trick the climate boost green energy solutions and reforestation. they create interactive content teaching the next generation about environmental protection and more determined to build something here for the next generation called light years the multimedia environment series on d. w. . renee was 15 when he told his parents that ass over he was born to go he felt like a boy. for the entire family it marked the start of a long journey into the unknown. is how personally. i always knew that i was different in some way but what exactly that was i could never tell . for some of. initially bowled me over when i

1st you just think he's ok so what does this mean exactly what are the ramifications for you know what does it mean for our lives going forward at the same as if it was like to leave him. as a venue. for me it's like i'm forced to say goodbye. i have to let my little girl go. does this and i find that it's very hard. there are many home and the moment you realise it is pretty awful because you know that you have a long road ahead of you and will have to go through a lot for. them and. it's not over just because you've realized who you really are .

we 1st met her name is parents in early 2017 the start of a 2 year journey they invited us to accompany. when at the age of 15 renee decided to come out his chance he could hardly find the words to tell his parents. we thought rene wanted to tell us that she was lesbian so that's the 1st thing i asked this question and then i asked her if she felt like she was in the wrong body . and then you were relieved want you to burst into tears. after coming out it was clear in a wanted to live life as a boy. and off it is a small community and hour's drive from berlin the family moved here 6 years ago from the german capital. family photos of his childhood renee feels no connection to his past. when i think back to

my life as a girl it's like i was living a totally different life that's what it feels like i dressed in pink and all i didn't get much more girl even that. she or he had a big box full of all kinds of princess dress up costner's including little slippers with heels and. it's they did and michelle like to think back of those carefree times when rene was still their little girl. as it would make cuddling with me it feels like yesterday it's so cute look how cheerful. for the parents the 1st step is saying goodbye to their daughter the fact that they now have a son instead hasn't yet. to see if this is not enough for me it's like a different phase back starting now but that doesn't have a lot to do with what came before it's very strange like a cut that happened i don't know when but that has created 2 lives maybe that's an

exaggeration but it certainly feels like 2 separate harps and the other half is beginning now. thing. after coming out rene was eager to stars home and to give his body more masculine attributes but he had to undergo a year of psychotherapy and waited $1016.00 before doctors would prescribe hormones . he's now been taking testosterone for 2 months. every day he applies the gel onto his skin to turn his body into a man's. so that it stays that way he'll have to continue the treatment for the rest of his life. my voice has changed has shifted i've got more muscle facial hair i've got more and denser body here. i'd like my voice to deepen

a bit more and not much deeper i don't expect that. all that's needed to officially turn renee from a girl into a boy is the removal of an easy from the end of his name in his passport. today family and friends have come for visits it's bigots birthday. at home among familiar faces when a appears increasingly at ease. with. his aunt latina has also noticed a change since her niece became her nephew and. says. there is a difference now she used to be withdrawn we were a little worried about her sitting alone in her room at her computer i sensed something was up or not and for a 2nd now after saying i know i'm transgender it's like a switch has been flicked or now he comes out of his room and plays with the dog

a lot you can just tell he feels better. they didn't find new friends after his family moved here 6 years ago but he stayed close to his cousin. shortly before news coming out. that strengthened their bond. he came out before me he was sitting on the bed. he was sitting on the bed i was exactly and you go i don't know how to tell you this and i'm like what's wrong and he goes i'm gay and i'm like is that all i knew that already. the hard thing about coming out is the pressure you put on yourself we actually knew our parents would accept the hard part is that you have to accept that it's ok to not be normal that's the hardest part because you're

always trying to understand why you're not like everyone else normal but then you realize no one here is normal. transgender is a number that describes people whose gender identity doesn't match the sex they were assigned at birth. germany has seen a more than 3 fold increase in gender confirmation surgeries since 2007. but not all people who identify as transgender undergo operation. renee has started working out every day to get into the machine. and. i usually feel pretty small and really want to be bigger muscles aren't just for looks they have a function feeling stronger would boost my self-confidence. it helps a lot to look more masculine because then people perceive you differently and it's important to me to not be mistaken for

a girl. makes me feel like i'm on the right path i've been on test on. thrown for a year and they say you only see most of the changes when you've been taking it for 2 years. being transsexual and old it is no longer officially classified as a psychological disorder. but psychotherapy can be helpful for people making the transition. from here for us. i'm very glad that we found such a good therapist. i feel we're in a is that good hands and i find the things they discuss very interesting. things that would never occur to me to bring up. the war. over. my mom asked me to give you these it's time for international women's day it's not yes it's international women's day thank you. yes let's get started on the

guitar you good no complaints. because the training going good good it's going really well and i'm still having trouble working out my abs though i haven't spoke what's going on which comes to mind i'm renee has been seeing therapists here the good sense is coming out of the sessions were a condition of his medical transition as was living in his new identity for 12 months only up to passing the so-called daily life test could the therapist provide a medical recommendation for his home own therapy air attacks this is. the daily life test is important to allow people time to grow into their new gender identity . a student in the same way they need to grow into their new name. you live a different life as a man or a woman. and it takes

a lot of motivation and inner drive to proceed down this demanding path of. all finding and. for now rene isn't considering gender confirmation surgery. as cyrus on gender confirmation surgery is a major procedure no nerves can end up in the wrong place and then there's no going back. and it's not like you're just going on an attachment. i think it takes 3 operations each lasting 11 hours you know. when your sexuality awakens you may find a way and maybe then it won't even be necessary to undergo surgery. after all that renee's been through already the phase of finding his way has only just begun. one year into

his son's transition is still finding it hard to come to terms with the situation. at 1st i thought it would pass. now i don't think the feeling will ever go away i think it will stay. either though. naturally i'm happy that rene feels good. in the tree and i also have no problem with the fact that rene isn't our boy. but that close bond we had in his childhood when he was a girl. and now that girl is gone. it still makes me sad.

before coming out rene became increasingly withdrawn. plagued by in a conflict he refused to go to school for almost 3 years. in 2015 the family moved to the countryside motivated above all by rene's wish for a more quiet life but now he enjoys venturing into the big city. and what do you think. colorful true. today is going to an open house or a private school for adults he wants to get a certificate of intermediary education but after years of refusing to go to school this appointment isn't easy for him. i feel stressed right now why what could happen. like nothing. is just for situation the stress for this feeling but now i'm taking a step on consoles i don't know.

his old fears resurface if i'm nervous now i wasn't before. but come on i'll bring you to the door. ok we answer allowed to film inside. good luck and text me if there's a problem. i remember from his early years at school how there was always this tension at home would he make it to school today or not. and so the day began with everyone on edge and that feeling came up again just now so. renee's refusal to go to school weighed heavily on the whole family. his parents tried everything to help alleviate his schooling society including at missing him to a psychiatric clinic. after and they declared that he was transgender there was at last an explanation for his problems so to speak he just text said.

as he wrote square on a break and i probably won't find out before summer vacation whether i'll get a place or not if i like it better. so that sounds pretty positive let's see what he says what our numbers are. you know so you're mine i'm the type of person who likes to sweep things under the carpet i just assume everything will turn out well wait and see but in hindsight you realise you were pretty stressed out. how to go. good care. what was good. you know the whole set up was good but it all went by pretty fast i guess because no one had any questions or. the adult education center only has a few places for under age students like renee. he won't know for several weeks

whether he can restart his schooling here. his family has also undergone a change 4 years joint outing simply when possible. reasons i'll get in the back. about. 18 months after starting home and therapy renee has gained self confidence and feels more comfortable in his body. which address which is to target for me to huge relief to see remade swimming like a fish in the water and musing about swimming trunks fashions and the like. it's a totally different conversation to the types we were having one of 20 years ago i think it's great that. he no longer has to hide and shows his new body in public.

knows i don't need you to hi i didn't swim for 3 years because i felt so uncomfortable so it's really nice going swimming with my family again it used to be another round. its really amazing to see the change and i think it's why i'm venturing out more because i feel like i've arrived at my goal and i'm no longer a stranger to myself so for them to. take this hobby it's relatively seldom now that i find myself mourning the loss of my girl exchange because i now see that he's finding his way to us and we can't. lend beckons renee's been accepted at the school and a few months before his 18th birthday is moving into his 1st apartment. comes. my own fingers it feels good to be starting over i think i need

a change of routine. it'll be easier to master everything here in the city than in the countryside. well i think we've made the right decision for me and besides i wouldn't found a school like this where i live the dream as it were for the. biggest and missing service manager is relief that her son has concrete goals again. i'm hopeful especially because this school will give rene the time that he needs to complete his diploma. if it takes a year then it'll take a year if it takes 2 years and it'll take 2 years or whatever. as. if in a adepts well to his new life he'll become less dependent on his mother's support.

now. this morning it really kind of hit me and it made me a bit sad to realise that from now on he'll only be home on the weekends in the course of time with less frequency which is totally normal it just hadn't really dawned on me yet. yes. good night i'm going to have a little rest. this retro not with your shoes on. so sweetheart sleep well. we'll see and remember your dreams they say whatever you dream on your 1st night in your new place will come true for this i hope it's no nightmare good bye bye. and call me if something's up ok you know i will.

increasingly people who identifies transgender are not afraid to hide it rene has benefited from a new sense of social inclusion. and. he also feels less pressure in his new environment there are a few students at this bill in school who haven't experienced personal appeal. strove just to show it on fire i knew from the start i'd be meeting people here who have struggled with similar problems isn't donalson called and does we're all here for a reason so it wasn't hard for me to come into a class without knowing anything about who my classmates would be among for a while because we all share the experience that we didn't manage in the normal

school system so we have something in common. the minds on the most so that's why it's easier to integrate here into you and it's not so unfamiliar. complet flounders. most of his classmates now know that her name is transgender. but often he faces insensitive reactions. to move on mostly when i get asked stupid questions you can tell people to start thinking about what they're saying or they just open their mouth and ask. back in make me feel like some kind of walking with a pedia entry and i find that quite unpleasant as the sun had also. it's a comfort to know his cousin lives nearby. in his company he doesn't have to do any explaining. of a scope for i think i'll start looking for white ones but it could look cool for mr

you or for me not for me. at ease in his new body buying new clothes is no fun pastime. the 18 year old can try on anything that strikes his fancy in the men's department. before everything was much too big but now i fit into stuff that makes things a lot easier now my shoulders are actually too wide for many things but that's a nice problem to have. ave has closely followed his cousin's development. is much more self-confident that's very obvious. and as a result everything's gotten a bit easier. for years when i was afraid of being taken for a girl in public and of inquiring glances questioning his gender identity. it was in this restaurant that rene went to the men's room for the 1st time back

then it was a huge step today it's the new normal. we were here having a meal and you were like man i need to go to the bathroom and at 1st you didn't want to go. that's why i was reading that. but that's because i wasn't on testosterone yes. true although some think it's no big deal. super easy. they're easy peasy renee's life is still a far cry from easy pass up. almost 2 years he's much more at peace with himself than he was when we started filming. the spec says it's a risk and stanford is spice most of my know what i want i know who i am and where i'm at i've come a long way toward approaching my final destination that's. 6 or at least a good main station. looking to look into all type just. is

experience of daily life as a constant emergency has given way to a feeling of normalcy though he will have to take home and his entire life and undergo regular medical checkups. renee now only gets out of 1000000000 on the weekends when he visits his parents. up until my child was 14 i had a daughter and then i had a son it's not the case that the son of the race is the memory of the daughter in the past he was my daughter there's no denying it he was such a girlie. he and i belong to a rare breed of mothers who although they just had one child have a daughter and a son. a my sweetheart. you're what you're all good.

friends. when the going was tough the family pets were a comfort to rene this was the support of his parents who were always there for him . the topic of school is no longer to do at home. probably essential you know when your exams are they should have exactly the math is some time in mid may. not 6 months have passed since when they moved to berlin he now has a completely different take on the face before his move. try you are. angry i was pretty isolated here but it was important for me to be able to go out in public without having people stare at me with this kind of look like kind of what are you now exactly which of us that was i think the most important thing for me cargo from me to the future is that. it's not just when they who starting

a new life they get admission feel impaired and has been lifted. off the stress level has dropped quite a bit and that's a relief of course the last few weeks and months were stressful in their own way what with the apartment and school but i must say i feel a little proud of the way we managed above all we've grown closer quote there's more of a father son dynamic than anything that we had before yes i noticed that too that you sometimes watch the way i do things or there's a new quality to our relationship it's true quality. between the 2 of us nothing has changed at all we were super close before and still are. thank god nothing has changed not. that we don't stress that often enough that we can be proud of ourselves and we should say that out loud more often. because it was quite

a ride on mr and this fire. certainly don't do that often enough.

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they were forced into a nameless mass. their bodies near tools of. the history of the slave trade is africa's history. it describes how the greed for power and profit plummeted and entire continent into chaos and violence. the slave system created the greatest planned accumulation of wealth the world had ever seen up to that moment in time this is the journey back into the history of slavery . i think will truly be making progress when we all accept the history of slavery as all of our history. our documentary series slavery routs starts march 9th on d w. this

is a g w news live from berlin fears are mounting is new coronavirus cases emerge around the world italy is reporting its 1st 2 deaths following a spike in infections there the government is preparing to forcibly isolate towns at the epicenter of the outbreak also coming out of. the race to pick a democratic candidate to take on american president donald trump reaches the state of nevada early vote tallies put bernie sanders in the lead. plus in bundesliga football blues.