By Alvin Kargbo
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals in Sierra Leone continue to live in the shadows, hoping for a day when legal changes will grant them greater freedom and liberty. However, this change seems distant in the face of entrenched religious beliefs and sentiments.
Besides, Sierra Leone’s legal system, inherited from the colonial period, criminalizes same-sex sexual activity under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. They face arrest and arbitrary detention and there have been reports of discrimination and violence against them including assault, threats, harassment, blackmail, family rejection, and denial of basic rights.
In this human interest story, this medium caught up with a young Sierra Leonean, who is in the process of seeking asylum in Canada, who volunteered to open up by narrating his ordeal that he has gone through for naturally being in that bracket.
He intimated that his name is Kelfala Sannoh, born in Freetown on 20th, August 1992, a Muslim by religion and a citizen of Sierra Leone and of no other country.
According to him he is seeking refugee protection in Canada because of his sexual orientation as a bisexual man.
“I fear if I return to Sierra Leone, I would be subjected to cruel and unlawful prosecution, arrest, torture and possibly death at the hands of mobs, the Police, the security agents and the Sierra Leonean Government,” he expressed apprehension.
Kelfala said he was in JSS3 at the St. Edward Secondary School when he noticed his sexual attraction towards the female sex gender as well as the male sex gender.
He added how he couldn’t tell anyone about what was happening to him, as his religion forbids such relationship, more so, people may conclude that he was possessed saying he began to get worried thinking something was wrong with him.
The young Sierra Leonean disclosed that he had a girlfriend back then and her name was Joy, very beautiful and intelligent.
He said, meanwhile, he realized that same feeling he had whenever Joy was around him was the same sexual feeling he usually had whenever he was with his best friend Jalloh.
“I got sexually aroused whenever Jalloh held my hands,” he nostalgically recalled mentioning how Jalloh was the most handsome boy in their Class, having red lips, charming smile and sexy eyes.
He said unknown to him that Jalloh was also secretly admiring him until one fateful day he approached him and secretly gave him a small note saying: “Please meet me at the back of the Cafeteria after close of school.”
Kelfala pointed out that he kept pondering in his head what it was he wanted to tell him and he finally met up with him after school, all alone by themselves.
He said Jalloh started by telling him how handsome he was and that he would want to have memories of them in his head forever. According to him, he was confused and Jalloh looked at him, held his left hand and told him to promise him that he wasn’t going to tell anyone what he was about to tell him.
“I was so curious to know what he had to tell me as my heart was racing fast as he held my hand,” Kelfala said. He went on to intimate that Jalloh then opened up and told him about his feelings for him and how he had liked him since he first set eyes on him saw.
He said Jalloh also told him about his bisexuality and it was then it dawned on him that nothing is wrong with him as he had thought all along.
Happily he told Jalloh about his feelings for him and how he had been seeing himself prior to that day and made him understood nothing was wrong with him.
Kelfala said Jalloh told him there are several persons like them with such feeling and sexuality furthering that he was so happy and relieved.
He said Jalloh asked him out and he accepted.
“We began dating in secret as our people sees such relationship as abomination and offensive,” he said revealing how Jalloh often invited him over to his house where he would be all alone, they would kiss, make love and have fun.
He lamented that he couldn’t complete his education because of money and dropped out in Form 6. Kelfala said Jalloh was so kind and supportive that he never allowed anything to affect their relationship as he always gave him gifts and money to support him.
“Meanwhile after I dropped out of school in 2014, courtesy of Jalloh’s encouragement I started Diploma in Software program at the Global Institute of Business and Advanced Technology,” he narrated saying he did the one year Diploma course but unfortunately for their relationship, in December 2015, Jalloh and him broke up after his father was transferred to work in another region.
According to him, they later agreed to end their relationship but promised to check up on each other often which they still do till this day.
Kelfala said in January 2016, he began to work as a tutor at the Global Institute of Business and Advanced Technology and worked in that department for a period of one year.
In June 2018, he started working in another department as a Hardware Engineer at same Global Institute of Business and Advanced Technology.
“I gradually started trying to adjust to my new department and in September 2019, Mohammed joined our establishment and was in my department working under me.”
He said they soon became very close and in the following year September 2020, he invited him for his cousin’s bachelor’s eve party.
There he introduced him to Ibrahim and the latter and him got along well at the party as they later exchanged contacts before parting ways.
“He soon began calling me frequently and so we ended up hanging out some weeks after,” adding that Ibrahim was caring and very emotional.
He said he and him soon began hanging out most weekends as they found out they share some similarities together.
Kelfala narrated that they were both fans of Man United and would meet up every weekend to watch their Match together, after which they will go to his house to relax or sometimes they went to his to relax.
He said late November 2020 they had gone to his house to relax after they had finished watching their match continuing that while at his house, they got talking and he told him about some homosexuals that were caught in his neighborhood some days back and how they were harassed and severely beaten.
“We both condemned the act, saying the mobs had no right to torture them the way he said they did. We soon found out we were on the same page as regard same sex and he was tempted to ask if I was a same sex gender owing to the way and manner I was defending them.”
He said he asked in return if it was wrong to voice out his view and Ibrahim said it wasn’t, that on the contrary he liked it and liked the passion in which he defended same sex gender.
According to him, as they were talking, Ibrahim suddenly stopped talking and asked if he could confide in him. He said he told him he could and he smiled and told him about the same sex discussion and said he is a bisexual.
Kelfala informed that he told him how his best friend had introduced him to same sex and how he has come to find satisfaction and happiness in being a same sex gender.
“I was shocked to hear him say so,” Kelfala said furthering how he took the opportunity to also open up about his sexuality saying he was surprised and happy to hear him open up about his sexuality.
He said Ibrahim opened a bottle of red wine to celebrate them and asked him out which he accepted.
“In the spirit of happiness, we kissed passionately, we somehow could not control ourselves, we ended up making love at his house that very day,” he opened up adding that Ibrahim and him began dating.
He said in June 2021, people began speculating that something was going on between the two of them and owing to the speculation, they agreed to have relationship with the opposite sex so they could get people away from talking and suspecting them.
Kelfala said Ibrahim started dating Nancy while he started dating Mercy and everything was going on smoothly until early November 2022, when Mercy came to his house and caught Ibrahim and him having sex.
He said it had happened that Ibrahim had come to his house on that fateful day having stopped by at a eatery and got them some food and some red wine which they drank alongside the food.
Kelfala disclosed how unconsciously for them, they forgot to lock (bolt) the door from behind as they got horny and were carried away by their passion that they started kissing.
“We hurriedly rushed into the room where we started having sex, unknown to us that we didn’t lock the door,” he lamented disclosing how his girlfriend from nowhere suddenly showed up and caught them having sex.
Kelfala said she screamed, “abomination, abomination” which attracted some of his neighbors who hurriedly came into his apartment.
He said luckily for them, he and his sexual partner were able to escape having managed to put on their shirts and boxers and escaped through the back door before the neighbors came.
He informed how he immediately went to another of his friend’s house where he stayed and while he was there, he called his mother and told her all that had happened.
“She was very angry and disappointed at me,” he said furthering how she told him she would come and see him at his friend’s house and that he should ensure that he is not caught.
He said his mother came to his friend’s house the following day early in the morning and told him the Police were at the family house the previous day to look for him.
Kelfala said his mother said the officer told her that he was wanted at the station in connection to his sexual involvement with Ibrahim.
He continued that his mother also informed him that his girlfriend and some of his neighbors reported them at the station.
“My mother thanked my friend for accommodating me and told me she would come up with something, but pending till then, I should put off my phone that she would reach me through my friend’s number if she needed to,” he continued to narrate.
He said about a week later, his mother called to inform him that Ibrahim had been apprehended by the Police and that the Police are threatening to arrest him forcefully if he does not surrender himself.
According to him, his mother said the Police told her they had gone to his work place but did not find him there.
He said out of fear that he could be arrested anytime and his mother contacted a traveling agent on his behalf.
“The agent and I spoke via phone and my friend helped me get my documents sent to the agent,” he said adding how he remained at his friend’s house until 7th July 2023, when the agent called him and told him his Visa application had been approved and granted.
He said his mother had to sell their family land and her jewelries to help him raise money for his flight ticket.
Kelfala ended up intimating that he traveled out of Sierra Leone on 11th September 2023 and arrived in Canada on 12th September, 2023.
He said about a week after arriving in Canada, his mother called him, she was in tears, as she spoke and according to her the community youths came to their house threatening to set him ablaze if they set their eyes on him. Kelfala said the youths threatened to attack her if she stood in their way.
He continued that following the news of his bisexuality which is now in the open in Sierra Leone, he fears he will be subjected to unlawful arrest, persecution and death, if he is to return to Sierra Leone and it is for that reason he is pleading with the Government of Canada to keep him safe.
