Since our creative
writing lecturer went to Bali, he sent his friend, Mbak Abmi to lecture us. She
has ever come to the class with the ‘Bag it’ Movie review. Surprisingly, she
now came with the woman with grey cardigan, long hair and a piercing in her
nose. As she came in, everyone started whispering. There is an unusual thing in
her beautiful appearance. Is she really a woman?
As the
woman started introducing
herself, we know that her name is Sonya and we called her ‘Mbak Sonya’. And to
our surprise, she is a transgender or often called in Indonesia as ‘Waria’ (not
a real woman). He comes from Klaten but Yogyakarta has been a home since her
vocational study.
As a
transgender, doesn’t mean she doesn’t have any job, achievement, and activity at all. She explores herself as
an activist in PKBI (Perkumpulan Keluarga
Berencana Indonesia) , bridal make-up, and beauty consultant.
Talking
about her identity as a transgender, it could be seen since her childhood. Her
parents , especially mother even let her playing more often with the female
friends, not with the male ones. She was also very pleased enough to play dolls
and have some make-up instead of having football. Moreover, she became more and
more comfortable to wear female stuffs and clothes. This makes the contradiction among friends and family,
but she kept winning her passion to be a woman.
Being a
transgender, Mbak Sonya has
ever been to several places such as Solo, Bandung, Bali, and Jakarta in proving
her identity. Still, Yogyakarta couldn’t positively lose its sweet homey as the
most pleasant place she has ever visited as she said ‘ Jogja is the pleasant
place for me and the atmosphere here is different from others”. She got so many
meaningful values, lessons, and life knowledge as she came to be a volunteer
for the earthquake victims. She also dedicated herself to help people,
especially the other transgender to against HIV Aids.
