For Caribbean LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers, Support While They Endlessly Wait
At the end of a long day stocking shelves at a kosher grocery store, Olivia Valwaa stops in a Target to get ready for her next stop: the Brooklyn Community Pride Center. There, she’ll attend Unchained, the sole Caribbean LGBTQ+ support group in the States.
She changes into a comfy “Stay Humble, Hustle Hard” sweatsuit, adds a women’s silk flower bandana over a long black wig because it’s the touch of femininity she needs to feel like herself.
Makeup is next. She takes out each bottle in layering order: primer, foundation, concealer, liquid bronzer, liquid blush.
Unchained meets in an hour. It’s run by the Caribbean Equality Project, a community organization that advocates for, and represents, Afro and Indo-Caribbean LGBTQ+ immigrants in New York City. It’s the only organization in New York City and beyond that has addressed the needs of this population for nearly a decade.
While Valwaa and other asylum seekers navigate an immigration system stressed under shifting policies and the arrival of thousands of migrants, the organization provides a range of resources, from food and housing to political advocacy and peer support while they wait in a state of uncertainty.
A connection to Caribbean culture underscores everything, with the goal of giving what many have been denied in their home countries — safety, and visibility. “That is not only a safe space, but a brave space,” says founder Mohamed Q. Amin.
