After the success of our launch in April we are back with discussion number two.
Sunday 14th July 3-5pm @ The Migration Museum.
As London Refugee week concluded last week and we enter in to Pride month we will be doing a deep dive in to the extremely important theme of queer migration stories. With the hugely troubled and turbulent world we live in this is a topic which is relevant to millions of people across the globe, most of whose voices never reach our ears and whose stories remain untold.
In order to heal ourselves and the world around us we need to hear each others stories and learn from them and queer migration stories are sacred ones.
So we are privileged to be partnering with the wonderful Migration Museum and to have four amazing speakers share their stories with us.
Mazharul Islam, is a LGBT activist from Bangladesh who left his country in 2016 after the murder of two LGBT activists by Islamic extremist in Dhaka. He was one of the pioneer management board members of Bangladeshi's first online LGBT group named Boys of Bangladesh which is considered the first LGBT online platform for Bangladeshi LGBT people. Maz is also an artist and he had group exhibition of his paintings in Bangladesh, Nepal and Japan. He moved to London on 13 November 2016 with the support of his present employer. Maz is one of the winners of Attitude Pride Award 2018 and he has been nominated for this award for making a protest here in London in front of Bangladesh High Commissioner, asking Justice for his two LGBT activist friends who were brutally murdered.
PJ Samuels, is a poet, educator, and LGBTI human rights activist. She is a Christian and the facilitator of ‘Weather the Storm’ an LGBTI Refugee peer support group she started 2015. Originally from Jamaica, she is passionately vocal about human rights, mental wellness, stigmatisation and inequalities. She is included in the 2017 'I am a Refugee' campaign which celebrates refugees and their contributions to the UK. She is contributor to the Anthology 'Black and Gay in the UK', 'Sista!: An anthology of writings by Same Gender Loving Women of African/Caribbean Descent, Spoken Word London Anti-Hate Anthology. She continues to write poetry that interrogates challenging issues of race, gender, patriarchy and identity and explores facets of belonging.
Moud Goba, is a Zimbabwean lesbian and refugee residing in the UK. She is an LGBTI and human rights activist with more than 15 years’ experience in working with BME LGBTI grassroots community groups. She was one of the founding members of UK Black Pride and is currently their Director of Community Engagement. Ms Goba passionately supports LGBTI asylum seekers and refugees, especially women in immigration detention centres. She has previously worked for UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group. She currently works as a Project Manager for Micro Rainbow International, an organisation that addresses LGBTI poverty worldwide. At MRI, she focuses on the organisation’s safe housing project, providing accommodation to homeless LGBTI asylum seekers in the UK. In South Africa, Ms Goba supports The Fruit Basket, an organisation working with trans migrants and refugees. In 2015, Ms Goba was named one of the top 100 most influential LGBTI people in the UK by The Independent and was the recipient of the Attitude Pride Award.
Bojana Asanovic, is the chairperson for UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group. UKLGIG have been supporting LGBTQI+ people through the asylum and immigration system since 1993. UKLGIG provide psychosocial support and legal advice, visit people in detention centres, provide training to other organisations and campaign for change. Bojana is a barrister and has a wide-ranging practice in immigration and asylum matters. Her specialist interests include sexual orientation and gender identity and trafficking.
Please join us for what will be an intimate, insightful and thought provoking event. Come with questions for our speakers and your own stories and reflections. This is a safe, interactive and inclusive space where input is welcomed.
We look forward to seeing you there :)
* I am very sorry to say that there is no step-free access to the museum space. If you have mobility difficulties and would like to attend the event please do make contact and we will see if there are ways to facilitate this.