In Conversation with Sebastian Rocca: Micro Rainbow
Micro Rainbow
By Niamh Brook
- News
Micro Rainbow is a UK-based social enterprise that provides safe housing, employability and care services for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. INSP sat down with CEO Sebastian Rocca to investigate.
Content warning: the following article contains difficult subject matter.
There are 64 countries in the world where being LGBTQI+ is illegal. Every year, about a thousand flee to the UK. Since 2015, 10,974 LGBTQI+ people have claimed asylum in the UK. However, that comes with its own challenges.
“LGBTQI+ people will come to the UK from, say, countries like Uganda and Pakistan, and they will be housed by the government, in houses shared with people from the same countries that they left behind. So, for example, let's be stereotypical here. A gay, effeminate man from Uganda, might find himself in a house with other people from Uganda or Nigeria, who will still hold very strong anti-LGBTQI views. Imagine a trans woman, being housed in a house of men because her passport still says that she's a man. Many people will be beaten up, abused and sexually abused as a result,” explains Sebastian Rocca. “As a result, not only would people be beaten up and abused and raped in their housing . But a lot of them who accepted this house would leave to avoid this violence, and others who knew about the potential of violence and abuse would reject this housing, making themselves homeless, and willingly sleeping rough.”
“I created Micro Rainbow 12 years ago to provide a holistic approach to integration.”
Micro Rainbow CEO, Sebastian Rocca. Image Credit: Micro Rainbow
Now, Micro Rainbow is the UK’s national organisation supporting LGBTQI+ people fleeing persecution. The organisation offers three ‘pillars’ of support, based on housing, social inclusion, and employability.
“We started very small with one, two-bedroom house, but now we have the capacity to offer more than 35,000 safe bed nights every year,” Sebastian tells INSP.
“It's not just that people are safe because they are with other people that are queer. What also happens is that people start exploring the LGBTQI+ identity, most of them for the very first time. They are able to be themselves to start experimenting with mannerisms, clothing, makeup, and eventually making friends. Even in the UK, and what's important here is that they express themselves in a safe place.
“Our beneficiaries have to prove their identity to the Home Office to claim asylum, which is hard when you’ve spent your life hiding yourself. When people are able to be their true, beautiful selves, it helps them to articulate themselves and make their case better.”
However, what then? Sebastian also explains that it is incredibly difficult for asylum seekers to find community in the UK, as they may be discriminated against by people from their own countries. At this point, it is not just them, but their families back home that are in danger.
Micro Rainbow runs an enormous social inclusion program, offering everything from yoga, to art, to writing, to exercise, to therapy.
“It’s a way to gain back freedom, power, and control,” says Sebastian.
“It's a program that helps people connect and build a community around people who don't have one. So their support networks start to become other refugees that are also queer. They will connect with other organisations that might not be necessarily LGBTQI+, but that are supportive of LGBTQI+ people. So people in our community, start building those safety nets that are crucial for anyone to really leave and survive.”
To this end, Micro Rainbow also offers an employability service. Asylum seekers are not allowed to work for at least a year, so most LGBTQI+ asylum seekers are living in poverty, on about 40 pounds a week, which has to cover everything from food to medication to transport (which, as readers will know, is very expensive). Research shows that 40% of those who become refugees end up becoming homeless again.
Micro Rainbow
So, during this year, Micro Rainbow also provides laptops for online training, mentoring, and connecting them to corporate organisations where they can find work.
“Our beneficiaries will have to learn new skills in order to be able to compete in the UK job market,’ says Sebastian. ‘When they are told all their lives that they are against God, against nature, they have very very low self-esteem, which impacts their applications and interviews. We can now even provide legal advice as well.”
“We’ve been noticing an increase in asylum seekers from Ukraine and Russia in recent years, and in countries were anti-LGBTQI+ legislation is becoming stricter. Big geopolitical events and harsher laws cause a real change in who comes to use for help.”
“This is why we call it our ‘holistic approach,’ we try to consider all the needs our beneficiaries may have.”
For more information, go to https://microrainbow.org/
