Betrayed by parents, two gay prisoners await results of our plea for funds – Erasing 76 Crimes
Donations to the Not Alone Project 2022 have reached 61% of the goal of $4,500, the amount needed to deliver food, pay court-imposed fines and provide legal support for seven ill-fed detainees in Cameroon who are in prison merely for being gay. New donations will be doubled by a 1-to-1 matching offer of $1,000. In Cameroon, prisoners whose fines have been paid are released early, so donations will have a direct, doubled effect.
U.S. tax-deductible donations to the project may be made via the St. Paul’s Foundation for International Reconciliation:
The story of Cam and Don, two of the seven victims of Cameroonian homophobia, is below. Pseudonyms are used for their safety.
By Courtney Stans
Two sets of homophobic parents reported their sons to police last March after discovering that the young men were in love with each other.
Cam, age 24 — tall, slim, sporting dreadlocks — is a nurse by profession who worked in a clinic in the city of Yaoundé. He has been in a relationship for two years with Don, age 26. Don is a perfume store manager with an average build and close-cropped hair.
Last winter, the pair decided to move in together, so they left their family homes without warning.
Their parents, who live near each other and know each other well, had no idea that their sons were in a romantic relationship.
Between the two of them, Cam and Don earned a decent living, so they had no problem moving in together in a small apartment in Yaoundé that was far from their parents’ homes. They believed that they had escaped from judging eyes and could discreetly enjoy their love.
They were wrong. Their parents repeatedly searched for their departed children and eventually got help from other young people in the neighborhood.
Some of the neighborhood’s youths told the families: “Your children are fags. We saw them in a distant neighborhood where they live together as a couple.”
Don recalled, “We never imagined that our families would find us one day. Our goal was not to shock anyone, because we knew that people would judge us if they ever found out about our relationship.”
The parents reported their sons to police. A team composed of the parents, police officers, and informants from the neighborhood searched for Cam and Don for three days.
In March 2022, the searchers found them at their shared apartment. Police arrested them there and transported them to the police station. After being physically abused, Cam and Don confessed their homosexuality.
They were confined at Kondengui prison in Yaoundé, where they still are awaiting trial on homosexuality charges.
Like all prisoners there, they get only one meager, ill-prepared meal a day. Other prisoners receive supplemental food from families and friends, but Cam and Don do not. They receive no visits from their families or friends.
They have no lawyer to represent them at a trial, which has not yet been scheduled.
Cam and Don will receive deliveries of food and will get legal representation if Project Not Alone 2022 raises its full goal of $4,500. The money is needed to pay for food and hygiene items and for the access fee for visitors who will deliver the groceries to them. Even though attorneys from Défenseurs Sans Frontières have agreed to represent Cam and Don for free, money is still needed to pay legal expenses such as filing and copying fees.
The two lovers are not resigned to their fate.
“Love has no limits and we don’t choose who to love,” Don said. “Why are we imprisoned if all we’ve done it to love each other?”