BEGGING FOR MONEY AND STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE ! - TRANSGENDER PEOPLE IN PAKISTAN - DOCUMENTARY

[00:00:10]Come on, dance. You dance so beautifully. They used to say you look just like a girl. Wear a completely see-through dress, Rudaya. Look different from everyone else. Let your private parts show. Then dancing in front of men while drunk, sitting on their laps, and taking money from them, it's really very hard.

[00:00:35]>> Around the world, there are communities of people who do not identify as either female or male.

[00:00:41]These individuals identify as transgender and reside in various regions around the globe.

[00:00:47]Some sources claim that there are more than 400 million transgender people worldwide. While transgender people are accepted in some countries, they are subject to various forms of exclusion in others.

[00:01:00]Transgender people have a particularly difficult time protecting their rights and living comfortably in countries where religious beliefs are dominant or the legal system is inadequate.

[00:01:11]The transgender community originated mainly in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan in South Asia. The existence of transgender people is mentioned in ancient Hindu texts. In the 15th century BCE, they were called Hijra and began to be known by this name.

[00:01:26]During the Mughal Empire, transgender people were regarded almost as gods and held in high regard. They were valued in society as sacred dancers, protectors of festivals, and important healers until the 18th century. However, starting in the 19th century, when the British began to rule the region, transgender people were subjected to oppression, discrimination, and exclusion. They were stigmatized and their social existence was denied. To better understand their situation, we traveled to Pakistan, a country where transgender individuals face some of the most challenging conditions worldwide. We tried to understand the daily lives of the Hijra, as they are known in South Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. They lead very difficult lives. Our team member in Pakistan reached out to a transgender community, which gave us the opportunity to make this video.

[00:02:16]During this time of year, the weather in Pakistan is gloomy, and the rainy season has begun in South Asia. This is a village in Pakistan where most transgender people live. Meanwhile, the rain is getting heavier.

[00:02:29]The transgender people in this community divide their daily tasks among themselves.

[00:02:35]When we entered the neighborhood, we first noticed a transgender woman sitting on a corner smoking a cigarette.

[00:02:42]Soon we will go out into the street with them. This will give us the chance to see how the people around them react to transgender people.

[00:02:50]Here we go.

[00:02:55]The transgender women walk around outside in pairs or groups of three.

[00:02:59]They probably feel the need to stay together for safety reasons. Soon one of them approaches a greengrocer and makes a purchase.

[00:03:06]While she was shopping, people were watching them.

[00:03:08]These transsexual people are actually in an extremely poor financial situation.

[00:03:13]Often they cannot afford to pay for their purchases and must beg. They ask fruit and vegetable sellers for food and beg other shopkeepers for money.

[00:03:24]Sometimes shopkeepers agree to give them money to avoid upsetting them and to help them. On the street we see that transgender people are extremely tall and strong. This could give them an advantage in any fight. They travel in groups and are physically strong. For this reason, people on the streets of Pakistan are afraid to disrespect them.

[00:03:46]Pakistan is a country that is 99% Muslim, so the existence of transgender people is not widely accepted and is a serious topic of debate.

[00:03:57]After collecting money from a few people, the trans women went to a restaurant. They wanted to escape the rain and fill their stomachs.

[00:04:05]Trans women constantly beg to survive.

[00:04:08]It is almost impossible for them to find official work in Pakistan. Despite being healthy and strong, almost no one will hire them. Shop owners fear being stigmatized by society if they hire transgender people, so they keep them away. In Pakistan, some people eat with their hands instead of using a fork and spoon.

[00:04:27]Some transgender women also prefer to eat with their hands.

[00:04:33]In the afternoon, they head in a different direction where there are more people. One of them heads for the underpass. She asks religious men under the bridge for money hoping for their goodwill.

[00:04:49]Similarly, transgender people wait at train station corners and beg for money from passengers getting off the train.

[00:04:58]It is estimated that there are around 500,000 transgender people in the country.

[00:05:07]>> Right now, I am at one of the busiest intersections in Karachi. Here, um quite a lot of trans individuals are begging. They stop moving vehicles and ask them for money. People give them money and in return they offer prayers.

[00:05:20]Some people scold them, while others give them money.

[00:05:23]>> We stopped at a street corner where transgender people waited for customers.

[00:05:27]They tried to attract the attention of passing men with their makeup. Applying makeup and plucking their eyebrows is important to them. They must look as feminine as possible to attract men's attention in Pakistan. They need money to survive.

[00:05:43]They go out to find customers, almost jumping on top of cars.

[00:05:49]When they see an open car window, they immediately approach the vehicle and directly ask for money or offer escort services.

[00:06:01]>> Begging at the intersections continues in this way. They beg at the intersections like this in order to make a living and have two meals a day, and this is called the business of begging.

[00:06:14]There is a belief like this within the Muslim community. If you give them money, their prayers are accepted and heard. That's why people give them money, and when vehicles stop at the intersections, they pray for them. And in return for these prayers, people continue to give them at least a little money.

[00:06:32]>> Thanks.

[00:06:33]>> Thank you.

[00:06:34]>> Even if the traffic police see the transgender women, they don't intervene.

[00:06:41]After a while, two well-groomed Pakistani men come over to the trans women and bargain with them. Our teammate is astonished by what is happening. The trans women give the money they earn throughout the day to their community leader. This elderly transgender person in yellow clothes is their leader on the street. They are like children to him.

[00:07:02]He observes their work throughout the day and assesses the situation in areas like parks at the end of the day. They discuss dangerous incidents and their earnings in these park areas, as well as the situations they experienced outside that day.

[00:07:16]They also decide what they will do the next day and distribute tasks.

[00:07:22]In another Muslim country such as Bangladesh, transgender women also go to mosques to pray during the day. However, the trans women in Pakistan are far from Islam. They say that they cannot worship comfortably in Pakistani mosques anyway.

[00:07:35]This is because they are afraid of being rejected.

[00:07:40]After finishing their meetings in the park, Pakistani trans women head home to end their day. As I mentioned at the beginning of the video, these individuals live in the same neighborhood in shantytown.

[00:07:52]Are you wondering how these transgender people live in their homes?

[00:07:56]To show you, we visited the homes of the transgender community. We entered their street with our teammate and noticed the curious looks from the children around us.

[00:08:06]Dancing and having fun to music is very important to transgender people.

[00:08:12]As the rain intensified in the evening, they wanted to dance and have fun because they had made it through another day without any problems.

[00:08:23]They often gather in their neighborhood to dance like this. Sometimes they also dance for money. Other times they dance to entertain themselves and relieve stress.

[00:08:35]Even if it rains heavily, they never compromise on dancing or enjoying themselves. If the performances they put on in the streets aren't enough, they continue entertaining themselves in the shacks where they live.

[00:08:50]For them, dancing is almost like a religious ritual and they derive great pleasure from it. Despite their harsh and cruel lives, they try to stay cheerful through music.

[00:09:02]After they finish dancing, the chores in the shantytown await them. Just as they divide labor in their daily work outside, they also do so inside their homes. For example, this woman in pink acts as a mother figure in the shantytown. They share all their troubles, problems, and issues with her.

[00:09:19]While the woman in the yellow dress acts as a guardian for these transgender people outside the shantytown, the elderly woman in pink acts as a parent for them inside it. Like a mother and father.

[00:09:32]>> Are you their mother?

[00:09:33]>> Yes, I am the mother of all of them.

[00:09:35]>> So, how exactly do you spend your valuable time with them?

[00:09:39]>> I have a wonderful time with them. They are like my own children. They show me a lot of respect. They are very good to me. They used to fight and swear. That's why I used to get very angry with them.

[00:09:49]I said, "Oh God, save my life. When will I be free from them?" Then God showed such a miracle that I came to them on foot. Then the children supported me.

[00:09:59]Then I became their mother.

[00:10:00]>> Examining the interior of their shack reveals that they do not live in hygienic conditions. They probably need help and are struggling to get by.

[00:10:10]Paint and plaster on the ceilings are peeling and the interior smells damp.

[00:10:15]The iron beams holding up the shack are rusted.

[00:10:19]Their kitchen and its contents are somewhat organized, but the kitchen is very small. The trans women say their water and electricity are frequently cut off. Since the shack's water infrastructure does not work properly, they fill plastic bottles with water from parks and wells. Their home does not receive sunlight, so they must wash their clothes by hand. This pink painted room serves as their bathroom. They pour the water they filled the bottles with into a bucket and wash themselves here.

[00:10:48]They have no privacy while bathing and no access to hot water. The ceilings in their home are also quite low. For example, the transgender person wearing yellow is standing next to the door and has to bend their head to enter.

[00:11:01]This is because they appear taller than the door.

[00:11:07]The transgender person who cooks the most delicious meals prepares food on a gas stove. They eat low-cost meals consisting of onions and potatoes. Their meals often do not include meat and potatoes are their primary source of nutrition. Since there is no counter in their kitchen, they cook on the floor every day.

[00:11:27]After eating, another transgender person washes the dishes. They fill a basin with water and wash their hands and the dishes there. Unfortunately, they have no wardrobe to hang their clothes. These transgender individuals hang their clothes on the wall, one on top of the other, since they live in a community.

[00:11:44]Their clothes often get mixed up and touch each other. This is not ideal in terms of hygiene or health, but they have no other choice. It is impossible for so many people to have private rooms in the same shack. None of them have personal privacy or a living space where they can spend time alone.

[00:12:01]>> This place is a house given to me by a good-hearted brother who fears God.

[00:12:07]But the rent for this house is 10,000 lira.

[00:12:11]And I can't afford to pay that. I don't have the financial means to rent a better house. And even the rent for this rundown place is 10,000 lira. I am seriously a heart patient. At the same time, I also have high blood pressure and I am truly in a very desperate situation. The government should take care of us. They give so many funds to people. Are we invisible? Did we fall from the sky? A mother gave birth to us, too. We have our own dignity here. But in Pakistan, we have no value at all.

[00:12:39]Everyone excludes us, looks down on us.

[00:12:42]If you ask someone for a bite of bread, they push you away. Where should we go?

[00:12:46]I have had to collect and eat bread crumbs from the trash many times.

[00:12:50]>> An elderly woman in red clothes leads us to the other part of the shack where the toilet is located. They relieve themselves outside the shack where they live.

[00:13:00]They have created a separate toilet area to prevent the spread of bad smells and bacteria. This is where they use the toilet. It is an old toilet and does not look clean. After using it, they clean themselves with water from buckets.

[00:13:14]In short, these people, who are judged for their identity choices, are actually going through a huge ordeal. They are excluded from society and cannot find work. They try to to by escorting and begging.

[00:13:29]They don't have proper homes, can't eat properly, and their biological families don't accept them.

[00:13:36]In this video, we tried to show how difficult their daily lives are by referencing the experiences of transgender people in Pakistan. See you in the next video.