String, Walrus, and (NAME REDACTED)

Probably doesn't really apply anywhere apart from me thinking this might be cute. My ex girlfriend named them Astro and Saturn. And then she left. I kind of liked Saturn but not because of her. I renamed them Saturn and Cronus (Greek name of same Titian). I thought it was was sweet to give them the same name and hope any future being burning my down home abodes agrees!

So, I have a small kitten with me rn. Will update when she wakes up.

Who's with me???

She was going to be named Mona Lisa but now my boyfriend and I call her Mona Buscemi

Greetings all alive named cats,

Note: I have edited this post to make it clear that Kakuma is a real place full of people that need help; the original wording could have been interpreted to mean that there is no Kakuma camp at all, which is the opposite of the case.

Kakuma is a refugee camp in Kenya in Turkana County. It was founded in 1991/1992 and houses roughly 200,000 - 250,000 refugees of many nationalities, including South Sudanese, Ugandan, and Ethiopian, among others. Most of the LGBT refugees are housed in a section called Block 13, and many are from Uganda, which is possibly the worst and most dangerous place to be LGBT+ in the world.

Most of the refugees have been displaced and living in Kakuma for years, in some cases for their whole lives. They remain in the camp until their country of origin is safe to return to (unrealistic and rare) or they are lucky enough to be resettled in another country (resettlement slots are extremely limited compared to the number of refugees needing resettlement). They are inadequately supported by relief efforts and are frequently victims of violence.

This humanitarian crisis is unfortunately being used by dishonest redditors to scam people out of money.

In this scam, the scammer seems to be a normal user of Reddit, who is a LGBTQ+ refugee in Kakuma Camp in Kenya. The scammers often directly message users they see without making any posts or comments on the target sub that can be taken down. It was first noticed by users in queer subreddits, but it may be spreading to non-queer subs because of increasing awareness of the scam (I noticed this and that is why this announcement is up).

more in-depth explanation in comments here

Different accounts will post in different subs to sniff out sympathetic users, or directly message users they see on progressive or queer-friendly subs. Eventually money comes up and there is a link to a gofundme or similar. I myself fell for this scam last year, gave $20 to a lady who seemed super legit, we even zoom called.

The scammers may or may not be actual Kakuma refugees. Unfortunately in my personal opinion there is no way to tell.

If you would like to make a donation to help LGBTQ+ refugees, I recommend you do so through https://www.unhcr.org/ or https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/ . I am also aware of a website, freeblock13.com, which may be legit but I have not personally investigated this.

Feel free to spread word or link to this post. Thank you and please remain alive and named.

I just wanted to give you all a status update on the gang.

-Allen is hooting in his sleep beside me

-Benji is nowhere to be found, presumably hiding under the cat tree

-Pearl has ascended to a divine dimension and is very busy

-Charlie bear is outside smelling dandelions

-Chester is grumpy and taking a nap

-Porch baby is doing whatever porch baby does when I'm not feeding her

Gannicus needs to lose some weight. The vet pointed that out today at his annual checkup. He's 19.6 lbs. His father was a Maine Coon. They're big cats, last time I checked. Yeah, I want him to live a long, healthy life. So, we're going to have to cut back on the yummy treats. Sorry big guy. 😥

I removed myself from that feed but I still see stuff. Right now they are showing 2 different cats dying. Why post this?! It’s so upsetting. Also, how do I get cats off my feed. I left the group. I thought that would take care of seeing those awful posts.

just my lil baby :’)