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The sex workers are no lesser citizens. It is very rare that a woman, a girl or an under aged child becomes a sex worker voluntarily. Divorce, poverty, domestic violence and torture, failure in love affairs, kidnapping are some of the causes that drive women and girls into prostitution.
The condition of sex workers in Kerala is appalling. They are caught in the chain of pimps, gundas and other antisocial elements in the society and the police on the other side. Classified under criminals, these women find it difficult to raise their voice against basic human rights violation. Moreover, the absence of brothels, which invariably provides shelter, increases the gravity of sufferings of sex workers in Kerala. Many of these sex workers and their children are on the street. Thus these children too undergo all the brutalities suffered by their mothers.
The ‘Foundation for Integrated Research in Mental Health’ (FIRM), an organization formed by a team of medical doctors, held the first state level meeting of the Sex Workers of Kerala on February 20 and 21 of 1999 at Hassan Marakkar Hall, Thiruvananthapuram. Around 350 sex workers and people from different walks of life like poets, journalists, lawyers, doctors, social activists, cultural and political activists were a part of this meeting. Issues and problems of sex workers were the focal point of this discussion. It turned out that one of the major concerns of the sex workers was regarding their children.
As a result, on March 4, 1999 a meeting of a nascent ‘support team’ was held at ‘Anasooya’, Perumthanni, Thiruvananthapuram. The objective of this meeting was to understand and tackle the problems of sex workers. Ten supporting teams were formed in the meeting. They are (1) Legal Aid (2) Media (3) Network (4) Employment (5) Child Care (6) Night Shelter (7) Housing (8) Publication (9) Souvenir (10) Drop-in-Center. |
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Members of this team were: Shaji Jose, Anil, Roja, Ajith Kumar, Sam L Sone, Prasad, J.Reghu, Manoj, Ravi K Arjun, Rose Mary, Shimna, Sudheer, Subhash, Sivan, Maitreya, Dr. Jayasree, Gowri G. and Koodal Sobhan.
Our aim was twofold - total rehabilitation of sex workers’ children and changing the popular perception of these children being criminals. We started with the fact that while biology inherently and essentially doesn’t determine the future of a citizen, social situations often do. Hence we wanted to provide facilities and resources which would enable sex workers’ children resist the stigma and discrimination. We helped them use this adversity as a springboard to grow into better citizens and capable human beings.
Later, this support team for child care grew into the organization called CHILLA. |
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We conducted a need Assessment study in Thiruvananthapuram to identify the most needy children. Out of the 187 children identified, 37 children who required immediate assistance were selected. Among the 37, those who had their own houses and those who were staying with relatives and friends were given only educational grants. The remaining 17 children were admitted in orphanages. Out of the 12 orphanages identified, only five were willing to take these children.
Initially the decision was to admit the children only in centers which allowed their mothers to be present at the time of admission. This was not allowed due to the stigma of mothers being sexworkers. But another difficulty also arose. These children, though under our guardianship were taken away by their mothers without our knowledge. The center would inform us that the child is lost. A search would follow, locate and place the child back in the orphanage. But after three or four such incidents, the centers refused to take the children back.
The mothers have nothing but the child. They are struggling every moment with the police, gundas, auto drivers and the public to exist on the street. Their difficulties are countless and the stress unbearable. When they earn money, their only source of enjoyment is with their children. When they are beaten up, they want their children to share their sorrow. They can’t obey the rules and restrictions of the orphanages because they cannot meet the children when they are in need. At the same time the people in the orphanage will do their best to de-link the child from the mother in order to provide a ‘respectable’ identity for the children. Unintentionally they turn the child against the mother by portraying her as a corrupting element in society. The existing morality and life style justify it. In other words admitting a sex worker’s child in an orphanage simply means sex workers losing the right to be a mother. |
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History 
