[NOSTALGILA] Belajar Bersama di Transmen Camp #1 - Learning Together in Transmen Camp #1

Belajar Bersama di Transmen Camp #1

Abhipraya Ardiansyah

Apa itu Transmen Camp?

Acara ini adalah acara belajar bersama khusus transmen yang diadakan di Yogyakarta, 15-19 Agustus 2014 lalu. Kegiatan ini baru pertama kali diadakan di Indonesia. Diikuti oleh sembilan transmen dari Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, dan Kediri. Kelompok kecil ini mendapatkan ruang belajar yang efektif dan menyenangkan. Lalu, kenapa ada Transman Camp?

Berawal dari curhat sesama transmen lewat social media, yaitu Mario Prajna Pratama (Tama), Caesarino Abrisam J (Sam), dan Abhipraya Ardiansyah (Abhi). Dari beberapa percakapan itu, kami masih merasakan kurangnya fasilitas belajar bagi para transmen di Indonesia. Sulitnya akses informasi dan tidak adanya sumber informasi akurat yang dapat dicerna oleh setiap kalangan. Maka, tidak heran kalau kondisi transmen di Indonesia masih jauh ketinggalan dibanding transwomen yang memiliki banyak fasilitas belajar. Untuk itu, Tama menggagas ide untuk membentuk ruang belajar yang aman dan nyaman untuk transmen, yaitu Transmen Camp #1.

Rencana iseng-iseng ini mendapat sambutan baik dari kalangan transmen muda. Dalam beberapa jam setelah dipublikasikan, sudah ada beberapa pendaftar yang ingin bergabung. Hingga pada akhirnya terkumpullah sembilan transmen muda di Yogyakarta. Kenapa di Yogyakarta? Camp ini hanya diadakan di sebuah rumah kontrakan milik salah satu penyelenggara. Tidak heran kalau kapasitas pesertanya pun hanya kelompok kecil. Di samping itu, kita ingin menciptakan ruang yang aman dan nyaman agar proses belajar juga berlangsung dengan optimal. Setiap orang bebas menjadi dirinya sendiri dan mengemukakan apa saja.

Selama empat hari, peserta Transmen Camp #1 mempelajari banyak hal. Kita dibantu oleh fasilitator-fasilitator yang luar biasa dari PLU Satu Hati dan Arus Pelangi. Begitu juga besarnya dukungan dari teman-teman komunitas di Yogyakarta. Hari pertama, kami belajar tentang Tubuh ditemani kak Tia Setyani. Kita belajar untuk lebih “bersahabat” dengan tubuh, serta memetakan berbagai permasalahan yang kerap dihadapi sebagai seorang transmen. Pembelajaran hari itu diakhiri oleh sesi relaksasi yang menyenangkan. Hari kedua, kami mendapatkan materi dasar SOGIE dari kakak-kakak PLU Satu Hati, yaitu Kak Renate dan Kak Gigi. Di sini kami belajar memetakan diri sendiri berdasarkan konsep SOGIE. Suasana belajar pun berbeda, karena diadakan di Sekretariat PLU Satu Hati. Setelah belajar, kita jalan-jalan sore dan bermain di Kali Babarsari. Hari ketiga, kami belajar tentang FTM dan HAM bersama Kak Anna Arifin dan Kak Yuli dari Arus Pelangi. Sedangkan materi tentang FTM di Indonesia difasilitasi oleh Tama sendiri. Materi HAM yang kami pikir akan memusingkan ternyata dapat dikemas menjadi menyenangkan. Malam harinya, kami berangkat ke Gala Dinner bersama teman-teman komunitas Yogya di Cangkir Café. Ternyata, dukungan terhadap Transmen Camp #1 ini luar biasa!

Agenda kami berlanjut di hari keempat, yaitu penyusunan action plan. Sebelumnya, diadakan Skype session dengan Ar Con dari Pinoy FTM dan Nil Nodalo dari Transman Phillipina. Kami berbagi perpektif tentang kondisi transman di negara kami masing-masing. Lalu, penyusunan action plan pun dilaksanakan. Di situ kami benar-benar bertukar pikiran tentang mimpi-mimpi kami sebagai transmen dan cara mewujudkannya. Kami juga dibantu oleh Kak Anna dan Kak Yuli. Adapun agenda yang kami rencanakan adalah pembentukkan support group dan sumber informasi.

Transmen Camp #1 adalah awal pergerakan transmen di Indonesia, agar kami dapat mewujudkan mimpi-mimpi kami tentang kehidupan yang layak sebagai warga negara. Transmen Camp sendiri akan diadakan dua kali dalam setahun. Diharapkan dengan adanya Transmen Camp, akan semakin banyak transmen muda yang dapat mewakili transmen di Indonesia untuk menyuarakan pendapatnya. Perjuangan ini baru dimulai, kawan! Kita semua punya potensi dan hidup di zaman yang serba mudah. Maka, tidak ada kata “tidak mungkin” bagi transmen Indonesia untuk hidup lebih baik. Di luar sana, mungkin masih banyak transmen yang ingin merapatkan barisannya bersama kami. Begitu juga dengan banyaknya dukungan dari Trans* Allies (red. Sahabat Transgender).

We’re not alone, brothers.

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Learning Together in Transmen Camp #1

Abhipraya Ardiansyah

What is Transmen Camp?

Transmen Camp is transmen’s collective learning event held in Yogyakarta on August 15-19, 2014. It was the first event of its kind in Indonesia. Nine people coming from Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Kediri took part in it. This small group finally had an access to effective and fun learning place. So, for what reason was Transmen Camp formed?

Its formation began from online conversation between Mario Prajna Pratama (Tama), Caesarino Abrisam J (Sam), and Abhipraya Ardiansyah (Abhi). We were concerned about the lack of learning facility for Indonesian transmen. Many of them faced limited access of accurate information. As a result, it was not surprising that Indonesian transmen fell behind compared to their counterpart (transwomen) in terms of learning facility. Based on the issue, Tama came up with an idea to create a safe and relaxed learning place for transmen, hence it was named Transmen Camp #1.

The plan was met with enthusiasm among young transmen. In only hours after being announced, some transmen stated their desire to participate. In the end, there were nine young transmen joining the camp. Yogyakarta was chosen as the camp location since it was the city where one of the organizers currently living. Due to the fact that a rented house was used, organizers thought that it would be better to limit the participants of the first camp. The participant would therefore benefit from being only in a small group, as it led to maximum and effective learning process. By limiting the participant into a small group, it was also hoped that we could be ourselves while sharing about anything.

For four days, the participants of Transmen Camp #1 learned lots of things. We got help from great facilitators from PLU Satu Hati and Arus Pelangi. Not to mention the amazing support from Yogyakarta communities. On day one, we learned about body image with Tia Setyani. In this session, we were taught to love our body more in order to ease the pain most transmen felt for being born in the wrong body. After that, body and mind relaxation concluded the session. On day two, we got basic lesson about SOGIE from Renata and Gigi of PLU Satu Hati. In this session, we learned about how to identify ourselves using SOGIE concept. Following the session, we moved from PLUSH’s base camp to Babarsari, where we spent the evening playing on the riverside. On day three, we learned about FTM and Human Rights with Anna Arifin and Yuli of Arus Pelangi, while Tama himself delivered topic related to FTM in Indonesia. Human Rights topic, which we thought would be enough to make our head spin, came across as fun. In the evening, we had dinner with friends from Yogya communities at Cangkir Café. How incredible their support on Transmen Camp #1 was!

On the last day of the camp, we arranged action plans. Earlier that day, we had virtual conference through Skype with Ar Con from Pinoy FTM and Nil Nodalo from the Transman Phillipina. We discussed transmen’s issues in both of our country. As we progressed into arranging the action plans, each participant expressed their aspiration as a transman and discussed how to make it happened. In the future, we hoped to establish transmen’s support group that is meant to provide all information transmen need.

Transmen Camp #1 was transmen’s initial movement in Indonesia, paving the way to fulfill our aspiration that is being able to have the same rights as any other Indonesia citizen. Transmen Camp will be held twice a year. Through the event, we hope there will be more transmen speaking up and fighting for our aspiration on behalf of all transmen in Indonesia. The struggle has just begun, folk! No dream is unreachable, and that includes transmen getting a better life in Indonesia. We are confident that many transmen out there share our dream and are willing to fight along with us. Just as we believe that our struggle will draw a great deal of support from trans’ allies.