Gujarat: Shelter home offering vocational training to LGBTQ community

With the help of the Government of India, the state's first shelter home named 'Garima Greh' has been set up in Vadodara to make the transgender community self-reliant and for the society to accept them. Here, transgenders are getting training in various skills and and are starting their own businesses or taking up jobs to become self-reliant.

Vadodara: People of the transgender community, mostly isolated from society, are now getting opportunities in life with the opening of the state's first shelter home dedicated to them.

Members of the third gender are moving towards becoming self-reliant, staying at Garima Greha in Vadodara and getting various training various skills such as nursing, hair beauty, makeup and mehndi art. While some have started their own businesses after completing the training, others have taken up jobs. At the same time, various NGOs are constantly working to unite the transgender community with the society.

Soni Singh, a native of Bihar and currently residing at Garima Greh at Mujamhuda area of Vadodara, told ETV Bharat, that “my dream was to become an MBBS doctor, so I am doing a nursing course by tying up with Deepak Foundation through Lakshya Trust”.

“I am also being given full support by Deepak Foundation. I am happy that they are cooperating with me,” Soni Singh said.

Uvesh Sheikh of Lakshya Trust told ETV Bharat that people from the LGBTQ community who live in Garima Gruha get training in different skills.

“There are four to five transgenders in Deepak Foundation who are doing nursing courses, some mehndi and parlor courses,” Sheikh said. “Two others got jobs at a petrol pump after getting trained there for 10 days. It is a good thing that the people of this community are now employed. In the past, such people used to engage in sex work to earn money in a short period of time and the society did not accept it. Often when they went somewhere for a job, they were not welcomed. However, this is not the case now.”

The shelter home in Vadodara is the first platform in Gujarat to offer vocational and skill development courses to transgenders. The city's petrol pumps are also now welcoming transgender people for employment.

Sylvie Merchant, project director of Garima Gruh, said that the main purpose of the shelter home is to offer free food and education to transgender people.

“They are supported in every way for one year to develop and enhance their skills,” Merchant said. “It is very important to be able to stand on your own two feet and live a life of self-respect. The best thing is that other organisations, corporations and multinational companies have opened their doors to us.”

Stating that transgenders are a part of the society Maharani Radhikaraje Gaekwad of Vadodara royal family told ETV Bharat that “now is the time for us to unite”

“Everyone should have equal rights," she stated. "We will continue to strive for transgender people through Maharani Chimnabai Stree Udyogalaya to give them a common platform to move forward, build skills and provide job opportunities.”