Save elle : help fund her Education and Freedom

Elle is a 17 year old trans young woman from Algeria.

Raised in a strict religious family, at 15 years old Elle came out to her parents, hoping against hope that they would be supportive. What happened next was a living nightmare: Elle was withdrawn from school and forced to endure years of conversion therapy. She was beaten, forced to sleep outside, and made to do hard labour. 

All of this they inflicted on a child of only 15 to force her to change who she knows she is. After surviving years of abuse and a suicide attempt, Elle made up her mind to try one last ditch attempt at freedom - she pretended that the conversion therapy worked, that she wasn’t queer anymore. After five months of living a lie, Elle finally convinced her parents to send her to study in the UK, where she arrived two weeks ago. Her freedom was short-lived, however, as soon after arriving in London someone outed her as trans to her parents in Algeria. 

They’ve cut her off financially and now, if Elle can’t afford the fees for her course, she will be deported back to Algeria and the abusive household that she escaped… Elle has just started connected to the LGBT+ community in London, attending an LGBT+ youth club and making new queer friends. 

She lives every day in fear of being sent back to Algeria, torn away from the accepting new community she’s found in London. Elle says, “My dream is to become a make up artist one day and see the world accepting me and treating me as a human and with pure love.” Your contribution to this fundraiser will help a young trans woman stay in school in the UK and live a life free from shame and abuse.

-Rachel, on behalf of Elle