Job Training Moves "Trans" Off Streets to Better Future

[Shana A]

Job Training Moves "Trans" Off Streets to Better Future
By Marta Moss

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51540

MONTEVIDEO, May 22, 2010 (IPS) - Ruler in hand, Fabiana draws lines with a pencil on orange cardboard, occasionally pushing her curly hair away from her eyes. Next to her, Fernanda fashions a colourful cardboard box, a prototype for what their cooperative will ultimately produce in large quantities.

The tables are covered with pencils, scissors, drafting squares and colourful cardboard. This is not just any workshop. It's a "design, production and marketing of artisanal packaging" workshop, of a cooperative created especially to promote employment for the transgender community in Uruguay.

It is the second initiative of its kind in Latin America, following in the footsteps of the first, in neighbouring Argentina.