SHIVANAH’S STORY

In 2019, a young lesbian singer-songwriter from Uganda was struggling financially after breaking up with her partner of 6 years. With a child to support, Shivanah was desperate to make ends meet. And so when a former backup dancer told her that an agent could get her work performing in a club in Dubai, she jumped at the chance. This is truly a story of survival. A warning: in some parts, the details are graphic and troubling.

Thank you to Shivanah for sharing her story and music, Sophie Otiende for the role played by her and everyone at Azadi in helping Shivanah escape the traffickers and reintegrate into society.

Azadi is a survivor-led organization that offers long-term support and capacity development to survivors of human trafficking. To learn more about the Azadi, click here.

This episode was produced by Penny Dale and Selly Thiam. Written by Penny Dale. Sound editing by Mercy Barno and Tevin Sudi. Rachel Wamoto is our social media manager.  AfroQueer is executive produced by Selly Thiam and is a production of AQ Studios.

Our theme song is Pawa by Maia and the big sky.

AfroQueer is supported by The Wellspring Philanthropic fund and The Ford Foundation.

Listen to Shivanah’s story below

Introducing The Adventures Podcast – AfroQueer

Ghanaians Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah and Malaka Grant are 'best friends for frigging life' – and for over a decade they have invited us into their bedrooms to talk about sex and sex positivity through their popular blog ‘Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women.’ And now, working with AQ Studios, they have turned the blog into a great new podcast.   AQ Studios’ Senior Producer Frederica Boswell sits down with Nana Darkoa and Malaka to ask them what they’ve learned transitioning from writers and bloggers to podcasters, and they share their first episode with AfroQueer’s listeners."   This episode was written and produced by Frederica Boswell and Penny Dale. Sound editing by Tevin Sudi and Mercy Barno. AfroQueer is executive produced by Selly Thiam. AfroQueer is a production of AQ Studios. Our theme song is Pawa by Maia and the big sky. AfroQueer is supported by The Wellspring Philanthropic fund and The Ford Foundation. Click here to listen to other episodes of the Adventures Podcast. You can follow us on all social media platforms @AfroQueer Podcast and listen to all our episodes on our website, http://www.aqstudios.fm, or anywhere you get your podcasts.

1. Introducing The Adventures Podcast 26:36
2. Being Bebe 24:35
3. My Ghost 16:50
4. AfroQueer Presents: S***hole Country – 1 Corinthians 10:23 37:21
5. Shivanah‘s Story 25:53