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Children of sex workers
A Delhi based NGO operating in the city’s red light area has rescued over a thousand children from the sex
trade by providing food, shelter and education. But resources are limited and the government is apathetic, so
the plan to expand the rehabilitation programme is in serious difficulty.By Sutirtha Sahariah
Lalitha Nayak, 54-years-old, has spent half her life knocking on the doors of one brothel after another in Delhi, trying to convince mothers, w ho
w ork as sex w orkers, to educate their children. Nayak’s shelter for children, run by the Society for Participatory Integrated Development (SPID), is
located at the edge of G. B. Road, Delhi’s infamous red light area.
More than 4000 w omen, mostly from rural and low er caste backgrounds, live in inhuman conditions, crammed in dingy rooms of dilapidated
buildings. They w ere brought to the city by traffickers on the pretext of good jobs and w ere then sold to middlemen or pimps in the area.
More than 4000 women, mostly from rural and lower caste backgrounds, live in inhuman
conditionsOver a thousand children from the red light area have gone through the centre
in the last two decades
“I first visited the area in 1988 to share information about AIDS, but w as horrified to see the condition of sex w orkers,” Nayak recalled. “The
brothel ow ners w ere subjecting them to systematic physical and mental abuse. Since I speak a number of languages, I gained the trust of the
sex w orkers. Many young mothers requested me to do something for their children w ho w ere grow ing up in the brothels.”
In 1991, w ith some support from the government, she w as able to start a day care centre w ith five children, aged 4-6 years, in a room for w hich
she had to fight hard w ith the municipal authorities. The centre provided crèche and pre-school facilities. For the older children, funds w ere raised
to send them to boarding schools and other shelters in different states of India. Over a thousand children from the red light area have gone
through the centre in the last tw o decades and around 500 of them have completed college education. The centre now provides boarding
facilities to 35 children.
“I will do everything in my power to educate my daughters so they can live with dignity in
society. I have seen so much suffering in my life that I don’t want my daughters to suffer.
The day my daughters stand on their own feet, I will leave this profession and spend time
with them,” –Bimla
The early years w eren’t easy for Nayak. The brothel ow ners physically attacked her as they feared she w ould get the girls out of the brothels and
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hit their livelihood. “But I w as determined to bring the children into the mainstream,” Nayak said. “I couldn’t directly rescue the w omen, but could
help indirectly by saving the children. So w henever I had information on a child, I had to adopt a strategy – in most cases it meant convincing the
mother if the brothel ow ner w anted to take control of the child.”
Government funding for the day care centre stopped in 1993 after the inspectors reported “low attendance” by students. But Nayak suspects it
w as because she refused to pay a bribe to the inspectors. In fact, to cope w ith the grow ing number of children she had demanded more space
from the government and had to w ait ten years to get another room from the authorities. Tw o more rooms w ere given after 20 years.
Nayak says that “most children are born of “illegitimate” relationships and lack basic care and protection. In the beginning my focus w as on the
girls as there w asn’t much money to pay the school fees for everyone. I treat both boys and girls equally but I feared leaving the girls w as risky
as they could easily become victims.”
Bimla, a 35-year-old mother of tw o daughters, w as forced into prostitution by her husband, a drug addict. Her daughters w ere aged four and one
w hen she arrived at the brothel.
“I w as shocked to see the environment w hen I first came here. The brothel ow ner said I have to w ork if I w anted shelter. My husband soon
passed aw ay and I didn’t w ant my daughters to grow up in the brothel”, she said.
Her daughters are now attending boarding schools and doing w ell. Bimla is also encouraging other mothers to educate their children. “I w ill do
everything in my pow er to educate my daughters so they can live w ith dignity in society. I have seen so much suffering in my life that I don’t w ant
my daughters to suffer. The day my daughters stand on their ow n feet, I w ill leave this profession and spend time w ith them,” she says.
The main problem for sex workers is lack of alternative employment and it is also difficult
to rent a house
Bimla plans to campaign for w omen’s education and against child marriage once her daughters complete their studies. The main problem for sex
w orkers is the lack of alternative employment and it is also very difficult for them to rent a house.
Laxmi, 50, started w orking as a sex w orker w hen she w as very young, She suffered from cervical cancer 15 years back and could no longer w ork.
W ith the help of an NGO, she started w orking as a HIV peer educator. She, how ever, has no place to stay and has no choice but to live in the
brothel w here she cooks for the brothel ow ner. Her monthly salary as peer educator is 1500 rupees but she hasn’t been paid in the last six
months due to delay by the authorities in sanctioning the money.
“I continue to w ork w ithout pay because I like w hat I do now . It’s disgusting w hat I have done all my life”, she says. Her daughter w as brought
to Nayak’s centre, and is now studying in the university w here she aspires to be a teacher.
The centre has become indispensible to Delhi’s red light area. “Our children have become something because of the centre. W e look at the centre
as our ow n”, says Laxmi.
W hen asked about the debate in India about legalizing prostitution, the sex w orkers say they are against it.
Nayak says controlling w omen is not a solution. “Is this the only job left for w omen? Is this empow erment? There is already a lot of discrimination
and violence against w omen in India. Legalizing prostitution w ould mean pushing w omen to untold violence. In the red light area it is mostly the
low caste w omen w ho are bought and sold. W hy should poor w omen suffer? Legalizing prostitution means controlling the brothels but it doesn’t
target the sex trade outside the red light area.”
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