He plans to use the funds to create a visual media project on the experiences LGBTQ Africans, as well as help pay his college tuition.

A gay college student has been awarded for his courage, and granted $10,000, for escaping conversion therapy in Africa.

Last summer, Mahad Olad’s parents brought him to Kenya under the guise of it being a vacation. As he explained in an article outlining his harrowing experience for The Ithacan, Olad comes from a “an extremely conservative Muslim background.”

A post shared by Mahad Olad (@m_olad) on Jun 2, 2017 at 5:15pm PDT

He described having to hide both the fact that he’s gay and that he is an atheist. His family fled from Somalia to Kenya in the early ’90s, and he was looking forward to seeing relatives again.

But soon he’d learn his parents’ real plan: To send him to a conversion therapy camp with an aim at changing both his sexual orientation and his lack of religious belief. He was under no delusions about his options, nor the severity of the situation he was facing:

Similar to the practice of gay conversion therapy in the United States, there are those within the Muslim community who utilize abusive tactics as a way of policing what they consider to be “deviant” behavior. Even though my mother “asked” me to go, I knew that it wasn’t really a choice. A few sheiks were at our hotel that night. They briefly spoke to me about how being gay and atheist is unequivocally against my Islamic upbringing and African heritage. I knew that when they came back to get me the following morning, I would be forced to go with them. I was quite aware of the horrors of these gay and religious conversion camps. The leaders operate the camps around grim parts of Somalia and Kenya. They subject their captives to severe beatings, shackling, food deprivation and other cruel practices. It usually involves a rigorous Islamic curriculum. Those who fail to cooperate, make adequate progress or try to escape could possibly be killed. I knew I had to get out immediately.

He told his mother he was willing to go to the camp to buy time and lower her suspicions, then said he was going for a walk. He went off and placed a call to Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA), a nonprofit group that aides ex-Muslims facing discrimination or other issues.

With their assistance, he was able to get free, and hasn’t been in contact with his family since, which he has called “devastating.”

Olad’s bravery, and his award-winning column, has now been recognized by the Colin Higgins Foundation, with the Youth Courage Award. He said he plans to use the $10,000 grant money to help pay his tuition, and to create a visual media project on the experiences LGBTQ Africans, working in collaboration with other Ithaca College students.

“By learning of the difficult and often life-threatening journeys each of our winners has experienced already in their short lives, we hope that a basis for empathy is formed in others,” James Rogers, board president of the Colin Higgins Foundation, told The Ithacan. “And if not empathy, at least a willingness to let go of old prejudices and to begin the process of learning the worth and value of all individuals in our society.”

Despite being scientifically debunked and shown to cause psychological damage, there is no federal ban on conversion therapy in the U.S., and only 14 states have banned the practice on minors.

Listen to Olad talk about his story on the Lalo Dagach podcast below.



