Obamas transgender nanny an outcast in Indonesia

People: Evie,hired for her cooking skills,says obama saw her trying on his mothers lipstick and That used to crack him up

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Once,long ago,Evie looked after Barry Obama,the kid who would grow up to become the worlds most powerful man. Now,his transgender former nanny has given up her tight,flowery dresses,her brocade vest and her bras,and is living in fear on Indonesias streets.

Evie,who was born a man but believes she is a woman,has endured a lifetime of taunts and beatings because of her identity.

For her the turning point came when she found a transgender friends body floating in a backed-up sewage canal two decades ago. She grabbed her girlie clothes and stuffed them into big boxes. Half-used lipstick,powder,eye makeup,she gave them all away.

I knew in my heart I was a woman,but I didnt want to die like that, says Evie,now 66. So I decided to just accept it. Ive been living like this,a man,ever since.

Nobody knows how many transgenders live in Indonesia,but activists estimate 7 million. Here,societal disdain runs deep. The countrys highest Islamic body has decreed that transgenders are required to live as they were born.

Evie says she chose her name because she thought it sounded sweet. But she adds,as she pulls her national ID card,her official name is Turdi and gender male.

Several residents of Obamas old Menteng neighbourhood confirmed Turdi had worked as his nanny for two years,also caring for his baby sister Maya. The White House had no comment. Evie now lives in a closet-sized hovel in a tightly packed slum in an eastern corner of Jakarta,scrubbing dirty laundry for food.

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After being teased and bullied at school Evie dropped out and decided to learn to cook. She was pretty good at it,making her way into the kitchens of several high-ranking officials. And so it was,at a cocktail party in 1969,that she met Ann Dunham,Barack Obamas mother,who had arrived in the country after marrying her second husband,Indonesian Lolo Soetoro.

Dunham was so impressed by Evies beef steak and fried rice that she offered her a job. It didnt take long before Evie also was 8-year-old Barrys caretaker,playing with him and bringing him to and from school.

Neighbours recalled they often saw Evie leave the house dressed in drag. But she says its doubtful Barry knew. He was so young, says Evie. And I never let him see me wearing womens clothes. But he did see me trying on his mothers lipstick,sometimes. That used to really crack him up.

Evie hopes her former charge will fight for people like her. For her his election victory was enough to give her a reason to feel proud. Now when people call me scum, she says,I can just say: But I was the nanny for the President of the United States!