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Interview with Daniel Onyango (NYARWEK)

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Interview
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The start and planning of the SERENE project has been greatly affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have had to postpone the first project workshop, that was supposed to take place in May 2020, and we don’t know when we will be able to reschedule it. An important part of the first workshop was for project partners to meet, get to know each other, and learn about each other’s work. As an alternative way to address that aim, we publish a series of short interviews with stakeholders. The first is with Daniel Onyango, executive director of NYARWEK, in Kenya.

 

Could you please briefly introduce yourself and your organisation?

My name is Daniel Onyango, and I’m the executive director of NYARWEK, which is the Nyanza, Rift Valley and Western Kenya LGBTI Network. We are an umbrella organisation of a number of local community-based LGBTI groups in Western Kenya, and our work is to coordinate and stimulate all activities relating to community engagement, social empowerment and political advocacy. NYARWEK was formed in 2009 to advocate for the rights of LGBTI people, sensitise service providers and provide a platform for dialogue between the LGBTI community and other sections of society. Our activities are wide-ranging, from social empowerment programmes in the LGBTI community to sensitisation of the police and medical officers; from training religious leaders to mobilising for legal and political change. For instance, NYARWEK is one of the signatories of the recent petition for the decriminalisation of homosexuality that was rejected last year by the High Court – a decision we have appealed against to the Supreme Court.

How does your work relate do the focus of SERENE, on engaging religious leaders on issues of LGBTI inclusion in East Africa?

We are a community-based LGBTI organisation, operating on a non-faith basis seeking to promote human rights. However, from our work in the community we realised how prominent the role of religious leaders is in Kenyan society: they influence public opinion, shape people’s attitudes and have a high level of authority. If we could sensitise religious leaders, that might provide us a key toward larger social change on the longer term. However, in order to engage religious leaders, you need to speak a different language, you can’t just talk about human rights, sexual health and things like that, you need to speak a theological language and address religious concerns.

to engage religious leaders, you need to speak a different language

Thus, in 2012 we initiated a programme targeting religious leaders. We worked with some LGBTI friendly clergy to develop a programme aiming at demystifying LGBTI sexualities. We simply wanted to provide a safe space for dialogue, not debate. We received help from IAM (Inclusive and Affirming Ministries) which is a South African organisation with experience in engaging religious leaders. But we also realised that the Kenyan context is different from South Africa, legally and culturally, so we needed to adjust to that. We conducted a baseline survey among over 300 clergy in Western Kenya mapping their attitudes toward LGBTI people and their understanding of the subject. Hence, we developed a training manual called “SAFE Spaces”, for working with religious leaders. It takes religious leaders on a journey to reflect on their role in society – what is their calling? – and to think about stigma and discrimination, human sexuality, human rights, and discipleship.

Initially we trained 12 trainers of trainees, here in Kisumu, in Nakuru and other towns in the region. Through them we have now reached over 600 religious leaders in the region. We trained clergy from Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist churches but also from Pentecostals and indigenous churches. We have recently developed another version of the manual specifically for Pentecostal pastors which usually have less theological training.

How have you and your organisation been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and how do you try to continue your work?

The current COVID-19 pandemic has a severe impact on our work. First, because of the lockdown our offices are closed and our staff is working from home. Many of our scheduled programmes had to be cancelled or postponed. Second, the lockdown measures imposed by the Kenyan government directly affect members of the LGBTI community. For many of them, isolation at home means that they are stuck with family members who often are homophobic. They are also affected economically as they can’t make their livelihoods. And access to medication, for instance for HIV treatment, has become difficult. Addressing mental health issues have always been a big part of our work but is now more important than ever. Through our social media channels we reach out to community members and try to facilitate peer to peer support. We try to do as much as we can to support the community, but it is difficult.

isolation at home means that they are stuck with family members who often are homophobic

What do you hope to get out of the SERENE project, once this pandemic is over?

We’re very excited to be part of the SERENE project, for three reasons. One, we look forward to sharing best practices with the other partner organisations and learn from one another. Second, we are keen on building a collaborative religious programme in East Africa together with the other partner organisations in the network. Third, we hope that we can produce material that can feed into the current appeal against the decision to reject our petition for the decriminalisation of homosexuality. In the high court ruling against the decision, reasons of culture and religion dominated the argument. So we need to come up with evidence to counter such arguments, making the point that religion and culture are not necessarily against LGBTI rights. We are Kenyans, we are proud of our culture, we believe in God. If only the government could recognise that!

We are Kenyans, we are proud of our culture, we believe in God. If only the government could recognise that!

NYARWEK staff and members