Send a sex worker child to school in AP for a year

You made this possible! Thank you for your compassion and generosity to help helpless women like Lalitha...Rani and Vanaja

Will life ever get back to normal? As CORONA Second Wave continues to spread, it's a question that haunts all sectors of society but perhaps sex-workers and their children most of all with the fear of being pushed further into the shadows in an age of social distancing darkening their present and clouding the future.

Eating one day, going hungry the next, their children turned out of school because of lack of devices needed for online education and unable to make rent, the last six months have been a nightmare and one that shows no signs of ending, say several community members and those who fight for their rights.

When the lockdown happened, each and every community was affected. “The government seemed to care about all and offered them some form of relief but there has been nothing for us”, said Lalita, who has been working as a sex worker in Chilakaluripet, Guntur district for over two decades. She added “When men need sex, they come to us, but now when we need them, no one will even care if we are alive or dead.”

Lalita would make between Rs 400-Rs 1,000 a day before the pandemic struck but hasn't earned a rupee since the lockdown that came into effect in April 2021.“With no income and a family of six people to feed mother, son and daughter and their spouses, their three children and myself -- survival is almost impossible”, she said.

“My son is 15 Years old who worked in a cloth shop as a sales man but their employer stopped paying them during the lockdown. Initially, we got some help from Local people etc, but now mostly it is about eating one day, and going hungry the next day," she said. added that she has also not been able to pay the monthly rent of Rs 2,500 for her house in the last few months, and fears eviction in the near future.

Twenty-five - year-old Rani, a sex worker in Rajarajeswari pet, Vijaywada, does not have the money to buy her HIV/AIDS medication because she no longer has an income. She agonized “I don’t have the money to eat properly, how will I get money for medicines? I have never before seen a situation like this in my life,” blaming the lack of customers on the lockdown enforced by the government to contain COVID-19 second wave, the infectious viral disease. She took the last dose of her medicine--a month’s dose costs Rs 5,000--on March, 2021, she said.

Many of sex workers living in Guntur and Krishna districts of Andhra Pradesh remain financially insecure, making them vulnerable to poverty and unable to pay for treatment if they fall ill. So, what is happening is that, in this epidemic, they are not supposed to make close contact, so how do they have sex? So suddenly they ran out of money and their families are suffering because they don’t have anything to eat as they lost their livelihood.

Vanaja a 28 years old sex worker from Narasarao pet of Guntur district told that, “by no means and way we are in a position to face the challenges emerged since lockdown of dreadful pandemic COVID 19. We are struggling to survive our families mainly to feed our children. But these days we are struggling for our survival as there will be no one to take care of our children if we fall prey to the pandemic”.

In this context of their extreme pathetic life, 25 sex workers of Krishna and Guntur districts have expressed their cordial gratitude to GlobalGiving for hearing their voices and for extending a helping hand in facing the furious challenge of this COVID second wave. They have received support by the GlobalGiving for Rs. 2000/- worth provisions for home and also Rs. 1000/- basic medicines to those who are in home isolation by contracting with COVID pandemic.

We will let you know the further progress. Thanks a lot for your Support in Changing lives of victims of human trafficking.

* names are changed