help our own be able to financially sustain themselves here in Kenya and in the future after their resettlement.
We have already received a grant from Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America to provide trauma awareness training and we are in the grant writing process to fund the aforementioned programs. But we are currently in need of monthly support to provide consistent food and shelter to our residents.