Lotus Insight Sangha and the International
Kakuma Lesbian Collaboration
How do we maintain our humanity while experiencing incredible obstacles, violence and hardships?
African sisters have fled extreme anti-queer attitudes in home countries such as Uganda and the Republic of Congo where their lives were in danger. Forced into arranged marriages, abused, and when discovered to have relationships with women, threatened with death by family members, they needed to flee, with their children. Many landed at this giant Kakuma refugee camp, in the northern desert of Kenya. Even in the Kakuma refugee camp, they continued to experience harassment and violence at the hands of other residents, police, and the UNHCR authorities who should be ensuring their safety.
Lotus Insight Sangha works with the Kakuma Lesbian Refugee and Kids Collaboration. We are helping gather funds for medicine, food, shelters, and rents, for lesbian sisters and their families stranded in Kenya and nearby countries waiting to be granted exit visas. Because they are queer, they have been waiting many years to get official status to emigrate to safe countries. And with the US currently closed as an option, many refugees are stranded, needing to wait for other overburdened countries to respond.
Come to a Virtual Workshop with African Lesbian Refugees
Listen to African sisters’ powerful stories and wisdom: the challenges they’ve faced, the victories they’ve won, and the ongoing fight for safety and dignity.
Join us
Saturday March 21 10:30am-11:45am PDT for a Webinar with Sisters from Kakuma.
Really happy meeting when the first of three Kakuma Sisters and their families finally were approved for asylum in Canada.
Pacific Daylight Savings Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 10:30 am PDT
Eastern Daylight Savings Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 1:30 pm EDT
London, United Kingdom Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 5:30 pm GMT
Berlin, Germany Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 6:30 pm CET
Nairobi, Kenya Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 8:30 pm EAT
Get a look at how mutual aid and international advocacy can work in practice. Discover concrete ways you can stand in solidarity and make a difference.
Register Here for the workshop
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSejf4Ddjm5fVrWJg55zSTky3dJ7yPqPbYqLLDHxz1QEWI7D0A/viewform
If you can’t make it and would like to give financial support to the African Sisters and Family that are in fragile positions waiting for immigration, please see the tax deductible links below.
Meet and hear the experiences of these brave lesbians, many mothers with children, who fled oppressive conditions in nations such as Uganda only to face violence and deprivation in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.
PayPal Link to Make a Tax Deductible Donation For LIS-Kakuma Refugees
Email us with questions or for more information
Or donate by check and mail to:
Lotus Insight Sangha
PO Box 28781, Seattle WA 98118
Mark “Kakuma” in the memo line