IT’S MY STORY, OUR LIFE

Dear World, Hi my name is Yahyia Al-Zindani, yeah I am from THE Zindani family!!

,I am a young transgender man, and my family wants to cleanse their honor by killing me.

My story might sound or seem like a movie, and I might have only been in this world for 23 years, yet I have lived a million lifetimes of torture.

There is a never covered LGBTQIA+ gendercide being committed in Yemen, we either disappear, get killed, or get jailed and then are never heard of again. Yet! I have been alone and traumatized for almost a year now.

I have been in contact with several NGOs inside Yemen but they have all declined to help because they are scared of the Houthie militia who are imposing authority on the government services.

The fact that international NGOs said they cannot help me while I am inside my mother country was frustrating because I would not be asking for help to save my life if I could move freely anywhere be it inside or outside Yemen.

In 2015 when the war broke out in Yemen, my family and I fled to Somalia where I was subjected to physical abuse and torture, I was held and jailed against my will in a mental institution while antipsychotics and female hormones were given to me by force to reassign me to my birth sex.

I was labeled as a schizophrenic, bipolar, paranoid, and an aggressive person, all my medical reports were switched to suit my family's claims of insanity and label me as incompetent to make my own decisions and I was put under their forced guardianship.

After two years of being forced to bounder antipsychotics and female hormones, I was able to escape Somaliland to Yemen with the help of my father who I thought would accept me.

However I was wrong as I was deprived from my right to get an education for two years, I am a 5th year medical school student, and the huge doses of antipsychotics I was given have killed a part of me I don't think i will ever get back, my memory is not the same, I am not the same, and what breaks me the most is that they killed my dream of graduating from medical school with my classmates last year.

I was banned from traveling and held back from contacting any NGOs....

Everyone who helped or tried to help me was harmed including physical harm. I'm really sorry for them.

My father after emptying the house to slaughter me with a knife before i could run away, has reported me to the Houthie militia and I am currently being watched and threatened by them, they have stopped me from getting any legal papers, as ID, passport etc as I did not and never had any form of documentation of my identity from the government.

For a long time i have been deprived of my right to privacy as I have been under constant supervision, my emails, phone records, and conversations were being checked constantly...

The people who I thought are my family have refused to let me depend on myself through their constant harassments and the only visible life i have is on social media, other than that i am isolated and this is not a life any human deserves .....

they have also refused to disown me as they think if they can make me depend on them it would make me go back to them and accept living the life they want for me

They believe who ever helps me, or supports me are criminals and people without morals.

Therapy for Post Traumatic stress disorder, is a luxury i cannot afford when i am still reliving the trauma constantly.

They have constantly made it clear to me that it is ok with them if i kill myself since it will keep their good image in front of the community.....but they didn't wait for me to do it, they wanted to do it themselves....

Finally, 1 year ago, with the help of human rights advocates and friends I was able to create documents, ID, passport etc and finally got the chance to leave Yemen to Egypt.

After I reached Egypt, the COVID-19 crisis caused me to be involuntarily stuck and delayed my plans on relocating to a safer place.

The threats from my family have not stopped, I fear moving around areas that are inhabited by the Yemeni diaspora as my uncles and their families are here.

My movement is still restricted, I am still alone. I am still in an Arab country where the NGOs I reach out to for help regarding shelter or education or jobs don't accept me for my gender identity. I still face discrimination for existing the way I do.

As a gender equality and LGBTQIA+ rights advocate, I dream of relocating to a country where I can safely express my thoughts and my identity, where my inalienable human rights are respected and where my voice can create the change that our community needs so the rest of us don't disappear into thin air.

Regards,

YAHYI