SANJANA TIWARI, dost hai tumhari, she says introducing herself to gay men and transwomen at risk of contracting HIV just like she once was. Having borne the stigma of being a transgender and once assumed to be a carrier of HIV as a sex worker, Sanjana, an autorickshaw driver in Northwest Delhi, is now a crusader against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
As a volunteer at an NGO, she is committed to helping trans people be what they are: human beings who can bring value to society regardless of their sexuality. From a young age, Sanjana, now in her 40s, knew she was different. Born a boy, the eldest of five siblings, she liked dressing up like a woman. She liked boys from her neighbourhood. But scared of what her estranged father and neighbours would say, she never revealed her gender identity.
Sanjana loved to dance like a girl but her family would frighten her, saying if she danced like kinnars, they would take her away. But she presented herself as a boy well into her teens till poverty forced her into sex work. “Our father did not support us. Mother did her best working at a quilt shop, a job she had difficulty keeping because she was asthmatic. So, I started working at a nuts-and-bolts factory at 12,” says Sanjana.
At the factory, the owner sodomised Sanjana. “I was scared that if I stopped him, he would fire me. That’s when I thought that once I had been violated and there was no way out, why shouldn’t I do sex work for money?”
She kept her life hidden, but her feminine behaviour was derided by her family. “My father, uncle and my grandmother abused me often. Yet none of them stepped up to help us meet the expenses of living,” says Sanjana. It was the scare of HIV and AIDS that changed the course of her life after 16 years.
“When I started sex work, none of us really knew about HIV. When Deepshikha, the NGO I volunteer at now, reached out to me and explained about HIV, I was scared for my life. I had been working without a condom for 16 years and was sure I had the infection,” says Sanjana. She got herself tested at Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital in Rohini and the results were negative.
That’s when she decided to give a shot at living life meaningfully and on her terms. “I quit the profession and started working with Deepshikha. They helped me become an autorickshaw driver. They also helped me explore my creative interests; I now do street plays to raise awareness about HIV,” she said.
Her efforts have yielded results as over the years, she has seen how most male and trans sex workers use condoms. There are now free diagnostics and medicines available at government centres for those who test positive but Sanjana says there is a need for oversight.
“Those who are positive get discriminated against even at government facilities. Once I took a young HIV-positive boy to one of the government hospitals to get tested for TB (those with HIV frequently have TB co-infections because of a weakened immune system. Interventions are targeted towards them under the government’s HIV and TB programmes). But they did not do the test. I had to take him to a private clinic. This should not happen to anyone,” argues Sanjana.
She also emphasises the need for ensuring education for LGBTQ children so that they do not get into sex work. “It is usually the poor who, not knowing how to earn, turn to sex work. The problem is that the effeminate students get sexually exploited by their classmates, teachers and staff in schools, so they leave their education midway. There has to be a way to ensure they get complete schooling without fear. Then they should get mainstream jobs that help them run their lives like anybody else,” says Sanjana.
Now campaigning for sexual and digital literacy among LGBTQ youth, Sanjana feels all children should get a sex education so that they can protect themselves.
Discovered on: 2023-01-01 22:33:34
Source: Sanjana Tiwari, dost tumhari: Transwoman who works to uplift lives of other…
