Loving and living
Farheen fell in love with one of her customers when she was in a dance bar. Her heart was broken when he stopped visiting.
"I was in the disco when I met that man for the first time.’" she recalls. "He said 'what is your price? I will pay 2000 rupees (£25) for one night.' I needed to pay for milk for my baby, and for travel, so I accepted. Again the next day the same man came and I held his hand."
"From that day on he started spending more money on me. I was working in a dance bar, so from 9.30pm to 1.30am I used to dance, then I attended to him in a hotel. He used to take me out for dinner or lunch."
She believes that her madame did something to stop him visiting her. ‘I got my heart broken,’ says Farheen. "Still I remember those days. He was doing so much for my daughter. Still I hope that some time he may come and help me." She hasn’t heard from him since 2002.
Sold
When she was 13, Farheen came with one lady to Mumbai. She arranged a marriage for Farheen. But he left her a year later so she returned home, feeling that her life was ruined. She came back to Mumbai with a lady who sold her to the madame for 5000 rupees (£62)
Farheen first met Aruna staff nine years ago. She was sitting outside a brothel and the Aruna team asked her to help them get to know the girls inside. The Aruna team helped her leave prostitution last year. She left for her daughter’s sake and says, "If my daughter sees any man staying with me she will ask, 'what is happening?' "
Now Farheen does cleaning work at the Aruna drop-in centre in the mornings and works as a peer educator for a government organization in the afternoon, visiting girls who work as prostitutes. She was only 13 when she left home to get married and received little education, so finding well paid employment will be difficult. "Whatever I do I’ll do only for my daughter," she says.
Hopeless?
Life can be dark beyond imagination for the women who have been trafficked into prostitution. Little sunlight penetrates the brothels and the bedrooms where they entertain clients are tiny. Babies and little children sleep under their mothers’ beds, developing deep scars of hearing their mum being abused.
Owing to this, the women feel that they have no life beyond the brothel walls, beginning to believe that this life is all they are good for. With little or no education, and no other work experience, they see prostitution as their only way of earning enough money to survive.
Sunshine
Aruna means ‘bright morning sun’ in Hindi, which is exactly what the dedicated team brings to Mumbai’s red light district. Staff and volunteers visit the area’s brothels, making friends, patiently learning about the ladies’ needs and inviting them to their drop-in centre in the heart of the red light area.
At the centre the women can learn English and Hindi literacy and practice beauty skills like henna painting. Many of the women are living with HIV or have other health problems. Staff help them get medicine and travel across the busy city to take them to hospitals, clinics and sometimes to the hospice. At times, medical help is also sought from the Priceless Health Centre, another Oasis India project.
Aruna staff counsel women to leave the trade. They can be bought out or rescued in a police raid. When they leave they need a lot of counseling and support. Aruna runs a halfway home in Mumbai, where girls can feel safe and receive counseling, skills training, healthcare and love. When the women are ready to leave the home, our reintegration team helps them with finding work and a place to stay. They can also help them go back to their families, if this is what they want.
Learn more about our anti-trafficking work
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