An initiative through which the stories of transgender folks, undergoing an upskilling program at Don Bosco Institute in Bangalore, are featured.
Members of the transgender community have been victims of discrimination and denigration since time immemorial.
While many states across India are making public spheres more inclusive, the change needs to come from us as individuals too to start treating the transgender community with the dignity and respect.
Project Vayati is an initiative through which the stories of transgender folks, undergoing an upskilling program at Don Bosco Institute in Bangalore, are featured.
Taken up by Egomonk, a broadcasting & media production company based in Bengaluru, the project consists a compilation of videos featuring people from the community where they speak of their dreams and ambitions.
“Though the entire LGBTQ community has faced discrimination at different levels in our country, one can visibly see that it is the transgender community that has suffered maximum ostracism. Having mostly being abandoned, they find themselves left with no other options than begging or prostitution,” says Sartaj Anand, founder of Egomonk.
Collaborating with Solidarity Foundation along with Interweave and Don Bosco, the idea behind the project was to bring around 10 members from the transgender community to participate in a 12-day program to secure formal sector jobs.
“Our aim was to amplify the fact that all of these people are just like us and have dreams and ambitions,” he explains.
Here are the stories of six individuals who chose to defy the odds stacked against them and lead a life propelled by their individual courage and passion instead of resorting to begging or prostitution.
Bernie
Supriya
Prashant
Maya
Dimple
Amulya
With the pilot batch of 12 members, the team plans on bringing in more members from the community as the project expands.
“The 12-day programme ended up giving wings to the dreams of many candidates. In fact, four candidates have already been placed, out of which two are working under the Don Bosco Skill Mission; one as a part of their evaluation team and one as a trainer. As of the remaining six, the placement process is going on,” Sartaj happily adds.
You can reach out to Egomonks at contact@egomonk.com or call on 07676755667.
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