In the middle of an angry crowd in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, August 24th 2015. Beaten, thrown to the ground and threatened to be burnt to ashes because I’m a shame to the community. A waste of human existence since I was caught being intimate with my partner of the same gender.
“Burn the Curse!!!!” shouted the angry man from the crowd. Immediately I trembled and saw no escape. Someone poured liquid on me that I was sure was petrol and at the same time I drew what I thought was my last breath. My skin was irritated because of the liquid poured on me, it was wet and it stank. Luckily enough a tall, dark, strong man emerged from the crowd and whisked me away to a waiting motorbike and drovestraight to the police station. The blood is running from my forehead.
On the way, the man demanded money and if I didn’t give it to him, he would not hesitate to take me back to the crowd so they could finish me off. In my jeans trousers, which were all in pieces, I found a 10.000 Uganda shillings note of which he took 7.400 and gave me back change of 2.600. It is this change I came with to Sweden. It makes me remember the day I almost lost my life at the hands of a homophobic crowd.