Naz and Salim (English)

1. Fright

Burn him! Let him rot in Hell! Just kill him right now stop the talking!
Move you all, Move! Make way!

NO!
NO!
NO!
PLEASE DON'T KILL ME I BEG!
PLEASE LET ME GO......
These were the last words he said before someone hit his head with a rock when he started bleeding and was quite as the dawn.....

A boy who was mercilessly killed by the mob for being "GAY".

Sinful they call it, inhuman, barbaric, satanic, society gave it all kind of names and would not hesitate to kill anyone found to be gay.

After being hit by the stone, the street dogs came for the last bit of him, and the vultures fly down to pluck out his eyes. That day, I cried like I've never done before. For I know it was wrong, and inhuman.

No single person deserves death because of their sexuality. He was human and different, even thou I don't know him, one can be assure that all he wanted was love and being cared for.

He may have had dreams of being successful and independent but there in that street he lays still without recognition. There, his dreams were shattered and will rot with him. Their, he ended in misery.

Today I am scared, scared not because of the mob justice, not scared because the gay boy was killed in a horrific way, I am scared because my dreams may end up just like his. I may be next, my best friend might be next, my cousin might be next! This is the life we fear with each and everyday we live. This is my story of being gay and fearful.

My name is Naz, a final Year student in University major in politics. The one thing I assume I can study and change the narrative of laws contradicting human rights (gay rights). This is the reality of what happends to gay people in Africa. I learnt it happens everywhere in the world, but down here, no one can explain some of the horrific deeds you see done to gay people.

If one is caught and lucky to be alive, he is sent away from the society, he is seen as a disease and no one will ever want to do anything with him. He will be a drop out, an outcast without any respect, and no one will even give him a job. The saddest thing is that, even his own family and friends will disown him and never want to associate with him again.

I for one thinks everyone deserve to live and love whoever he/she wants to love and be with. Life is nothing but love and it can definitely come from anyone. I believe it's not a matter of gender, race, or ethnicity, it's about who you love and to what extend you are ready to go with the person. Love knows not a man or woman. Love is love.

But with each and everyday I wake up, I have to pray for God to make me straight, for God to save me from people finding out about my sexuality, or for God to take me away so far away to a place where no one knows me or where I came from. worst, I pray let God kill me first before I die a disgraceful death in the hands of brutal men and women existing in my community. I pray I die a death of honor.

See this way, no one would point fingers at my family even after my death. But again, what control do I have over the heart? I didn't choose to be gay. I mean, no one chooses to be gay or bisexual!! It comes naturally just as everything else does.
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