I’ve been a refugee for 10 years

Dear friends, My name is Malaak and I’m from Iraq, but I haven’t thought of it as home in a long time. I was assigned male at birth and identify as female. There are members of my family who would kill me just because of my identity. Nearly 10 years ago in Iraq I was abducted and brutally attacked. I fled to Syria, but things weren’t any better there. A stranger broke into my new home and I was victim to another traumatic beating and assault. I found myself fleeing again, in dire need of help and safety. All Out is working with a long-time partner group called the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) to help people like me find safe housing. €5.500 is enough to provide me with safe housing for an entire year. Will you help me get to safety and donate €5 today? As soon as I set foot in Iraq again, I was arrested and interrogated about why I was in Syria. The police beat me, sexually assaulted me, and mocked my gender identity. I was even tortured with electrocution. After I was released, I fled once again, this time to another Middle Eastern country I can't mention for safety reasons. While life is a bit better here, threats and discrimination are a part of my daily life. That’s why I was thrilled when I heard that there was a safe house waiting for me in France. I’ve been a refugee for 10 years and now I’m so close to living safely, finally. €5.500 is enough to provide safe housing for a year. €16.000 will provide safe housing for me and two other LGBT refugees. Anything beyond our goal will go towards All Out’s work to campaign for the rights for LGBT people in the Middle East, and around the world. Luc, can you chip in to help me get to safety? LGBT people like me are some of the most vulnerable refugees in the world. After fleeing our homes, we struggle to access even basic services because we don’t have access to emotional and financial support. And refugee camps can be dangerous places for us, too, since they can’t protect us from the homophobia and transphobia that may come from other refugees. Being helped by groups like IRAP is often the only solution to guarantee our safety. Many of us are too afraid to even come forward to ask for help out of fear that our sexual or gender identity will be publicly known. But I’m taking a chance and asking you for help today. Please, chip in and help me finally live in safety. Thank you again for going All Out, Malaak, with the All Out team. Want to support All Out's ongoing work? Our tiny team stretches every dollar to make it count. DONATE TODAY