Chennai: You may have witnessed this: Transpeople asking for alms on roads or trains. Like every human, you pity and offer money.
You start wondering why no one is helping them. Then you feel grateful that you are in a better position.
But once you reach your destination, you forget about the encounter and start going about with your life.
This has happened to many. Balaji Seshadhri was one among them but he did more than just offering money.
“In a highway, a transperson asked for money,” he recollects. ‘I told, “You look fit and fine and what stops you from earning?” She said, “Now that you know who I am, why don’t you help me find a job?” The response hit Balaji hard.
As he drove back to his destination, his mind raced with ideas to help the transgender community. “There are many organisations for the old and orphans but transpeople have always been neglected,” he says and adds, “I never encourage beggary. I believe we should rather give them the means to earn money.”
Balaji thus started Sakkhi, a charitable and philonthropic organisation that stands and works towards improving the employability for the transgender community. “I run a firm which is into HR and leadership coaching. I have worked with many organisations,” he says. “I convinced them to give jobs for transpeople in house keeping, store management, accounts or whatever.” His request slowly gathered wind. Soon, about fifty transpersons found jobs through Sakkhi. Then two hundred more followed the suit.
Balaji explains how he enrolls them. “I tell them to drop their previous life like prostitution or beggary because I don’t want them to work at Sakkhi in the morning and again end up in their old usual self,” he says.
“To transform them, you need to pay them. The minute you pay them, they feel secured. There is no point in preaching philosophy and sending them back hungry. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Before they are placed to work at organisations, Balaji and his team train them for a month. “We offer psychological help, teach basic communication skills and pay a stipend of Rs 10,000,” he says.
Once the programme is done, interested organisations will then reach out to these trans-talents and hire them. To manage the funding, Sakkhi invites sponsors to contribute for the stipend of a transpeople.
Balaji narrates an incident that happened to a transperson working at Sakkhi. He says, “She said that a girl saw her in train and apologised. When she asked why, the girl told her that she was about to offer her money but stopped short when she saw her Sakkhi ID card. The girl realised the respectable life she had taken.” For details visit, www.sakkhi.org