Steering 500 Women Away from Prostitution, Mumbai

Outreach:

As the primary contact between AAWC and the women of the red light district, our outreach team provides women of Mumbai’s red light district with regular adult literacy classes, nutritional supplements, health camps, counseling and other emotional support, awareness meetings on topics of hygiene, effective parenting, sexual health etc., financial literacy and other general aid as and when required. Due to the rigorous outreach we conduct, our team has been able to enroll 23 new women under the Umeed program. This is demonstrative of the constant efforts put in by AAWC, clubbed with growing awareness amongst the women to strive for a better life through the resources provided by us.

Education:

We at AAWC recognize the importance of formal education, and the consequences of being unable to access it. Education is a system that is often affected by- and in return perpetuates, many forms of marginalization. Due to their socio-economic backgrounds and due to being trafficked into the flesh-trade at an early age, most of our Umeed beneficiaries have never had any exposure to formal or informal educational systems.

AAWC realizes that providing formal education to women involved in prostitution is not an easy process, and hence we have designed a program that works along with the routine of our beneficiaries. Our outreach team conducts regular adult and financial literacy drives- an important parameter of the Human Development Index, and even provides our beneficiaries with notes and assessment sheets at their homes on a daily basis.

a) Adult literacy
This quarter, we have continued teaching English and Math to our beneficiaries by reaching them regularly within their work area.

Our field team has been successful in reaching, educating and monitoring almost 85 beneficiaries in a month for the adult literacy activities. Considering that access to these women is not easy, and comes with a lot of rapport and trust building – such a large number of attendance in our adult literacy course is a monumental achievement.

b) Financial literacy
Along with the prescribed adult literacy syllabus, we also work on providing our Umeed beneficiaries with specialized financial literacy aid. While working within the community over 20 years, we have recognized the need to spread awareness and bring confidence to our Umeed beneficiaries with regard to the money they earn through the trade. Often, the women are duped by money lenders, community members, like the brothel owners, pimps, temporary partners, family members, etc.- thus trapping the women further in this cycle of prostitution.

Upon realizing that financial stability is key for the women to feel safe, and probably even exit the flesh trade- we have created our financial literacy programs to tackle issues of gambling, savings, creating bank accounts, etc. This quarter, 3 of our Umeed beneficiaries have been able to open their own bank accounts, after rigorous discussions and support from our outreach team. This is a small victory on our end, as it leads to the women breaking away from the cycle of debt due to local moneylenders and increased interest rates.

Health and Nutrition:

Health, like education, is a basic necessity and a fundamental right of any Indian citizen- as has also been provided in article 21 of the Indian Constitution. AAWC understands the importance of access to quality health care, and has always been proactive about our beneficiaries accessing only the best and certified healthcare professionals. From providing our Umeed beneficiaries with monthly health-checkups to medical referrals to government hospitals for aiding the HIV+ beneficiaries/ STDs with specialized care, we realize the needs of our beneficiaries and support them accordingly.

Apart from medical assistance, we also provide our Umeed women with nutritional aid like multivitamin/protein supplements, health packs of soy milk, bananas, moringa seeds, multigrain breads, etc., additional hot meals and snacks as required. We also supply our beneficiaries with access to subsidized/free groceries, so as to enable their potential to cook healthy meals for themselves.

This quarter, around 150 of our Umeed beneficiaries attended two quarterly health camps: one dental and one general check-up, with upto 90 HIV+ women receiving nutritional aid. Apart from this, 3 of our beneficiaries were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in this quarter through these regular health checkups held by AAWC.

Along with direct aid, we also help our beneficiaries in procuring health-based documents like birth certificates, health-cards, required medical prescriptions etc. that ease their access to certified health-care professionals. This quarter, we have helped almost 10 of our women to apply and receive these relevant documents.

Empowerment:

'Thank you for this program didi...I never imagined standing in front of so many people for a certificate. It's an overwhelming feeling to be appreciated.' Said an almost teary-eyed Shalini*, a woman trafficked into prostitution at the age of 15.

This quarter, we felicitated all the Umeed beneficiaries who had participated in our vocational training sessions (basic beauty training, and candle and soap making) in the last quarter. Such an activity helps the women with developing their self-esteem, and a positive outlook towards life.

All of these women lead a rather precarious life; they work throughout the night and are able to rest only at early mornings. They are also often under heavy drug usage and do not have the will power or time or liberty to make it all the way to our centers for the vocational training sessions.

We believe that equipping our women with such simple yet financially beneficial skills will further aid them in leading a life of dignity and sustainability, eventually getting out of the traps of prostitution.

Keeping these realities in mind, we had designed our program in such a way that those who could leave their brothels would enjoy these skill-development sessions. We must say, it was a grand success with almost 38 of our Umeed women being regular students at these sessions.

The felicitation program also included providing the attendees with some snacks and a few recreational activities like group singing and other indoor games.

Counseling:

AAWC understands that women in the red light districts go through both mental and physical traumas, and hence deem it imperative to support them through our mental-health assistance. We conduct regular counseling and therapy sessions with all of our women, along with providing specialized discussions on topics such as sexual and menstrual health, substance abuse, personal relationships, effective parenting, healthcare for chronic illnesses, etc. which may have adverse effect on the mental well-being of our beneficiaries.

Most of our counseling happens on the field, while therapy sessions are undertaken on an individual and group basis at our centers. Considering that providing such nuanced counseling within the structures prostitution is almost impossible, we have been able to reach around 35-40 women and help them through many dire situations. Along with this, we also hold macro-level field based activities to promote mental well-being of our beneficiaries. These activities include using performative arts, flyers, group discussions, sessions on yoga and other interactive platforms to spread awareness about emotional well-being and the many ways of achieving the same especially as women living in this community of flesh trade.

This quarter, one of our most important counseling sessions was on ‘stress management’ for the women. The resource person was well equipped with the realities of the red light district, and understood the consequences of these women’s extreme lifestyle. Hence, the session was extremely interactive and saw our Umeed beneficiaries beaming with satisfaction. From providing small hacks to manage headaches (due to lack of sleep) to controlling addictive behavior, the session tackled the exact needs of the Umeed women.

We also held an art therapy session for our Umeed beneficiaries, on the theme of ‘Identity and the idea of home’. The idea behind this theme was to spark a desire for personal stability and instigate an idea of home within the beneficiaries. Often, the women who have been trafficked into prostitute are normalized to their vulnerable situations due to long exposure to these realities. Considering the young age they are usually trafficked at, and the continued brainwash by the community over the years - these women lose hope and internalize most of the violence they face. Hence, using a gentle form of therapy such as art helps the women in looking within themselves and facing their lived experiences in a healthy manner.

Home visits:

Home visits are an important and fundamental element of our Umeed program. Considering the trade our beneficiaries are employed in, our home visits require utmost sensitivity and planning. Home visits also ensure that we are constantly in touch with our beneficiaries, and available to aid them even in situations where they can’t visit us at our centers. During such visits, we try to gain access into the lives of our beneficiaries and support them as required. This is absolutely vital taking into account the dangers of working in prostitution. 

These visits also act as a great space to bond with the women about their children- who are usually enrolled under our Udaan/Umang programs. As a lot of the enrolled Umeed women are often constricted by finances, time and the agency to make their own choices within a brothel- these circumstances lead to them neglecting or (sometimes) abandoning their children at our centers. To bridge this gap in their relationships, we make sure to discuss the importance of motherhood and positive parenting with our Umeed women. Without our outreach team’s home visits, we would be unable to create such an intimate and positive rapport with all our beneficiaries.

Some of the home visits this quarter were undertaken to discuss with our beneficiaries about the benefits of sending their children to boarding schools, importance of identity documents, following up on their ART (for HIV+ women) and Tuberculosis procedures and medication etc. At these home visits, we also discussed with the women about importance of hygienic and sanitary living, importance of seeking professional medical aid over vising quacks, prevention of STIs and STDs etc, responding to police raids/arrests etc. There has been an increase in street-based prostitution in the last few months, due to arrests by police at the brothels. This has also led to difficulties for our outreach workers to access the community, as both- the community residents and the police perceive them with doubt. Considering this situation, we designed our home visits to discuss such raids and their consequences.

Celebrations and Recreational visits:

 'Arre didi everytime I come to the AAWC center, I realise just how liberating this feels. The fact that we're a group of women from the same community and we are sitting together, talking, laughing, sharing our stories - it's this instant connect and sense of a family that I love about this center.' said Pooja*, with a deep and content smile.

This quarter, almost 30 of our Umeed beneficiaries had celebrated Holi wherein our Field director, outreach workers and Program Manager had held skits on self esteem.

Often stigma from the society leads our women to develop severely low self worth, which further affects their desire and abilities to exit the trade. Hence the skits focused on being able to answer back and fight for their dignity.

Post this, our beneficiaries had a gala time chatting, dancing and eating snacks to mark our Holi celebrations.

This quarter also saw celebrations on International Women’s Day, Makar Sankranti (a famous Indian harvest festival), and Independence Day with our Umeed women. Each of these celebrations had distribution of meals, along with games, skits and exchange of songs.

We also undertook a massive recreational visit to Vajreshwari, a small town in the suburbs of Mumbai. Known for its historical architecture and hot water springs, almost 60 of our Umeed women enjoyed this daylong trip. We provided our beneficiaries with meals, transportation and all other support through this trip and ensured that they had a stress-free day.

‘The respect that we receive from all the AAWC didis is immensely overwhelming and warm. They treat us like friends, which is especially visible during such picnics. It is one of the most important reasons why I try my best to attend all their adult literacy classes and vocational training courses…because I realize and respect the efforts they’re investing towards our welfare.’ Smiled Geeta*, a young Umeed beneficiary, when asked about the visit to Vajreshwari.