Emergency Fund after the Catastrophic Turkey Earthquake for Aden (a Trans Woman)

Dear all,

My name is Aden, a trans woman who has so far lived in Malatya in the Eastern Turkey. As you know Turkey was struck by two devastating earthquakes (7.8 and 7.6 magnitude) in the southeastern part where also Malatya is located. These earthquakes were the deadliest disasters in the history of modern Turkey. You can read more about it here: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/07/middleeast/earthquake-turkey-syria-why-deadly-intl/index.html

The current death toll in the affected regions in Turkey and Syria is around 42000+. Millions of people lost their relatives, homes and workspaces: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/16/turk...

As a trans woman who is in the active process of transitioning, without free healthcare or healthcare coverage, I was already in dire conditions in this part of Turkey while facing discrimination and stigmatization. With the second earthquake on 6th of February, my parents and I made it out alive last minute just before our building collapsed. We have lost all our belongings and savings. I have lost all my IT devices that were helping me to get a little income , as well as all my memories, photos etc.

In this situation, without full health coverage, I have difficulties in obtaining required hormones and healthcare for my transitioning. In Turkey, the gender change in IDs is still depending on full surgical transition, so that gender marker on my ID is not matching my gender identity and expression. Hence it is almost impossible for me to get a job quickly at the moment.

This week, we have arrived in a city where my sister lives with our own means to get away from the disaster area and find us a shelter where we can start from zero. As the governmental help is unlikely to come any time soon or in any form that will be enough to cover our living, my friend Erhan E. suggested to start a targeted fundraising campaign for my parents and I. You have probably seen many governmental or non-governmental organizations collecting donations, unfortunately as an LGBTQI+ individual, I know the distribution of these funds will not be timely nor fair.

It has always been quite hard for me to ask for help for myself, but if you would like to help me, any amount would be appreciated. (Even sharing this campaign page within your network already helps.) I will keep you all informed about the situation, in a month or two, once we find a decent shelter and are able to start a new life. Thank you so much for everything.

Aden