At first encounter, Issah Musundi is a coy, if not shy, mostly reserved lad. But behind that quiet disposition is a steely character and an enforced existence.

Born 27 years ago in Kenya’s border district of Busia, Issah belongs to Kenya’s sexual minorities community, who have had to win majority rights that other Kenyans take for granted.

Born into a humble family and raised by a single mother – he lost his father when in Primary Seven, Issah struggled to raise school fees, which made him vulnerably dependent on his benefactors. So, when in his form three, he told his mother who had been pestering him for a girlfriend, that he was gay, he knew he had crossed a line that would provoke the ire of his religiously conservative guardians.