Log 2 Part 1

On the afternoon of 24th September, the team headed down to the shelter to get to know the T-Project girls.

This interactive session presented itself as a valuable and meaningful opportunity for the whole team to get to know current residents of the shelter at a more intimate and personal level. Given that it was conducted within the shelter itself, this allowed for the girls to feel safe and comfortable to share their personal stories with us. Throughout this sharing session, we were surprised and touched by how gracious and genuine the girls were as they shared more about their experiences. Likewise, we were extremely grateful to them for placing their trust with us despite the fact that it was only the first time meeting all of them.

We believed that the presence of Eztelle, the shelter’s manager, also made it easier for us to establish a bridge of trust between the group and the rest of the girls. Since they placed their trust in Eztelle, this made it easier for the girls to feel safe enough to trust us as they trusted Eztelle.

The sharing session also allowed our group to further understand and internalize the common problems that transgenders face in today’s society. Based on the stories that were shared across 5 residents, some problems included financial difficulties, high barriers in seeking employment and housing application, transgender discrimination from the public and poor family relationships.

Since this module encourages students to reach out to the marginalized populations with the hope of instigating social change, our team drew insight from stories shared by residents of the shelter and eventually came up with a name for our project - TRANS-figure.

Drawing inspiration from the word “transfigure” which means to transform something more beautiful or elevated, our team hopes to change the lives of these transgenders through the practice of participatory approaches (Photovoice) and promote social justice/equality for them to the best of our abilities.