Colours of Cape Town
After months of planning, we finally had our Colours of Cape Town event. The event featured five LGBTI refugee speakers, two LGBTI refugee artists selling their work, food and drinks, and free HIV and STI testing. I am grateful that the owner of Six Spin, Robert, lent us the space for free and provided staff for the event.
Honestly, the logistics of the event were difficult. First, our main speaker’s mother died a week before the event and we were forced to improvise. I decided that it would be best to have an introduction by the director of our organization and then have the five LGBTI refugee speakers share their stories. Although the event’s theme was the intersectionality of homophobia and xenophobia, I was very conscious about letting the speakers choose what they said. Second, communication was difficult between myself and the speakers due to language barriers and their lack of access to cell service. A third challenge we faced was the HIV testing group who had committed to the event a month prior, backed out a few days before the event. Instead, the HIV testing was done by a group called Anova and we were fortunate that they could come at such short notice. Fourth, although we wanted entertainment at the event and found a cool musical artist named Umlilo to perform, he was located in Johannesburg and we decided that the cost of flying him to Cape Town was too high. Instead, we played music by LGBTI artists from a cell phone.
Despite these logistical challenges, the night was great. Around eighty people showed up and we were able to take down their e-mails and phone numbers for future contact. My boss decided that my coworker, Trish (name has been changed), and I would MC the event, which was just to announce each of the speakers. I began feeling hot and light headed. Then, Trish said she was feeling ill and could not announce anymore. Let that be foreshadowing.
Our first speaker was Tokiti, a gay man from the Congo who shared his story of walking to South Africa and being mocked at the border for being gay. I worked with Tokiti during my time at the organization and he is an intelligent, kind individual. He also has a masters degree and yet is working solely as a volunteer at this point due to his current status in South Africa. The next speaker was Stella, a lesbian from Malawi. She spoke of her mistreatment in her Aunt’s house and the difficulties of being a Black lesbian in South Africa. She also explained that many people from Malawi who immigrated to Cape Town still maintain their anti-gay beliefs. After Stella, Flavina, a trans woman from Burundi, spoke about her experiences. She discussed the danger of being Trans in a township and the daily fear she has walking by herself. Her friend Petra, also a trans woman, spoke about being attacked many times due to her identity. She had been stabbed multiple times, unfortunately a story I was familiar with given my time working with a Trans woman in the office. Finally, Ruvimbo, a lesbian woman, offered words of encouragement for the future of the movement, though she emphasized the need for each of us to participate. After each of the speakers were able to share their stories and messages, we had time for people to mingle, ask questions, and try to determine how each of us can use our own specific skills to help the LGBTI refugee population in Cape Town.
As I was mingling and tying up last minute financial logistics (we paid for the event with funds from the gofundme created earlier this summer), Trish texted me that she needed me to come to the bathroom ASAP. I quickly excused myself and hustled to the bathroom. The hallway was splattered with vomit, as was the bathroom door and bathroom itself. I helped my friend and coworker get cleaned up and felt really bad for not being able to help more. I then went back to help arrange rides for those who needed them and kept checking back in with her. Overall, the night was amazing, with some challenges and juggling many different tasks at once. That, in a sentence, could also describe the totality of my time in Cape Town.