themselves from the organisation as it becomes more and
more visible due to the raids.
The second group consists of members that have accepted
who they are and seem not worried about and are prepared to
fight for the cause. These tend to stick with the organisation
despite the raids that have been taking place. Some even
insisted that even if they are raided and are called to come
to GALZ the following day, they would avail themselves. The
quote below from an FGD sums up the response of the so called
“old usual members” who stick around the organisation even
after the raids.
“Ini I think hangu basically chero musi wandakarohwa
mangwana acho ndanga ndava pano , so I don’t have fear,
so even ndikabatwa nhasi I will attend again, if I’m available
I attend all functions”. Loosely translated: Personally, even if
I’m beaten today, tomorrow I can still pitch up if a meeting is
called. – Gay Member
A staff member had this to say:
“Strangely, when these things happen and then you call
members, they do pitch up, we call the people and some come.
Sometime back after a raid, we had an AGM and we called
members and the response was overwhelming”.
When asked about their thoughts on the safety of the Centre in
light of the raids, about 38% as shown in figure 10 still consider
26
An Assessment of the impact of state sanctioned and unsanctioned raids on
GALZ premises and gatherings
Select target paragraph3
Add to table of contents