{"id":1598,"date":"2019-12-12T06:46:03","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T06:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/?p=1598"},"modified":"2019-12-13T00:30:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T00:30:17","slug":"update-on-friends-ugandan-safe-transport-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/update-on-friends-ugandan-safe-transport-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on Friends Ugandan Safe Transport Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the letter we have been sending out this week to many of our supporters:<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

December 7, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear\nFriends and Supporters, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has\nbeen over two years since we last updated you on Friends\u2019 Ugandan Safe\nTransport (FUST).  This is because two of\nour conductors felt they needed to back away from active participation in the\nproject due to stress and personal safety concerns \u2014 which is certainly\nunderstandable given their longevity and dedication to the project. FUST\ncontinued with only one conductor during that time and we didn\u2019t feel an urgent\nneed for active fundraising again until now. The Ugandan government is reviving\nthe Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2013 which was repealed in 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nproposed legislation calls for the death penalty for LGBTQ citizens.  As a result, many LGBTQ Ugandans are in desperate\nneed to get out of the country, so we are gearing up our fundraising efforts\nagain.  Currently, we are in direct\ncontact with the two Ugandan transport allies, both of whom we know personally\nand have worked with before.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CURRENT STATUS AND REQUEST:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within\nthe last four months, five members of the LGBTQ community have been\nmurdered.  One of our friendly allies was\nseverely beaten three weeks ago and is in the hospital in Nairobi awaiting\nsurgery.  We are in urgent need of funds\nto pay for his surgery and medical expenses as well as to transport passengers\nto safety that are being held in hiding. There are currently 67 passengers in\nhiding awaiting transport.  Our primary\nconductor has successfully transported 42 people to the border in the past\nthree days. This is a very risky, remarkable accomplishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our\nUgandan friends report that fear and panic within the LGBTQ community is\nextremely high.  We are again asking for\nyour support in this time of urgent need. \nThanks to you, our donors, we have raised $190,000 and safely\ntransported 1990 passengers since FUST began in 2014.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As most\nof you know, FUST is a project initiated by Olympia Friends\u2019 Meeting (Quakers)\nin April 2014.  It has the support of\nmore than 25 Friends\u2019 Monthly and Yearly Meetings, several other faith\ncommunities and many individual donors. \nIt is a project conducted by and controlled by Ugandans for Ugandans.  Our role is to provide the financial support\nwhich allows conductors to do their work. \nNo funds are used for staffing or administration except for postage and\nmailing supplies.  To date, 14 countries\nhave accepted LGBTQ Ugandan refuges.  We\nhope to expand this number.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\nhave question or would like to know more, please visit our website which\nprovides background information, FAQs, updates and links to other relevant\nsites  We also invite you to visit our\nblog at http:\/\/friendsugandasafetransport.org\/blog\/<\/a> and read the personal, heartfelt\nstories of some of the refuges you helped be transported to safety.  You may also wish to view a February 2016 local\ntelevision program, \u201cBold, Friendly Action to Help LGBTQ Ugandans Flee to\nSafety,\u201d done by Olympia Fellowship for Reconciliation (FOR).  You can watch it on the homepage of our\nwebsite: http:\/\/friendsugandansafetrasport.org<\/a>. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are\nmost grateful and appreciative of your support and donations.  We hope you will continue to support FUST in\nthese most critical times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nwarm regards and good wishes during this holiday season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabi Clayton and Kathleen O\u2019Shaunessy
Co-mangers, Friends Ugandan Safe Transport Fund <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Download this letter in PDF format here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are able to financially support the work of Friends Ugandan Safe Transport Fund, please go to our DONATE page<\/a>.<\/strong> Thank you!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the letter we have been sending out this week to many of our supporters: December 7, 2019 Dear Friends and Supporters, It has been over two years since we last updated you on Friends\u2019 Ugandan Safe Transport (FUST).  This is because two of our conductors felt they needed to back away from active […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1598"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1611,"href":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598\/revisions\/1611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsugandanskillstraining.org\/friendsugandansafetransport.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}