We have freed 56 LGBTQ prisoners. We need help to free 8 more – The Hoima Post –

Readers’ donations will make a crucial difference in 8 LGBTQ prisoners’ lives.
Word cloud shows the pseudonyms of the 56 prisoners for whom Project Not Alone has won early release. Five gay men and three lesbians  deserve to be set free in Cameroon and Nigeria, where they are locked up for whom they love. Your donation can help open the prison doors and let them out.Those eight imprisoned victims of anti-LGBTQ hostility and homophobia are the focus of this year’s Project Not Alone, which expands on the project’s previous work that won early release for 56 gay, lesbian and trans prisoners in Cameroon and Nigeria during the years 2019 through 2025.Logo of Project Not Alone (Otavio Zuni illustration courtesy of the artist)This year’s financial goal is $10,117, which will accomplish several important goals:
It will pay prisoners’ fines, allowing them to be released early as soon as legal requirements are met.It will also pay for hygiene supplies and supplementary food for the prisoners during the months while they await release from their dirty prison cells, typically surviving on one filthy, poorly cooked meal per day.It will cover the cost of arranging secure cells for three gay prisoners who are awaiting the end of their detention at Kondengui Central Prison in Yaoundé and are at risk from homophobic prisoners who currently share cells with them.It will pay for a mandatory technological modernization of the free Qtalk app, which has offered private counseling to LGBTQ+ Nigerians since it was launched in 2020. Qtalk now has a community of over 25,000 users, both for counseling and for chatting. Currently there are about 18 counselors on the app.
 Lesbian former prisoner Sally contemplates her future after Project Not Alone arranged for her release in 2024 from Bafoussam Prison in Cameroon. (Photo by Jean Jacques Dissoke)As in the past, whether those goals are accomplished will depend on the generosity of readers and other donors.The prisoners in Project Not Alone 2026 are all in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, and in Port Harcourt, southeastern Nigeria. Their stories will be told here in the days and weeks ahead. For their safety, a pseudonym will be used for every detainee.Food that Project Not Alone delivered in 2024 to prisoners in Ebolowa Prison in Cameroon. We learned about all but one of the eight prisoners when LGBTQ rights activist/journalist Jean Jacques Dissoke traveled to prisons in Yaoundé and Douala prisons to deliver food and hygiene supplies and to interview LGBTQ detainees there.In addition, activist/journalist Mike Daemon interviewed a gay prisoner at Port Harcourt Maximum Security Correctional Centre.A generous grant from the Vivienne Foundation paid for the preliminary scouting trips to the prisons in Port Harcourt, Yaoundé and Douala.The eight prisoners listed below met the requirements of Project Not Alone, which helps only those who are incarcerated for nothing other than their sexual orientation.In Yaoundé:
Three lesbians who were arrested last November in a police sting operation targeting online dating sites. They will be set free soon — if their fines are paid. If the fines aren’t paid, all three women will remain in prison for several months to work them off.One gay man serving a two-year sentence for homosexuality after his partner’s parents reported him to police in December 2025.Three gay men who are awaiting trial on homosexuality charges. They were arrested in January after homophobic neighbors reported them to police.
In Port Harcourt:
One gay man who was imprisoned last November after being blackmailed by a sexual partner.
In Douala:See Also
Five gay men are currently serving time in Douala on homosexuality-related charges. Each of them is supported by family or friends. All are scheduled to be released soon without intervention by Project Not Alone.This illustration shows two gay men waiting for donations that will pay their fines and set them free. (Illustration courtesy of EAVA Artists / East Africa Visual Artists)This year’s initiative follows previous successful efforts on behalf of LGBTQ prisoners — initially only in Cameroon: in the capital city of Yaoundé (food deliveries to three prisoners) in 2018. Then:
In the northern Garoua area and in Bertoua in the east (food for six prisoners and early release after their fines were paid in 2019 and 2020);Back in Yaoundé in 2021 and 2022 (food for 18 prisoners and early release after their fines were paid);In Bafoussam in western Cameroon and in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 2023 (food and early release for 12 prisoners);In Ebolowa in southern Cameroon and Port Harcourt in 2024 (food and early release for 10 prisoners); andIn Bertoua, Port Harcourt, and Maroua, northern Cameroon, (food and early release for 10 prisoners) in 2025.
Please help us continue this work.
 Project Not Alone is a program of the non-profit St. Paul’s Foundation for International Reconciliation and its Erasing 76 Crimes news site.  U.S. tax-deductible donations to Project Not Alone 2026 may be made via:
PayPal (for U.S. dollar contributions). For other currencies, send PayPal donations to stpaulsfdr@gmail.comDonorBoxGoFundMeAlternatively, you could send a check to St. Paul’s Foundation, c/o Colin Stewart, 5517 Paseo del Lago East Unit 1B, Laguna Woods CA 92637 USA. Please write “Project Not Alone” on the memo line and send an email to info@76crimes.com to let us know it’s coming.
 Prisoners in a truck on its way to deliver them to Kondengui Central Prison in Yaoundé, Cameroon. (Photo courtesy of The Guardian / Maidun Collection / Alamy)

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