Trans woman talks surviving train jump: ‘I had to lose my legs to find my true self’

If trees could talk the one in the front of the family’s home would have a lot to say about the person who grew up here. 

It could tell of growth and change, pain and struggle, and how a once seemingly bottomless pit of despair was eventually replaced by hope.

This pepper tree dominates the front yard of the house in Duynefontein near Melkbosstrand outside Cape Town, providing shade in summer and shelter from the rain in winter.