Odkrivanje življenja transspolne osebe v Pakistanu
// Uncovering life of a transgender person in Pakistan
Reeba Sufyan, 3. letnik // Year 3
Mentor: Tadej Žnidarčič
1. “Poglej me v oči? Kaj vidiš? Lepo dušo? Trpeče človeško bitje?«
“Look into my eyes? What do you see? A beautiful soul? A struggling human being?”
Vse se je začelo s transspolno osebo Lailo, ki je v zadnjih 15 letih vsako nedeljo prosjačila pri nas. Spoprijateljili sva se, bila je moja prijateljica že od otroštva. Čakala sem jo vsako nedeljo, ko sem bila v Pakistanu, preden sem odšla na študij v Slovenijo. V tretjem letniku študija, ko sem bila v Pakistanu in so v novicah veliko poročali o posilstvu transspolne osebe, sem se želela zavzeti za njih, hkrati pa sem imela tudi delo z diplomsko nalogo, kar je predstavljalo točko odločitve za ta projekt. Stopila sem v stik z Lailo in se z njo pogovorila o svojem projektu. Strinjala se je in me predstavila svojo transspolno skupino, kjer sem srečala tudi Ayesho, zelo naivno, čisto in prijazno osebo. V Lailini skupini so bile tudi druge transspolne osebe, ki so prihajale iz različnih krajev, različnih provinc in so bili različnih starosti. Med njimi je bilo 90 % zavrnjeno s strani staršev in družbe, zato jih je njihov guru (gospodar) posvojil, ko so bili še otroci, in jih nato usposobil za beračenje, ples in prostitucijo; to je namreč delo, ki jim ga družba omogoča, kasneje pa jih ta ista družba sramoti, ker naj bi bili umazani in vulgarni.
Z Ayesho in njeno skupino sem delala približno šest do devet mesecev. Ti meseci so bili zame zelo pomembni. Pred to izkušnjo nisem vedel veliko o transspolnih osebah; kako živijo, kje živijo, kako služijo za preživetje in s čim živijo. Poleg tega sem se seznanil tudi s temnimi platmi njihovega poklica.
Transspolne osebe se v naši družbi ne obravnavajo kot običajni ljudje. Leta 2018 so dobili pravico, da se prijavijo za osebno izkaznico kot moški, vlada jim je ponudila nekaj delovnih mest in za njihove pravice so bile ustanovljene nekatere nevladne organizacije, vendar so te osebe vseeno deprivilegirane v družbi. Z njimi sem preživela nekaj svojega časa in poskušala zajeti vse vidike njihovega življenja. Kljub temu, da devet mesecev ni bilo dovolj, da pokrijem vse vidike, sem se maksimalno potrudila, da bi dosegla ta cilj.
Nova Gorica, junij 2021
// It all started with a transgender person whose name was Laila, and who used to visit our home to beg every Sunday, four times a month for last 15 years. She was s friend of mine since my childhood, I used to wait for her every Sunday while I was in Pakistan before coming to Slovenia for my bachelor’s degree. In my 3rd year of studies when I was in Pakistan and there was a rape case of a transgender revolving in news in those days, I really wanted to raise a voice for them, on the other hand I had to do a diploma work for my bachelor’s degree, so that was the point when I decided to do this project. I contacted Laila and talked about my project with her. She agreed and she introduced me to her transgender group where I found Ayesha, a very naive, pure and friendly person. There were also other transgender people in Laila’s group, who were coming from different places, different provinces, were of different ages. 90 % of them got rejected by their parents and the society, so their Guru (master) has adopted them when they were still children, and then trained them for begging, dancing and prostitution, because these are they only things society allows them to do; and later this same society shames them for being dirty and vulgar.
I worked with Ayesha and her group for about 6 to 9 months. Those months were very crucial for me. Before this experience I didn’t know much about transgender people; how they live, where they live, how they earn, and what they do for living. Moreover, I got familiar with some dark side of their profession as well.
Transgender people are not treated like normal people in our society. Back in 2018, they got the right to apply for the National Identity Card as male person, government opened some vacancies for jobs for them and some NGOs were created for their rights, but still, they are under-privileged. I spent my time with them and tried to cover every aspect of their lives, 9 months are not enough to cover everything, but I tried my level best.
Nova Gorica, June 2021
