“Many of the women that Missionaries of the Word meet in the red-light district have a past worse than what most of us can imagine. Many have been forced into prostitution from a very, very young age. Unfortunately, Missionaries of the Word have seen girls as young as 5-6 selling sex.””
— Pia Lindell Qwist, Stifter & Generalsekretær i Gadens Børn
A careful approach
The impoverished red-light district of Bowbazar is a notorious area for dangerous and often illegal tertiary trades, which include prostitution, brothels and liquor stores. Here, thousands of women from India's poorest districts are trapped in an insanely dangerous existence, that is extremely difficult to escape. Powerful hierarchies, social norms and extreme poverty exploit keep these women in the sex industry.
In 2021 Gadens Børn began social outreach work in this area, and since then our team has worked purposefully to establish trust with the women and their children in the area. Our most important task has been to show the women that we are solely there to help them. There is never any judgmental behavior, and the women are always met with understanding, love and warmth.
A Night Center for children
In order to form an overview of the need for our help, Missionaries of the Word’s (MOW) social and medical team operate in this area, on a regular basis. They make sure to offer the women who work at night free medical treatments, medicine and contraception. Over the years, MOW has become their lifeline, when life is particularly hard.
We are in the process of establishing a night center, where the women’s children can sleep safely, get nutrition, take part in activities and receive care, while their mothers are at work. MOW also offers the children admission to our Sealdah School.
A strong emotional bond
The women are happy that MOW is around and looks after them. They now feel comfortable with the outreach team and know they can trust them. The outreach team talks with these women about life, how they feel and give lots of hugs and love. In addition, they listen to their challenges.
Unresolved feelings sometimes come to the surface, when conversations get tough. MOW shows them their deepest sincerity. Many of these women have not yet been met with much care in their lives. The fact that MOW is allowed to get this close to the women is a sign of deep trust. In this way the bond between them only gets stronger. The majority of these women have cruel pasts, and some of them entered the sex industry by the age of 14-15. We have been shocked to discover, that some have been in the industry since the age of 5-6. These women do not know any other areas than the Red-Light District.
This is why, we are also in the process of establishing a women's center, which will function as the their safe space. A place where the women can feel safe and get counseling. Whether it is about getting out of abuse or processing all the violence, they have been subjected to, the center must be a place, where they can seek help.