Adam and Eve set in stone the ideology of how relationships between men and women were the “right” way. Just like many Bible stories in my academic journey, subjects such as Religious & Moral Education, Guidance & Counselling and the famous Biology furthe

In my teen years, I became best friends with a queer identifying person. And it took them teaching me to change what had been embedded in me through education and religion. After all, the society that I grew up in was rather discriminative of the diverse community and they expressed this through their unsavoury words. I think having known and built a friendship with my friend made it quite easy for me to be understanding and receptive of their authenticity. However, I constantly found myself experiencing fear on his behalf because society tends to remind people like him that they don’t belong.

Although I had a queer friend and he tried his best to shed light into human sexuality matters, there was little he could articulate. I relied on the media and internet to learn more. For me social media had the biggest impact on my learning and it’s important to caution that it really isn’t the best teacher. As time went by, I learned about homosexuality but all I knew was that there were Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals. Surprisingly in 2022, things took a turn as I formally joined LEGABIBO to work there and honestly speaking, I didn’t know what to expect. Within the first week, the organisation had opened me up to a lot and it was quite evident that my knowledge on the LGBTI community was sub-par.

Working in an organisation such as LEGABIBO has really opened me up to a lot and has shown me how different working in such a space is as compared to working in corporate organisations which aren’t as inclusive and diverse. Working in such a space is different in many ways from how you address people to having NonBinary toilets. No amount of research, use of social media and even the internet could prepare me for the experience. Working with the LGBTI community has been a huge change and culture shock that took a while to get used to - it was different in so many ways. While growing up, we are taught that there is masculine and feminine and nothing else. In setswana we are taught that it’s Mma or Rra. One thing that took me a while to grasp was the use of pronouns, it was something sttange to me. It is something so simple to learn yet is of great importance to an individual and it just shows how many people lack the knowledge and how a lot of effort has to be put in to promote inclusivity.

From my point of view as a heterosexual, there is a huge gap that needs to be filled in order to inform people, especially on issues of sexual reproductive health and commodities. It’s important to impact the knowledge to address misconceptions on the LGBTI as well as on healthrelated issues such HIV/AIDS. We all have the responsibility of creating safe spaces.

The learning and reflections that I have from my experience at LEGABIBO have also helped with my safety. When I first learnt that HIV could be transmitted through foreplay, I understood just why young people my age were said to be highly infectious.

It was a constant thought in my mind how this is not information that everyone knows considering how sexually active the youth is. Other things were the little things heterosexuals do that stigmatise the LGBTI community, things like calling members of the community “Digay.” I try to educate all the people in my life about the LGBTI community because I feel being knowledgeable is key. People have a tendency of having negative reactions towards something they do not understand.