Trafficked women now have a happy tale to tell

AAWW charts a new path for them.

Twenty-two women in prostitution, who had worked with Emmy award-winning journalist Ruchira Gupta to make a documentary, "The Selling of Innocents", decided to start the organisation Apne Aap Women Worldwide five years ago in 2002, in a red light area of Mumbai.

The organisation has now spread to Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar and West Bengal, reaching out to almost 4,800 women, girls and children, and has set up five anti-trafficking units in red light areas and slums.

Apne Aap Women Worldwide, which employs 100 people has a community centre in the red light areas and slums of these states.

These centres serve as a safe space where women are motivated and trained in livelihood skills and income generation programmes. Women are also provided food security and a safe environment to build their own capacity for a dignified life.

"New projects that have been lined up by Apne Aap is in Najafgarh, New Delhi, which is near the Delhi-Haryana border. Here, a large number of young women and girls belonging to the Perna tribe are being forced into prostitution due to poverty, lack of sustainable livelihood options, and marginalisation. The target beneficiaries are the women, young girls and children of the community. The project will initiate women and adolescent girls groups, holistic income generation programmes, education for children and setting up of a residential hostel for the children to prevent trafficking and second generation prostitution," informs Gupta.

Apne Aap is funded by UNODC (United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime) UNIFEM (United Nations Fund for Women Geneva Global), the Oak Foundation, West Bengal State Aids Prevention and Control Society, the Daywalka Foundation, Coalition against Trafficking in Women, Global Trafficking in Persons Office and the US Government.

The NGO trains women on computer skills like data entry and desk top publishing; spoken English, account management, small business management and production skills. Once trained, the women make jewellery items, scarves, embroidered bags and files and other stationery items of handmade paper.

They are then assisted to establish self-help groups and trained in managing their own bank accounts, electing their own office bearers, and running a small business. They are then linked to markets.

For example, some products like scarves, handmade files have been sold worldwide under the label "Made for Survivors" to chain stores in the US like the Goody's Chain stores.

Apne Aap also establishes legal cells in all anti-trafficking units. Creches for children are also set up in each anti-trafficking unit so that mothers and sisters find time to participate in Apne Aap's programmes.

Apne Aap also carries out adult literacy programmes, accounting and small business management skills to women affected by trafficking and other forms of violence.

---

The story of Meena Khatun

Meena Khatun, who was born in a village in north Bengal, was trafficked by her neighbours when she was barely 8 years old, and sold to a brothel in Katihar.

She says, "I escaped from that brothel at the age of 18, leaving my five-year old daughter and three-year-old son behind. I thought that later I would come back and recover them. But I was re-trafficked to another red light area near Purnea. I escaped again, came to the red light area of Forbesganj and with great efforts started my small betel shop. By then, I had two more daughters," Khatun says.

"When Apne Aap started its community centre in the red light area, I was really happy and immediately enrolled in it. As I became more involved in the activities, I got the opportunity to go to Mussourie to get trained on how to run a crèche. While my other two daughters started studying in the Apne Aap School, I was still very restless for my elder daughter who was already pushed into prostitution by the ones who pushed me into this trade."

Khatun tried to negotiate with the traffickers to return her children to her, but in vain.

"I told Apne Aap about this. We approached the police who raided the brothel where my daughter lived and rescued her. Today, all my children are in school and I am very happy that I could get all my children out of the vicious cycle of trafficking and prostitution," Khatun said.