SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Cabrel Ngounou’s life in Cameroon quickly unraveled after neighbors caught the teenager with his boyfriend.
A crowd surrounded his boyfriend’s house and beat him. Ngounou’s family learned of the relationship and kicked him out. So Ngounou fled — alone and with little money — on a dangerous, four-year journey through at least five countries. He was sexually assaulted in a Libyan prison, harassed in Tunisia and tried unsuccessfully to take a boat to Europe.
“The worst thing was that they caught us. So it was not easy for my family,” Ngounou said. “My sisters told me I need to get out of the house because my place is not there. So that’s what really pushed me to leave my country.”
Ngounou’s troubles drew attention after he joined a protest outside the U.N. refugee agency’s Tunisia office. Eventually, he arrived in the United States, landing in San Francisco in March.
Ngounou joined a growing number of LGBTQ+ people accepted into the Welcome Corps, which launched last year and pairs groups of Americans with newly arrived refugees. So far, the resettlement program has connected 3,500 sponsors with 1,800 refugees, and many more want to help: 100,000 people have applied to become sponsors.