My name is Sofia. I am 23 years old and transgender or genderfluid. I fled war in my home country when they started to torture and kill LGBT+ people like me. Now I urgently need funds to support me to live somewhere safe and find a lawyer for my case. Please can you help me?

Back home since childhood I was bullied and harassed because of my feminine gender identity. I had no friends and was beaten and molested in school. Then when my country was taken over by religious militia, LGBT+ people like me were reported so that we could be killed. I was so afraid that someone would report me that I began to wet myself regularly. Soon after I escaped with my whole family to a neighbouring country, but when we arrived my brothers threw me out saying I was too feminine and a disgrace to the family. The more I grow, the more feminine I appear.

Sadly my host country is still hostile to LGBT community, and since then, I have been the victim of harassment on the street and from police. I have been beaten, sexually abused, and kicked out of shared housing with men because of my feminine gender identity. Something I cannot control. I have been registered with the UNHCR for 4 years to help transfer me to a safe country where the rights of minorities are safer, but still there is no progress on my case.

Can you donate just a few pounds a month to help me live somewhere safe and find a lawyer to help with my case?

£20 will pay for my food for a week

£35 will pay for somewhere safe for me to stay for a week

£100 will go towards consultation of a lawyer to help with my case

I don’t want to be sent back to a war zone where I will be killed for my gender identity. I don’t want to stay in a country where people are hostile and abuse me. I don’t want to commit suicide because I have no hope left.

I believe in good and the power of people to make a difference. I want to help others, but right now I need a chance in life.

Please can you help me?

*** GOOD NEWS UPDATE AUG 2021 ***

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed so far! I am overwhelmed by your support!

I thought I must share a little update for you.

One month ago at the end of Eid, I was stopped by police as part of a clean-up operation to remove displaced people seeking sanctuary from the city where I live now. The amount of people seeking sanctuary here is a political issue here in the run up to the next elections. Along with many others, some as young as fifteen, I was held in a dirty cell, denied access to water to take my medication, and was under threat of being forced to sign “voluntary return papers” back to my home country which is at war. People in my cell were beaten right in front of me. I was terrified of being beaten and illegally sent home. I was not allowed to speak to my lawyer. I spent days knocking my head against the cell wall in despair.

But thanks to the efforts of my friends who got my story into the Press, and an international network of activists who helped petition for me, I was released two weeks ago. But I was very affected by it. It was a terrible, traumatic experience that sadly many people are still going through.

My friends started this fundraiser for me, and it has helped me so much. Knowing that you all are helping me and thinking of me gives me so much strength.

And last week I received some incredible news – the UNHCR contacted me and told me I would be given emergency resettlement in a country that is welcoming of LGBTQ minorities!

That means that my dream of living in another country where I will not be persecuted for my gender and sexual identity is within my reach.

I cannot tell you what it feels like to imagine living in a world where I do not have to hide, and do not have to live in fear of violence, execution and death because of who I am.

I do not even know how this will feel.

But there is still some way to go towards my target, and I still need help and support while I await resettlement. It still can take months, and I am not able to be out in the streets because otherwise I risk being arbitrarily arrested because they know my face.

I am effectively in hiding until my resettlement offer comes through.

Please could you help me reach my target? Even the smallest donation is so appreciated. And if you can share my link with your friends and family to reach more people, it will help me so much.

Nothing gives me strength to carry on like knowing that you are all with me.

Thank you so much for all your help, because of you I can see a brighter tomorrow.

* EVEN BETTER NEWS UPDATE OCT 2021*

Guess what!!! I received the call to go to collect my resettlement documents and I will be flying to Canada in a week!

I am amazed and not believing and grateful. Four months ago, I was at my lowest being illegally detained in prison as part of a police crackdown on refugees arriving from Afghanistan. I feared being sent back to Syria.

It is only four months later and my life changed completely. Thank you for everyone for believing and supporting in me.

I am nervous of the future, but I am also happy to have met so many good people who make me believe in love again.

Thank you for all your support. If possible, please share my link to your friends and family. I could not do anything without you, thank you.

(Photo posed by model. Photo credit: Sonia)