I haven't blogged for days..not that there haven't been interesting things; things that I've read or seen, but I've been lacking inspiration I suppose. Well today was different. For the last couple of weeks I have been spending time at a NGO called Aastha Parivaar. I've posted a link on Facebook and encourage you to take a look. It's a NGO made up of sex workers for the benefit of sex workers. I wasn't sure what I could do for them while there, but knew that I wanted to be apart of the organization and learn more about it.
To be honest it hasn't been that exciting as in all fairness they have their own work to do, and really there isn't much I can do for them short of some writing, such as proposals. But to do that one needs to have a good understanding of what they do and need. The plan was for me to visit some of their 14 Community Based Organizations (CBO) but so far I'd only been to one.
Anyway, one of the staff had promised to take me to a CBO today. Sandya is her name and I've liked her from the get-go. She is 52, with thick glasses and a boisterous voice. The day I met her I could tell that she knew some English and so between that and her strong personality, which was evident when I met her, I had hoped to be able to spend some time with her.
Well I just love this woman! I think part of it is her thick glasses; it's just so endearing to me. But more so, it's her confidence. When she speaks English you can just feel the pride within her; that it makes her feel so good. She speaks with authority, conviction, and I just love that. The day before I sat in on a Spoken English class that has just started for sex workers. And she was the star of the class; like that kid in class that knows it all and answers all the questions. I actually wondered if she has hearing issues given how loudly she spoke, but I'm sure its just her confidence and eagerness to learn. At one point she was asked to spell Wednesday and ripped through it so fast to prove her abilities; I just had to laugh!
So today she took me to the CST train station which is the biggest train terminal in Mumbai, and a beautiful building which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At the terminal was the "Red Ribbon Express," a train that travels all around India with information about HIV/AIDS. It also offers HIV testing and counselling. It is only in Mumbai for a few days after which it will head off somewhere else.
It was a big event with lots of people and many NGOs there with information on their organization. Sandya's CBO, the Women's Welfare Society, had a table there selling some of the products that they make in order to support the organization and its members. I met many staff from the Women's Welfare Society, most of whom are sex workers, and of course bought some of their chocolate (which is delicious) and then cued forever and a day to get into the train. Once inside there was car after car of information about HIV/AIDS with high tech technology and tons of staff to provide information. Unfortunately all of the information was in Hindi so I couldn't understand any of it, but nevertheless it was an impressive and innovative venture which is reaching tons of people in India. I couldn't believe how many people were passing through which is great for the passing on of such important information.
After that Sandya and I sat, had lunch and chatted. Sandya insisted that I have a box lunch that was provided for the NGOs, despite there not being enough for all the members. Another example of incredible Indian hospitality. I was very uncomfortable with taking the lunch but there was no option of not. Thankfully more lunch boxes were arranged and everybody got to eat. Anyway while we sat many people stopped to chat with Sandya (and by default, me). One was the Director of the organization that had arranged the whole event; quite a Big Wig. He apparently noticed the only white girl in the crowd and came over to ask where I was from and who I was there with. It was a nice plug for Aastha Parivaar given his organization funds some of their capacity building projects. It was also very exciting for Sandya who kept going on about how much of a Big Wig he was, and telling everybody she met that he had stopped to talk to me. There was a lot of head rolling going on which meant she was pretty happy and impressed. It was cute!
As we sat and chatted I learnt more about her and the sex workers. I had noticed that all of the members manning the table were older and asked if they were still doing sex work. I was surprised when she said yes, given some of them looked like they were in their 40s and 50s. Although of course when you've had a hard life you look a lot older so I wouldn't be surprised if they were a decade younger than I thought. Anyway, Sandya explained that these women would most likely be paid to go to a movie with a client, 150-200 rupees, and that during the movie they would provide "safe sex or hand sex" as she called it.
She told me that she had not been doing sex work since 2004, which is when she joined one of the CBOs. She started as a volunteer and has worked her way up to not only being President of her CBO (which is non-paid) but also a representative of Aastha Parivaar which sits on various committees in the field. She gets paid 8000 rupees (over $150) per month as part of this job. After working in the field for 8 years she is now well known and highly respected. You can tell she is very engaged with the cause and a hard worker. Apart from the CBO and Aastha Parivaar work, she makes chocolates, perfume, is learning English, and taking a baking course this month. She is super eager to learn and plans to pass on the skills she learns to other girls. More head rolling came when I asked her if she likes English. Like is actually an understatement as she clearly loves it, and does pretty well too. I can't say enough about this lady. When she smiles, with those glasses, or when she speaks up with that boisterous voice of hers, it just warms my heart.
While I was there we also met a couple young girls (in their early 20s I would say) who are members of the CBO and active sex workers that work in and around the train station. I was sad to hear that they both live and work there. Can you imagine your home being a train platform? She told me that one of the girls had lived in a NGO until age 17 when she left and started doing sex work. She is now 21. Sandya brought her home for a month in hopes of getting her working and taking her away from sex work, but she went back to the platform. I asked her why she thought that was and she felt it was because the girl was in love with a guy who also lived on the platform. She was more into him and a lifestyle of smoking and drinking. Sandya has brought many girls to her home; however, only one has actually left sex work. She is now selling things on a train in Delhi.
I asked her why these girls wouldn't go do brothel work where they would have a roof over their head. She said that in a brothel they get only 50-70 rupees per client ($1-1.5) and half goes to the Madam. So the pay is little and they don't get most of it. Working on their own they might get 200-500 per client (plus the client has to pay for the lodge/hotel). So clearly it's better for them on the platform. Sandya also said that the girls have a lot of tension (they use this word all the time instead of stress and I love it!) because the police have been raided all the dance bars where many of them work. That leaves them with less clients and of course less money. And sure enough, as I was reading the paper later that day, there was an article about all the dance bars that the police were raiding and shutting down in the city. Bars were closing as well before the police could raid. Bar owners had gone as far as to have secret compartments where they would hide the girls if the bouncers spotted police. A button would signal those in the back to usher the girls inside. Like a movie eh!
We of course talked about HIV/AIDS as well given that was why the whole event was happening. Sandya told me that 65 members of her CBO are HIV positive. She herself is lucky not to be positive given that back when she was working nobody knew about HIV or condom use. Aastha Parivaar hopes to be able to build a home for elderlyHIV positive women in the future which I would love to see. In the meantime some of the money that the CBOs raise goes to the didis (sisters) who might need help and have nobody i.e. if they need an operation. By the end of the conversation I had a better understanding of the role of the CBOs; it really is a sisterhood/support network for these women. And thankfully those couple of young sex workers that we met are apart of it. The CBO will keep track of them and help them if need be. Thank goodness somebody is.
I will end this post with something really touching that happended while we were sitting there. I had been talking with a staff of another NGO and noticed another man kind of hanging around. I thought they were together. After the staff left the other man came a bit closer so I said hi. He was maybe late 20s and quite dirty; potentially homeless. He had a paper in his hand which he held out to show me. At first I thought it was something asking for money which is pretty common in SE Asia. I looked closer and noticed that it was the result of his HIV test! He had been on the train and been tested. The paper said that he was negative. I smiled, gave him a thumbs up, and clapped; all that I could do to get the message across how happy I was with his result. As he stood there and smiled I asked Sandya to tell him that I was happy that he had gone and got tested and that he was negative. He continued to smile and then went on his way. I was so touched by that experience, my eyes welled up.
What a great program this travelling train is, reaching all walks of life all over the country. I hope that this man not only got tested, but also took something from the information that was shared on the train. Let's hope that this train reaches millions more.
No comments:
Post a Comment