Matari Sehati

• Religious quandary

Many waria are Muslim, but there aren't many mosques or prayer schools where they feel comfortable praying as women. And so they attend a Koran school specially set up for waria.

Maryani, pictured, is the school's founder. She's transgender herself, and said she wanted a place where people like her could gather and pray freely. "Our immediate neighbours have been very accepting but there are those in the wider Muslim community here who think we're sinful."

• Mixed feelings

At this nearby school, boys and girls are strictly segregated - the way it should be, the imam tells me.

"In Islam, there are separate rules for men and women, so they can't be mixed. There are only two gender identities in Islam – men and women – that's non-negotiable." The special classes for waria are a good thing, he says, only if they force them to comply with Islamic teaching and return to their original gender.

• Stigma

Jobs aren't easy to come by in Indonesia if you are living as a woman in a man's body. The school may have made it easier for the waria to learn about Islam’s teachings, but outside the stigma makes it much harder to live by them.

Text/Images: Lucy Williamson (BBC-Indonesia)