By Dalphine Tagwireyi
Every single day Gilfine Chikanya lives in fear of her life.
Gilfine, a transgender girl living in Karoi, a small town in Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe,
was recently brutally beaten up.
Last June she was also lucky to escape alive after being kidnapped. The 15-year-old is labelled a Satanist in her community.
Gilfine, who was born a male, identifies as a transgender girl and has always referred to herself as a girl from a very young age.
Gilfine was expelled from school in June 2022 because of her sexuality and she was constantly harassed by her teachers and other students, which made life impossible for her.
Her mother, Judith Chikanya, said that since kindergarten, Gilfine preferred associating with females.
“The society we live in is a constant threat to Gilfine. She is always being threatened at home, school or church, and she can’t leave home to go to nearby shops alone, as she will be attacked,” her mother said.
At the end of February Gilfine was brutally attacked by a man wielding a stick. She is still nursing her bruises.
“I was going to our shops when this man grabbed me and started calling me bad names. He started beating me with a huge stick,” she told Scrolla.Africa.
Gilfine faces threats of violence every day from her community, including her older brother. She cannot leave home alone because people always swear at her that she should be killed, burnt or beaten up for identifying as a transgender girl.
“Before I was expelled I couldn’t visit the toilet and would wait for people to go home so that I could use the bathroom, or sometimes I just waited to go home,” she said.
“Last year in June I was kidnapped by a man who took me and five other people to Harare for two weeks. Fortunately the police rescued us. I don’t want to talk about what happened, as I am grateful to be alive,” Gilfine said.
She recently managed to find a school that accepts queer people and said she would rather let it remain a secret as she fears that she will be stigmatised if people find out.
Pictured above: A picture of transgender girl Gilfine Chikanya
Image source: Supplied
