"SHE" - Life is a Journey
By Unnikrishnan Raveendranathan
2 May 2009
"Heather" often corrects people to call him a "she". She is a 51 years old man and wants to go through a gender-change operation. For the past 28 years, she has been living in the poverty stricken, tenderloin area of San Francisco downtown. Her wife and kids abandoned her, because they didnt understand her need to be a woman. Today, she has no family, and barely enough money to survive. She feels the loneliness around her, but she still maintains a positive outlook on her life.
When she reflects back on her life, she finds shes gotten some things right and some wrong, but she hasnt still given up on having a better life. Even with all her troubles, she takes a lot of efforts to look good as a woman. Sometimes, there are days when there is no money and no food, but when she can, she doesnt hesitate to share her food with the others around her. Shes been here for so long, these people she spends her time with, have become her new family. Facing her life as it is has made her unafraid and honest with herself and thus been able to look forward to everyday. She lives her life a day at a time, and hopes that one day, after her gender-change operation, she can go back to her children and live in happier times.
The time I spend with her made me wonder the kind of world she lives in and I realized that all she was looking for was someone who would listen to her. Calm nature and patience to listen to her helped me to get closer to her personal life and was able to share her misery and struggle through her life as she narrated. I want to convey that she is not different from us.
5 responses
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Cristina Pascu gave props (2 May 2009):
I enjoyed this story...it makes you wonder. Thanks for sharing!
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Dalal Jebril said (2 May 2009):
hmmm..What might be taken for granted for some, can take a lifetime for some others to prove!
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Jamie Emmerson gave props (2 May 2009):
Great story!
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Joerg Schlagheck gave props (2 May 2009):
Voted for this story! Great reporting on this unique, yet common individual!
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Torsten Porstmann gave props (9 May 2009):
i really love this story, and it's written so great. and the photos are very good. well done! definitely has my vote!
