Imagine being trapped in a body you know is not yours, and then being told the healthcare you so desperately need is 25 years away. This is the nightmarish reality for the estimated 180 000 transgender South Africans who depend on the public health system. Research shows transgender people are twice as likely to die prematurely. Many will never live to reach the front of the queue.
Our Constitution promises dignity and healthcare to everyone,yet patients are turned away without even making it onto a waiting list. And when American aid money vanished overnight, the country's only dedicated transgender clinics went with it, pushing desperate people towrds black market medication that some do not survive.
Devi meets Luthando, abandoned by the state halfway through her transition, and Ndo, watching the body he fought for slip away every time his hormone therapy is cut off. Both are fighting to live, and to die, in the right body.