Anneyoncé, age 20

“Sometimes I feel I’m not worth anything, I can’t stop thinking about how to kill myself because I feel like nobody loves me and everyone’s rejecting me.”

I don’t have much to say about my life, except that I never asked myself questions about   whether I like girls or boys. I always knew I was gay, since I was very young. The only thing that drives me crazy is that I constantly receive threats from people saying they’re going to beat me up if I don’t change. I’m constantly insulted and hooted at in the street, it’s truly impossible to ignore. Every day when I get home, I thank God for having protected me throughout the day.

I’m an artist, singer, and songwriter. Writing songs, it’s like a form of therapy for me, because after having poured everything out on paper I feel good. This is my favorite pastime and the only way I feel free and can be myself. Because sometimes I feel I’m not worth anything, I can’t stop thinking about how to kill myself because I feel like nobody loves me and everyone’s rejecting me.

It will be difficult to change things in Burundi. Some of our politicians are not very open-minded. Maybe one day that will change. I’m fed up with suffering but can’t do anything to change it, just keeping hope that one day gays will have their rights.