By Silvia Paul | Fundraising and Communications Manager
“I want my child to be in AAWC only; I don’t trust any other organization. Since I have come in Kamathipura, AAWC has been my second home, I cried here, Laughed here. I feel so lucky that I have sisters who care about me so much.” – Umeed beneficiary.
“ I want to become a social worker like Poonam Didi, she has helped us so much that we will never forget it, she is so selfless, thus I want to be like her and help our fellow sisters who suffer every day.”- Umeed beneficiaries.
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, 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, our team has been able to enroll 48 new women under the Umeed program, which has helped us to grow and beneficiaries who are already registered in our programs motivate and talk positively about our program to other women in the area.
This is one demonstration 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. We have been able to make 28,618 home visits, this quarter, where we conducted both individual and group sessions with the beneficiaries on the topics of awareness about various health issues, tuberculosis (TB) symptoms and treatment, immunization, awareness about pure drinking water and many more other related to this that play an important role in their lives.
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 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 with erratic lifestyle due to their profession being prostitution is not an easy process, and hence 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:
In this quarter, due to our efforts, we have been able to enroll 11 new beneficiaries under the adult literacy program. 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 a large number of beneficiaries for the adult literacy activities who have learned to write their names.
Few beneficiaries learned to write A to Z alphabets (Capital and small letters), 1 to 100 numbers. Some have even started learning to write their children’s and family member’s names. The beneficiaries are interested to learn their names and signatures as it helps them, while doing banking transactions, documents related formalities and other (such as, PAN & Aadhar card, Ration card & bank account).
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 programs, 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, 14 of our Umeed beneficiaries have been able to open their own bank accounts, after rigorous discussions and support from our outreach team.
We derive a sense of satisfaction here, 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 necessity and a fundamental right of any Indian citizen- as 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.
We conducted the health camp where 112 beneficiaries got themselves checked. 11 medical referrals have been done for TB patients and 273 medical referrals have been done for antiretroviral therapy (ART) patients. Apart from these, 28 HIV+ women and 6 Tuberculosis (TB) infected women have been identified through regular health checkups held by AAWC. We have also been able collect CD4 reports for 38 beneficiaries in order to track the improvement in their immunity.
Apart from medical assistance, we also provide our Umeed women with nutritional aid like multivitamin/protein supplements, health packs of soymilk, bananas, moringa seeds, multigrain breads, etc., additional hot meals and snacks as required. We also supply our beneficiaries with access to subsidized/free groceries, to enable their potential to cook healthy meals for themselves.
Along with direct aid, we 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. On World AIDs day on 1st of December’18, a street play was conducted by our team in order to spread the awareness about HIV and AIDs among the community.
Empowerment:
“All your beneficiaries are already well aware; they gave good answers to the questions. This shows that AAWC has empowered them and made them aware about their health.”- Representative from United way Mumbai.
All of our Umeed 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 the influence of heavy drugs 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.
In order to overcome this challenge we conduct “Area Activities”, where the Outreach Workers (ORWs) mobilize women and discuss about various topics such as Beauty Parlor practice, ration card and bank accounts, alcoholism, drug addiction and legal advocacy.
Beauty parlor practice has started as a follow up activity with the beneficiary in which one of the Umeed beneficiary is taking practice and teaching new beneficiaries hair cutting and styling as well as beauty Facial.
The discussion does not stay confined with specific topics we also indulge in variety of other topics that is beneficial for the beneficiary in their day-to-day life.
This quarter we conducted 25 area activities which involved discussion on personal hygiene, and human rights such as right to Vote, basic right to food, shelter, health, equal treatment, equality, education, wages equality, right to speak, right to live etc.
Apart from the area activities, we also hold monthly meetings, where the beneficiaries gather and discuss specific agendas. The major topics for the meetings of this quarter has been information about the post office accounts and Sukanya Yojana (money saving scheme by govt for girl child), cancer where knowledge about different types of cancer was given and hepatitis-B awareness was conducted by United Way of Mumbai about types of hepatitis, duration of medicine and time of vaccination.
Our team had also arranged a visit from Senior Post Master Shymala Shrinivasan from Mumbai Central came and explained about the importance of having a savings account, recurrent account and the benefits of Sukanya Yojana.
The explanation given about post office account and Sukanya Yojana was well understood by our beneficiaries because of which three to four beneficiaries came forward with interest to open their own savings accounts and majority of them are now interested in getting the scheme for their daughters.
We believe that equipping our women with simple yet financially beneficial skills, which will further aid them in leading a life of dignity and sustainability, eventually getting them out of the traps of prostitution.
Counseling:
AAWC understands that women in the red light districts go through both mental and physical traumas, and hence it is imperative to support them through our mental-health assistance. Mental health assistance involves 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 play a vital role in their lives. Most of our counseling happens on the field, while therapy sessions take place on individual and group basis at our centers.
Few beneficiaries constantly require counselling to make them understand the importance of ART, daily care and their health issues etc.
Some beneficiaries are constantly in need of counseling regarding the importance of ART, daily care and health issues, consequently our outreach workers provide them with extra counseling when needed outside of counseling sessions. This quarter we have conducted 130 counseling sessions.
Celebrations:
“Didi, this gift is so beautiful, I really liked it. Every year you surprise us with such gifts. I wish you and all didi’s in AAWC a very happy Diwali.” – Umeed Beneficiary.
In October, we celebrated Dusherra and during the November monthly meeting, we celebrated Diwali. For Diwali there were around 120 beneficiaries at the meeting, which was hosted by us in collaboration with the Lion’s Club of Bombay. Our field director Mrs. Poonam Awasthi presented AAWC and her work to the guests. AAWC’s CEO Mrs. Manju Vyas also participated to wish everyone a happy Diwali and introduced our work in the area. Our Ardent donor Mrs. Abbas Bootwala donated steel plates along with snacks for all beneficiaries and Lion’s club gifted all beneficiaries a beautiful jewelry set. Everyone was very happy about the celebration.
Human rights day was celebrated on 10th, December. During this celebration, the beneficiaries explained about their rights and they highlighted how AAWC has made them aware about their rights, which has been helpful for them. On this occasion, Nirmala Thakur distributed Ration among the PLWHA beneficiaries.
Pictures of Umeed beneficiaries during activities and celebration:
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