Bed 26: A Memoir of an African Man’s Asylum in the United States

De: Edafe Okporo

Narrado por: Michael Goodrick

My life, as you will listen, has taken me from one place to another. Bed 26 is the story of how I fought my way out of constant persecution and reclaimed my freedom. It is my hope that by sharing my experience and my pain, you will begin to understand why people are forced to immigrate.

This is a revealing memoir and empowering manifesto, with contributions from other asylees, refugees, and Nigerian LGBTQ persons. Nong Richie was born in Nigeria and came of age in another United States. Nigeria, his home country, became an estrange world. He was continually persecuted by mob, and living in Nigeria soon became a personal nightmare of constant mob attacks and deaths of his friends to HIV. Nong escaped into the world of his mind from the expository details of the war he suffered as a child and high-profile attacks against himself and other gay Nigerians. Every detail of his personal life became public, and the realities of an inherently unlawful society emerged with every script of this book. The detention center packaged his trauma as a bombshell, hijacking his image and identity, and making profit from every night he spent in it.

Bed 26 is his raw, honest, and poignant account - a no-holds-barred, pull-no-punches account for the persecution of him and his community. He was a fearless activist and an unstoppable force for change, who was determined to expose the truth.

©2017 Edafe Okporo (P)2019 Edafe Okporo

Fascinating and beautifully told!

A gripping and deeply moving story of escape from prejudice that kills. Everyone should hear it!

COURAGEOUS AND MOVING

Edafe's story is extremely courageous and moving. Not only you hear what happens when asylum seekers arrive to the USA but also conditions in his former homeland Nigeria.
Sharing his stories makes the book really interesting and easy to read, His fight for equality is not for himself only but all.
This is an eye opening book to help understand how courage works to create a better world for all. A MUST READ!!!
-Işılay Çabuk

Activism and Courageousness

Edafe Story deserve more visibility, he has shown us consistently what it means to be described as a courageous person. I believe everyone should hear your story and decide for themselves!

Mary Oliver

Thank you

Thank you for standing up for what you believe in and inspiring others. Thank you for sharing your life story.

Excellent & Moving

I really enjoyed listening to Edafe’s journey. I have heard him speak before and he is so inspiring, offering both a glimpse into the immigration process for LGBTQ people fleeing persecution in their home country and also so much of the wisdom he gained a long the way. I highly recommend this listen!

Authentic and encouraging

Edafe explains well the conditions in his former homeland Nigeria that necessitated his fleeing the country he loved.

Quite a journey. Edafe clearly demonstrates that many asylum seekers would much prefer to stay in the country they were born in than have to flee in fear for their lives.

Through ‘letters’ and other testimonies, the reader learns about the experiences of others, not only Edafe.

An inspiring book of courage and perseverance written in an authentic voice and urging on the fight for equality and acceptance of people who are different.

Understanding each other is important

I'd like to say I lean a bit more conservative in my general views, This book has shown me how we need to be a bit more compassionate when processing people who are coming into our country, It's so important that we have border security so that we know who is coming in but its even more important that we don't look at every immigrant as a criminal. Thank you to the author Edafe for bringing this story to light.

Allow Yourself to Be Shocked by Great Book

Did you know that people can be arrested, beaten and even put to death in dozens of countries around the world in 2018? As a gay man and American citizen, it’s a painful wake up call to me and others to realize how fortunate we are with the freedoms we have.

Edafe’s personal story of growing up gay in Nigeria is riveting. I wanted him to succeed in fighting for equality in his home country. Yet, if I faced the cruel injustice and beatings he did just because of his God-given sexual orientation, I too would be forced to flee my country.

Bed 26 will also shock you if you didn’t realize that people seeking legal asylum in America, like Edafe, are immediately thrown into a corporate-run jail. His name is reduced to a bed number, he has no access to sunlight for months, and his success at convincing an Immigration judge to grant him asylum is never guaranteed. Indeed many others who don’t have legal help are deported and face the being murdered when they return to their home country.

It is moving to see how Edafe has take up the cause for assisting other LGBT asylum seekers in America. You will be inspire by Edafe’s journey, hopefully to advocate for migrants and refugees.

LISTEN TO THIS!

Edafe Okporo does such an amazing job with writing this story that you can hear his own voice through the narration. This story is brave, inspiring, and very honest. It shows his ability to self-reflect and take action. He has been through a lot. I wish the best of luck to him.

Educational, Inspirational and kept me coming back

Bed 26 was an eye-opening book on so many levels. First, to learn about how dangerous it is to be gay in Nigeria and second, to understand was incarceration does to the soul. But the book is uplifting, providing inspiration that hardship can be overcome. The story flows and kept me coming back for more.