Personal success story from Alisha Shirazi

Personal success story from Alisha Shirazi

When you imagine a transgender person, what image comes into your mind? A person who dances, a person who begs on the roads or a person who is in prostitution for the sake of money. Have you imagined any transgender person as an MPhil Scholar working in an International Organization?

If not, it is time to change your mindset.

Let’s meet an MPhil Scholar, an employee of an International Organization, an educated person, and a transgender. It’s me. Alisha Shirazi. Let us not stop here, My Story is beyond all of this.

I would like to take you into my childhood, similar to the childhood of every transgender person; where a child has no acceptance by their family, relatives and every member of this “civilized” society. I was born in a Syed family; a famous religious family of Khanewal , district Multan. A rural area, a back-ward area with limited opportunities. From where a person can’t imagine higher studies. Like every other transgender person, I did not get any support from my family in terms of education. I was rejected by my family and forced to make various compromises in order to survive with limited resources, facing abuse, violence and never-ending discrimination – the kind which is so consistent that being respected makes you feel awkward. In short, feeling like a second-grade citizen with no savior in sight.

I was born in a male body with the name of Syed Ali Raza. But I was not a boy, I never ever felt comfortable in my male body. I used to wear feminine clothes, I wanted to talk, walk and behave like a woman, because I was a woman in a male body; I was a trans woman. It took two decades for me to get my perceived identity. Today, as I am standing in front of you, nobody knows Syed Ali Raza. People just know Alisha and I love that. Because this is who I am. And I love my identity.

Education can change the world, change the lives of vulnerable populations. It was not easy for me to get an education with my identity but despite all hurdles and difficulties, I got my education. I did my MPhil Degree in Education, Planning Management from Burhanuddin Zakariya University Multan and I am one of the few transgender persons who are educated in Pakistan. So few that you may count them on your finger tips. Whenever I compare my previous and current life, I feel that society is starting to accept. 

I am the first transgender person in Pakistan who is recruited by the United Nations as a Coordination Officer. It’s an honor for me and my community that a transgender person is at a position in the world’s biggest organization. I consider this opportunity as a door, opening for transgender persons in the employment sector.

Now I am also doing activism, I help my transgender community and try to do things for the betterment of people’s lives. I want to protect my community from all forms of violence and abuse that I had to face, I want to provide all resources that they need in life. I want to see inclusion, because society has excluded the transgender community. We need equal rights, we are also given birth by women, we are not downloaded by google or YouTube. We are humans, not aliens. 

Lastly,  I would like to say, “Give us space and we can change the world.”

**From Pakistan, Aisha Sherazi – Consultant for Gender Minorities – United Nations Pakistan.