Only a dead man should lose hope
Lee
Being an intersex person in remote areas is not an easy thing because only a few individuals understand, yet the greater part of the community never really understand anything to do with intersex people.
I grew up in the most remote areas of Zimbabwe, a place called Bhora where individuals don’t own mobile phones and only the Village Headman has access to a phone. If people in the Village want to communicate with their relatives who are in urban areas, they have to go to the house of the Headman to make a call. When there is need to disseminate information, the Village boys beat a drum at a mountain and all the villagers gather at the mountain to hear the news. Even if there is a funeral or notification of an upcoming celebration, they use the same channel of communication.
I spent most of my childhood there and I was often regarded as taboo. Now that I am living in an urban setting, I am now using the advocacy strategies I have learnt by going back to that rural area where I grew up and making relationships with them as a way to educate and help them understand intersex issues. I also visit the Village Headman from time to time and now he has gotten to a point of actually explaining to others what being intersex means.
My hope is that intersex people who grew up in a rural setting like mine should not neglect the places that they grew up in, but rather they should try by all means to give back information to the communities.
Always remember that it’s never too late to do things right. Only a dead man should lose hope. As long as a person is alive then there is hope that all things will work out for good.