'Everything here is beautiful': Frostbitten refugee in awe at first Pride

Staring at the sea of rainbow colours that blanketed Winnipeg Sunday morning, Seidu Mohammed was in awe.

"It's so so beautiful," a smiling Mohammed said, looking at floats in the WinnipegPride Parade.

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Sunday is the first time the 24-year-old refugee from Ghana has ever been to a Pride event.

"I'm home now, I'm home with my family," Mohammed said.

"It's a good thing that they're doing this for everybody."

It's a big day for Mohammed, a bisexual man, who lost all his fingers after getting frostbite while fleeing the United States in the dead of winter.

He risked his life to come to Canada from the United States on Christmas Eve last year, along with another Ghanaian man, so he could be free.

Outed as bisexual and scared for his life if he was deported back to Ghana, Mohammed said he had no choice but to flee to Canada to apply for refugee protection.

He found out last month he had won his case and since has started mingling with other members of Winnipeg's LGBT community.

• Frostbitten refugee will lose fingers, toe after 7-hour trek to cross U.S.-Canada border

"I appreciate everything," Mohammed said adding he knows "it's OK,"to be himself here now.

"It's a beautiful thing that they're doing."