Recently, our newest Shelter City Utrecht guest was invited for a guest lecture and Q&A session at the Hague of Applied Science University as part of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) course.
This gave us the opportunity to share who we are as Shelter City, and our guest the opportunity to discuss and inform around 30 students about her activist work back in Kenya. This includes human rights violations relating to LGBTQIA+ individuals as well as gender based violence including femicides and intimate partner violence specifically among homosexual/queer couples.
The enlightening Q&A session after her presentation created a space where students were able to exchange ideas and learn about the importance of her work in Kenya. It allowed for the discussion of many important aspects of the situation in Kenya. This includes topics such as the impact of anti-LGBTQIA+ laws in neighbouring countries, the importance of intersectionality in activist work, and how the older population in Kenya often perceives the LGBTQIA+ community as a Western or Gen Z phenomenon.
Most importantly, a central theme of the discussion was the covert ways the government puts in place anti-LGBTQ laws, by promoting it as a pro-family laws, and how these laws impact the community in Kenya, and neighbouring countries like Uganda.
Additionally, the conversation highlighted the crucial role of international support, especially in terms of financial backing.
At the end of the lecture, students were handed out postcards made by PBI and were given the time to write small words of support to show solidarity to people in Kenya.
This was all possible thanks to Wilde Ganzen, the EU, and Connect for Global Change. This content is the sole responsibility of PBI Nederland and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
