January 7.2000 » Continued from Page 25 B could finally say, ‘I’m here,’ without worrying if they’re going to come to my door in the middle of the night and take me away," he says. In July 2000, Wario can apply for perma nent residency. If all goes well, after another three years he can apply for citizenship. Wario expects to follow all these steps, and is confident he will succeed. He’s excit- ed about being able to make plans and start putting down roots. “I can never go back and live in Kenya,” he says. “I still dream about Kenya almost every night,” he adds quietly, longing for the famil- y the summer of 1995, Wario’s student visas and his tourist visa had expired. Uncertain what to do next, but certain that he couldn t go back to Kenya, Wario became an illegal alien. Wario had not realized there was a large contingent of Radical Fairies as close as Port land. But as soon as he did, he moved to the City of Roses and got a certificate to teach English as a second language. “I fell completely in love with Portland," he says. “I’m out to everybody, and ever since I’ve been here I’ve never tried to hide that.” But life as an illegal alien was tough. “If I’d left, I would have been banned from returning for five to 10 years,” Wario says. “I spent four years as an illegal alien, never knowing what was going to happen at any moment,” he recalls, the depth of his fear still recent in his memory. He was careful not to do anything even remotely illegal— no traffic tickets or parking fines, no arguments with jealous boyfriends »f* who might turn him in. “I was always looking over my shoulder,” he says. What kept Wario going was the support of his friends in the Radical Faeries. Because it was too great a risk to lie on job applications, Wario was forced to take odd jobs that paid cash under the table. He moved around, often staying with friends when he was between jobs cleaning houses and working in construction. Life was all about basic survival. Finally, in late 1997, there was a change in IN S regulations that allowed illegal aliens to have their status readjusted without penalty— if they had a good reason to stay. Eventually Wario connected with mem iar sensations of home. “I miss the way the bers of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Campaign in San Francisco, a ploughed earth smells after the first rain, and group that focuses on immigration issues, the mountains of fruit in the open-air mar- They told him he might be able to claim asy- kets." lum and hooked him up with an attorney. Once Wario obtains U .S. citizenship, his It was a slow process, and it took a year just passport will make no mention of his former to get an interview with the INS. But from asylee status, and he should be able to visit then on Wario had a pending case, which Kenya as long as he keeps a low profile. His meant he could come aboveground and father, now a prominent bishop, obtain a work permit. and the rest of his In early 1998, the President of Kenya, family Daniel arap Moi, joined other unenlight ened African leaders a s s ? - ' denouncing h o m o se x u a ls. In an official edict he said, “Kenya has no room or time for gays and lesbians— we will not tolerate j \ ) » '999 it.” Those were the magic words that ulti mately convinced the » & ***» ** IN S panel that Wario’s life would be endan .-o gered if he returned to Kenya. O n June 11, 1999, e* « » * '00 *y\U*D f r» V> y oui r ; 0u a * * 'nv Warios petition for politi , eU»^'W ve to®*0 cal asylum was granted, ,we to*10* and he received an asylee visa, which is valid indefi nitely. “ I had dreamed about that *b° V' e*»bV moment for years— when 1 S * = 2 T » — *■ ?Ä * - Î 5 Î. * s S 5 » would be at known there. situation became rario has, however, had one recent face to face meeting with his father. In the summer of 1998 his father came to Chicago for an evangelical conference. To prepare him for their meeting, Wario sent his father a letter in which he revealed his sexu al orientation and detailed his immigration struggles. “O f course he freaked out,” Wario remembers, “but by the time we met he’d calmed down, and we had this incredibly intense conversation over six days. A t the and I still dream about Kenya almost every night. I miss the way the after the first rain, and the mountains o f fruit in the open-air markets." end we concluded the bonds of our family are stronger than anything else.” Although Wario stays in touch with his family through letters, he believes they’re in denial about his new life. “They don’t believe it’s true— they think I became gay because I left the church,” Wario says, his voice turning sad. “They’re praying the heck out of this— they think they can fix what is for them a deep, shameful secret.” ^ i n c e becoming an ^ a sy le e , Wario has con tinued his education at the prestigious Starkey Institute in Colorado, where he studied estate management. He got a taste o f that career during his under ground years when a Portland man hired him as a household manager. Now he is working at a venerable down town Portland i -n p w * ^ V o U h»ve hotel while he looks for the perfect man agement posi tion. And how did he pick such an unusual career? “A t the heart it’s about nurturing, it’s about taking care of a home,” he replies passionately. “At heart I’m a homebody,” he says, adding that his early close relationships with his female relatives undoubtedly influenced his love of things domestic. And would this single man ever be con tent to stay home and be the happy home maker? “Absolutely!” Wario exclaims without hesitation. His time in Colorado also solidified his love of the Northwest. “That made me realize this is my home,” he says. “I’m settling here in Portland, and I will be eternally grateful to my friends here— our community does have heart," he says with all earnestness. Best of all, he is out, out, out to everyone. He has instructed his employment counselor at the institute to write on his file “in big red letters that I’m gay,” he says. S o, now that his legal battle has been won and his life here is stabilizing, how does Wario evaluate his situation? Any regrets? “I would love to be able to speak my native lan guage, Kikuyu,” he says, explaining that he doesn’t have any friends from Kenya here. He does have close African American friends, and they often discuss the differences in their lives. “It’s much easier for me here,” Wario says, “because I’m perceived as a good black person, not an angry black person.” He has seen it time and again, that as soon as people learn he’s from Africa, their attitude toward him shifts dramatically into accep tance. Another difference is his own attitude. “There is definitely an ‘immigrant mind,’ but 1 don’t have that— that chasing of the American dream,” he says. He explains that he socializes mostly with people who “wear beads, as little clothing as possible and hang out in the woods.” He adds: “Earning money has not been my primary focus; my whole purpose for coming here was completely different.” Then Wario smiles, settles back into his chair and says, “I feel I’m very wealthy and I haven’t wasted my time.” Talk of the winter holidays excites him, yet when his thoughts return to Africa, a sadness envelops him. “I love the concept of Kwanzaa— that shows what we can salvage after the devasta tion of Christianity. Kwanzaa means ‘first fruits of the harvest’ in Swahili, and I’d love to take the celebration of Kwanzaa back to Kenya,” he says wistfully, knowing that adven ture will have to wait. The irony of this is extreme: A man bom in Africa is forced to leave because Western religious influences have poisoned attitudes toward sexual minorities; then he seeks sanc tuary in the West, where he’s able to celebrate Kwanzaa, a spiritual holiday originated by an African Am erican to restore indigenous African heritage to Westerners. But one day this ardent lover of freedom who found his liberty in the Western world may very well achieve his goal of restoring to his homeland concepts that were destroyed by Western invaders so many years ago. And wouldn’t that be poetic justice? Wouldn’t that bring Kahunya W ario’s two worlds back together? ■ O R IA N A G R E E N is the Entertainment Editor of Just Out and feels honored to have met Kahunya Wario.