The distribution of COVID vaccines in the United States has recently introduced a sense of normalcy into the lives of Americans. Many are returning to old rhythms at work and at school, including our team at the Presidential Precinct, recently reunited again as a physical office. However, with the identification of other harmful strains of COVID and the increase of cases in many parts of the world, it is clear we are still in a very dangerous global pandemic. Across the African continent, reported death rates are on the rise. In Namibia, cases of COVID have hit their peak of over 100,000 infected peoples and stay at home orders are still in place.
Jholerina Timbo, a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumna, works tirelessly in the face of this reality for Namibia. As a transgender woman and activist for the LGBTQIA community, Jholerina has not let the pandemic slow her work for equality within healthcare and access to fundamental human rights for LGBTQIA people. She is the founder and executive director of Wings to Transcend Namibia.
Wings to Transcend Namibia was founded in October 2015 to advocate and lobbying for equal rights of transgender citizens. The organization strives for proper access to services for transgender people in Namibia and respect for human dignity regardless of gender identity or expression “by eradicating transphobia, stigma, discrimination, and violence against transgender people in the republic of Namibia.” Jholerina’s founding of Wings to Transcend marks the first-ever campaign to raise awareness and visibility for transgender and LGBTQIA people in Namibia.
Within the LGBTQIA community, healthcare has always been an area of fear and discrimination. Estimates show that in 1997 at the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic there were 3.3 million infections annually. Alongside driving forces of prejudice, harassment, and homophobia, these infections resulted in what Jholerina considers an entire generation lost within the LGBTQIA community.
Decades later, some of the same pervasive issues of discrimination in healthcare continue to impact the immediate needs of transgender people. Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has further multiplied strain on the work of Jholerina and other lifelong advocates for the LGBTQIA community. Throughout the entire process of care for LGBTQIA people – diagnosis of symptoms, individual experience while in the hospital, even with the recording of their deaths – this community is commonly ignored, misgendered, and continuously at risk of hate crimes.
“Our lives go missing in statistics of COVID deaths – it’s painful and it’s hurtful – it makes me think that LGBT people are not worth as much. You cannot be a doctor in life and when it comes to sexual identity or orientation, choose not to be a doctor for certain people.”
Despite the peak in COVID cases and the daily dangers faced by a transgender woman, Jholerina is determined to advocate for the human rights of the LGBTQIA community and strengthen the voices of young transgender people claiming space for themselves in Namibia. “Change is the only constant in life, it’s what motivates me in life, and when people get that sparkle of understanding, I feel like I can do more.”
In the near future, Jholerina will be facilitating a sensitization training for healthcare workers in her local hospital. In the face of so many global challenges, her work with vulnerable communities steadily continues.
For so many of the global changemakers and leaders in our Presidential Precinct Network, finding motivation and the energy to keep moving forward is a daily challenge. Know that you are important and your actions are impacting the lives of the next generation. At the Presidential Precinct, we are proud to share your stories. Thank you Jholerina for all your work and for sharing with us your impressive progress towards a more equal world.
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The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX. The Presidential Precinct is a sub-grantee of IREX and is implementing a U.S.-based Leadership Institute as a part of the Fellowship. For more information about the Mandela Washington Fellowship, please visit the Fellowship’s website at www.mandelawashingtonfellowship.org
