Transgender empowerment means providing
equal rights to transgender community and setting same standards in all the
aspects of life as for men and women. They are the essential aspect of the
society. Imagine all the transgender working for the welfare of country and its
economy by adopting respectable professions like teaching, cooking, painting,
repairing etc. I mean every profession is acceptable to me but begging is
something I really hate. So during our journey at Amal academy, when we were
asked to choose a topic for our mega project, one of my group members proposed
the idea of “Transgender Empowerment”. I was the one who instantly agreed upon
it. Others were reluctant as it is a difficult as well as dangerous task. After
some discussion, everyone was convinced and we finalized our project. During
the journey of almost one and a half month, different interesting and shocking
things revealed to us. I would like to share some of the experiences so if
anyone has intentions of studying and doing research in this regard, may earn
some benefit.
As our first step, we needed to
conduct interviews from certain number of transgender so we can have a glimpse
of their problems and possible solutions to them. In this regard, our first
destination was a coaching center where transgender of different ages were
working. Finance manager of that institute (who is also a transgender) listened
to our plan very patiently. We were happy as we got a good start. But suddenly
tables turned around. We were asked to
pay an amount of Rs.10, 000 in order to reach and conduct interviews. There was
nothing to do except saying ‘Thank you so much’ and leaving with a fake smile.
That’s what we did.
That was a solid excuse for us to
quit and simply change the project but we didn’t. We decided to go on with the
different strategy because to every problem, there is a solution. This kept us
driven. Our next target was the traffic
signals where they usually beg. Initially, no transgender agreed to record the
interview. But after some effort, we convinced one. We conducted our first and last interview of
the day and went home. Next day, one of our female group member told that one
of her uncle saw her at that spot and inquired her father that was she doing
there. She was really embarrassed. We decided not to take female members with
us in future.
I have once merely told some of
my university friends about the project. Luckily, one of them got links with HR
manager of ‘Gender Guardian School’. They arranged us the interviews, well not
free of cost but in much lower rates i-e Rs.1000 per interview. There we conducted
two interviews. One of transgender name
was Khushboo. I would like to share its story.
At that time, Khushboo was doing a
knitting course at Gender Guardian School. When asked about her childhood, she almost
burst into tears. At home, her mother was the only person who cared about her.
Her siblings used to curse her. Khushboo was 13 when her mother died. Very next
day to her mother’s death when RASM-e-QUL was not even done, her elder brother
throw her out of the house. Four days straight, she spent days and nights on
footpaths and benches. After struggling for many days, she got a job at a house
as a maid. There she faced different kinds of physical and verbal torture which
is a separate long story. At Gender
Guardian School, Khushboo is much satisfied with her life and you can’t even
imagine how thankful she is to the owner of the school.
Well that was one of the great
highlights from my fellowship journey at Amal academy. The fellowship has ended
but project is going on. Alhamdulillah, a transgender (can’t disclose the
name) who used to beg on the streets, has done cooking course from Gender Guardian School and now earning as a cook.
We need more like her.
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