How is the LGBTQ community in Ghana doing?

This issue includes stories from a dentist from Somalia, a bisexual mother of two from Ghana, a human rights lawyer from Kenya, the Afro-Argentine community in Argentina, a female business owner from Afghanistan, a super-mysterious forest in China, a daring decision on gender equality in Japan, and so much more.

Africa

Somalia

• Abdi Latif Dahir for The New York Times writes about the first and still the only free ambulance service operating in Mogadishu (a city of over three million people). It's called Aamin Ambulance and was founded by a dentist named Dr. Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan.
• Dahir also writes about the political situation in the country now as 328 lawmakers have just elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (he was president before). But: The Al-Shabab (who are linked to Al Qaeda) already have political power, meaning they collect taxes, decide some court cases and control the streets. Some Somalis fear that a new government might not even matter.

Ghana:
Remember when the 21 LGBTQ+ activists were arrested in Accra last year on May 20? The charges were eventually dropped and they got out... but depression, isolation and fear is what this whole episode of police violence brought upon them. For African Arguments, Rita Nketiah who is a researcher at Human Rights Watch writes about how much that damaged their lives after their release.

• Quote: "MF, a bisexual mother of two, returned home after her release in 2021 to an angry husband who refused her entry and denied access to her children. Most of her family members disowned her, her husband has closed her shop, and she no longer attends her mosque for fear of judgement and ridicule. Today, she is seeking asylum because life has become unbearable."

Kenya: In an opinion piece for Al Jazeera, human rights lawyer Stephanie Musho writes about the many consequences that the overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States could have for Kenya. Why? "In many African nations, key women's rights initiatives are being sustained only thanks to funding received from the West. In Kenya, for example, 95 percent of sexual and reproductive health aid comes from the US."

South Africa

• Abortion has been legal since 1997 in South Africa. But it's still not accessible to a lot of women. As a result, more and more women are risking their lives by getting secret affordable but unsafe abortions. Tebadi Mmotla for New Frame asks why in this podcast episode.
• Sazi Bongwe and Dennis Webster for New Frame also met some of the 70 survivors of apartheid crimes who have been occupying the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. What they want: To speak with president Cyril Ramaphosa about reparations for crimes that were committed against them during apartheid. For example, meet Joyce Ntoni, a 79-year-old woman, whose daugther died as a result of her role as an activist in the anti-apartheid struggle. Ntoni, like the other survivors, have been sleeping on the floor with no shelter.

Latin America

Mexico:
Núria López Torres for The New York Times writes about an Indigenous people in Mexico: the Seri. She's also taken some really intimate and breathtaking pictures, look at her Instagram. There are only 1,000 Seri people worldwide, they mostly live in a corner of the Sonoran Desert (northwestern Mexico) and they are already negatively impacted by climate change and drug trafficking.

Haiti:

• Catherine Porter, Constant Méheut, Matt Apuzzo and Selam Gebrekidan for The New York Times write a long-read about Haiti's very complicated and sour historical relationship with France. Did you know that the...