“My Journey of Change”

Growing up was full of adventures, discoveries, challenges and traumatic experiences. I
was four when I began to discover that I was different; different from other male kids,
different according to the standards of society. I preferred the company of girls, loved
what they loved; from Barbie dolls to makeup and female outfits, but I was a boy. It
made me feel special that I was different from other male kids because I could do
feminine stuff that they couldn’t do and girls loved to be around me. At school, I would
participate in dancing and cooking contests and other feminine related activities and
competitions and would win against other girls. Every instructor wanted me in their team and it felt good.
But as I grew older, I began to face a great level of discrimination, people related to me
differently, to them I was different in a disgusting way and they loathed me. To some
persons, I was silly and faking my girlie attitude, so they would mock and make jest of
me; to some others, I was spoilt and over-pampered brat who needed a good beating, the worse are those who saw me as an abomination, they avoided me like one would avoid people stricken with leprosy; parents would even caution their children to avoid me. I had to tolerate mockery and insults, rejections and marginalization. I tried to fit into the masculine circle, but the more I tried, the greater the prejudice I faced. There were only a few persons who accepted me as their friends. People hardly cared about how I truly felt or what I was going through, nor wanted to help me find my true self. I would try to keep away from people in order to avoid their troubles.
I began to feel choked by the society, I was becoming frustrated and creeping into
depression. This was when the desire to fight for myself began to grow. I wanted to stand up and speak against people who spoke and looked down on me, against the injustice I suffered; I began to fight for myself seeing as no one was willing to defend me. This desire drove me into defending and also speaking up for other people who I saw suffered any form of oppression. I did as much as I could to ensure that the people around me suffered no injustice and even got into fights in a bid to protect them.
So I gradually began to build confidence and accept myself. I came to a resolve that since no one would genuinely be of help, I would stand for myself and others who needs help as much as I can. I knew I had great potentials, and I refused to let the discrimination and oppression of society shut me down. I dreamt of becoming an activist, one who would be a voice for those who couldn’t speak due to fear and fight for equality and justice; and a beautiful model.
I hoped to find other persons like myself because the more we are, the stronger we can
be. We can help and be there for each other and together fight against the societal
oppression. (Download PDF for full article)