Do it Independently or Die; Self-help Movement of Transgender Women Community
Editor
26 September 2022 22:59 WIB
Coordinator of Transgender Crisis Center, Rully Malay, said that the credit union is one of the ways for trans women to prevent them from borrowing money from loan sharks. Most of them cannot access banking services to get business capital as they don’t have an ID card.
However, the cooperatives were also affected by the pandemic. Since many of them are not registered in the civil administration system, the trans women did not receive any assistance from the government. They must find their own way to survive.
The survey done by Crisis Response Mechanism (CRM), a collective activity initiated by gender equality activists during the pandemic, showed that 57.5 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) communities did not receive Covid-19 assistance from the government. In addition to the limited access to information, it is also caused by the discrimination against gender and sexual identity that still exists, as well as the absence of citizenship documents.
At least until July 2021, Waria Crisis Center also recorded that 11 trans women in Yogyakarta died in their boarding house due to limited access to medicine, healthcare services, and food. Those who are still alive lost their jobs as buskers, make-up artists, and salon workers. Some of them swerved to sell foods and beverages online. The buyers were their friends in the community networks.
To mitigate the emergency situation, the trans women community now relies on credit unions. According to Rully, currently, there are four credit unions spread across the cities of Yogyakarta City, Sleman, and Bantul. "We are focusing on the economic resilience of the community because government policies have not accommodated the needs of trans women," said Rully.
Kebaya Foundation provides a stimulant fund of Rp4 million to every representative of the credit unions. It is hoped that in a year, the credit unions will be able to return the stimulant fund to the foundation. This idea emerged from the arisan tradition at Transgender Boarding School, Kebaya, and Iwayo (Yogyakarta Transgender Association).
The figures at each of the trans women communities encourage their members to be independent by actively conducting training, such as making batik, sewing, cooking, and make-up. Rully Malay, Shinta Ratri, Vinolia Wakijo, and Ayu Kusuma are leaders in each trans women community who play an important role in lobbying a number of non-governmental organizations to help fund this training.
Besides developing cooperatives, in order to fulfill their daily needs independently and cheaply, they also grow their own fruits and vegetables at the community gardens. The gardening activity has even been done before the establishment of the cooperatives. At the end of last August, the yard of Waria Crisis Center in Banguntapan, Bantul, was full of pumpkins, papayas, sweet potatoes, cassavas, spinaches, bilimbis, cayenne peppers, tomatoes, turmerics, and guavas. Previously, the yard was parched, only overgrown with weeds.
Rully Malay, who loves gardening, diligently takes care of the plants. He watered them and spread fertilizer. If a problem arises with the plant, such as when it grows stunted or is attacked by pests, Rully relies on the knowledge of a number of lecturers at Gadjah Mada University who understands agriculture or the environment. The trans woman from Makassar, South Sulawesi, often uses vegetables in her garden as ingredients for cooking.
The house which was rented by the Waria Crisis Center was also used to accommodate trans women infected with Covid-19 and elderly transwomen. That Monday afternoon of August 29, three elderly trans women were sitting on the veranda. According to Rully, they are also the ones who take care of the garden; they sweep the fallen leaves and pull the grass. "They are healthy because they get healthy food from organic plants," said Rully.
The report on trans women and Indonesian politics was a collaboration between Koran Tempo and Jaring.id with the support from Indonesian Association for Media Development (PPMN) and The Asia-Pacific Regional Support for Elections and Political Transitions (RESPECT). This collaboration also involved the Philippines Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) and Lafaek News (East Timor).
KORAN TEMPO
Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo in Google News
