Pondok Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah is a

Madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

, Indonesia, for waria people. Shinta Ratri founded it with two other waria in 2008, after several waria lives were claimed by the

2006 Yogyakarta earthquake The 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake (also known as the Bantul earthquake) occurred at with a moment magnitude of 6.4 and a maximum MSK intensity of VIII (''Damaging''). Several factors led to a disproportionate amount of damage and number of casualt ...

. Ratri believed that the pesantren was the first madrasa for transgender people anywhere in the world. The madrasa had roughly 40 students and provided housing for about 10 women. In the madrasa, waria can dress as men or women according to their preference during prayers. The madrasa also provides community education in the hopes of fostering better treatment for waria in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

. The pesantren was temporarily closed in February 2016 after threats of violence from conservative groups. A raid from the Front Jihad Islam hardline group also factored into the closing. However, in June 2016 it reopened in a different location than before, as the original owner of the school died that year. The school is now in Ibu Shinta's Javanese style house. Founder Shinta Ratri died on 1 February 2023, at the age of 60.

References

Buildings and structures in Yogyakarta LGBT and Islam Pesantren in Indonesia Transgender topics and religion {{LGBT-org-stub