My name is Unashe Micheal I am from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. I identify as male as l see my transitioning just as a process to complete who l already am. l am still in the initial stage of my medical transitioning. l had my therapy sessions and have been given a referral letter to start hormonal therapy. However, owing to the fact that my country makes it hard for people like myself to access such facilities through public healthcare providers. This means i can only pay a huge amount to see an endocrinologists if i find any, this situation has made it very difficult for me to start hormonal therapy.
I am a student and cannot meet the costs of travelling out of the country to get medical assistance. My family doesn’t support my transitioning and getting funds from them is not an option.
My everyday struggles..
I face many challenges as a young student and a transman. Related to my gender identity, i struggle so much with feeling comfortable in my own body especially when it comes to getting up and facing my day at school. Being seen as merely a ‘tom boy’ makes it even worse as this is not what I am. Also my daily frustrations are dealing with chest dysphoria and what is in my pants, It irks me that i have to live with being the man who pees sitting. I am still struggling each day and the only way I have tried to consolidate myself is by chest binding using duct tape and honestly I am barely surviving.
When I was 16 years old I was abused by a teacher at my school and when the school authorities also found out that i was dating a girl, that became the main issue, i couldn’t explain that i was a trans person, thus my case of being abused was dismissed and no action was taken against the man who abused me.
This incident made me loose trust in people then onwards I cannot trust anyone even my male friends as I feel i am trapped in this ‘female vessel’ which makes me vulnerable to people who feel they can take advantage of it. I get the feeling that when I am hanging out with some male colleagues, they seem to treat me as one of them, but once we are behind closed doors its another story. Now I am very careful about making any useful friendships with my male peers. I have since made friends with two other transmen in my country and it has kept me going. I also get support from my significant others who support me and see me through stormy days.
Many have suffered and died just to enable transgender people to be recognised and seen as people and not creatures. Also many transgender people have struggled to make it better for other generations of transgender people to thrive. Knowing that they are others like me out there and even going through a worse struggle than mine keeps me going cause I know I am not alone in this struggle..
