Due to my sexual orientation I am trapped I'm my own country, as a result of high levels of political and social persecution that the LGBT community faces. Im forbidden the right to Love, to education and even safety. Within the world of the dramatic arts I have found a way to be free and express who I am to the world, and now I'm at the point where Inwant to use this avenue to develop my own potential and fight for justice for the thousands of LGBT people in Tanzania just like me, who have faced unjustified persecution because of who they are, and still hiding just like myself to simply Live.

Despite being raised in poverty by my mother I always dreamed of a brighter and more hopeful future. Unfortunately this hope and dream was thrown to oblivion following my explosion at school at the age of sixteen. I confined in my teacher who had previously shown me great kindness, I told her about my sexual orientation. I was not safe to speak, she told the board and my family. My mother not being able to understand my circumstance, disowned me along with the rights to educate myself. This was decided for me by the board and the fear of being exposed. I became an outcast and had to learn to defend for myself, build resilience and I perfected the English language. In pursuit of happiness I fled to South Africa for a new beginning. After being robbed at gunpoint, threatened and all that I possessed taken away from me outside a shelter I was staying in, I decided to return to my Tanzania for a clean slate.

However, all of the testing times I have expected have strengthened my belief that any challenge can be defeated, and furthermore that positivity and persistence will lead to solutions. I'm eager to be a solution to a wide number of challenges facing LGBT youth and to make sure others like me don't go through what I have. I wish my society could understand that being gay is not a choice, that innocent people should not be killed or buried over Love. I believe that media and representation is the subtlest yet most effective way to change perceptions and a medium for education to transform the violence. Educating myself in the UK will set me on the best and safest path to make long lasting changes for my community by equipping me with the correct attitude and skillset needed.