30 July: brief notes only today
Woke up for run, a must after 3 beers last night. 7Ks had me feeling accomplished by 8 a.m. And sweaty. Gym supervisor Vivek suggests I come at 8:30 tomorrow so we can run at the same time. I've seen him exercise to pass the time waiting for more engaged clients (I'm not much of a chatter there) and he's like a 25-year old Jack LaLanne. I don't think I'll be working out with him.
I think it's fair to say we were dragging a bit at the thought of visiting yet another school this morning, this one St. John's Diocesan School for Girls, one of the oldest in Kolkata. It was built in the mid-19th century, started by a Western woman (don't know if she was British or American, but I remember her name was Hoare, regrettably). I'd expressed to Pavithra at breakfast that we'd already seen 8-9 schools and those visits were falling into a pattern of administrator-directed song-and-dance, not that the school leaders dissimilate, but they understandably talk from their macro- point of view and show off the shiny bits of their programs. We get it. We do the same at our schools. Fortunately, Pavithra and the school's director were able to concoct a plan that suited our needs perfectly.
Great conversation with 4 young ladies, smart, focused and articulate. I learned a lot (they don't have time to date, not that their parents would allow it anyway) and I now have 4 new FB friends.
Lunch
New Market: yowza. Walking out in street is actually easier than inside mall. These crowds are like NYC on parade day, but constant. Who knew?
Quick break to read about tomorrow morning's trip: Kalighat Temple. More on this later.
Sanjeev is also being contacted (repeatedly) by Tamil Nadu police about books and CDs our group left back in Madurai hotels--Brother Imran's materiel. They're concerned about religiously-rooted terrorist activity from our group. That's hysterical. Actually, considering the bombings in Delhi, I guess it's not too far-fetched, sadly.
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Notes below were written during our meeting with Urmi Basu at New Light, with my typing as fast as possible. I have not revised notes.
Must write about trip to New Light NGO, school health clinic, nursery, etc. Walk through a hive of narrow passages, small streets, through markets. About 2 dozen kids, a dozen older women sewing.
This organization was founded by a woman from here, named Urmi Basu. She is an inspirational leader. In her private office, there are pictures of her in the company of Hillary Clinton, citations from Pope Benedict, lots of major awards for her work here. Damn. New Light was one of the organizations prominently featured in the film version of Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's Half the Sky. So glad to know that.
Main founder is an elegant woman in 50s. Western dress, pink striped oxford shirt, jeans, colorful Indian flats. Black and silver hair, cut short and fashionably.
- Krishna Dol, an early founder...13-years ago as young girl began to work here
- George...didn't catch last name
- Shima Banerjee
- teacher coordinator, Sanjeev (handyman, jack of all trades), Raju as teacher, Monju , Dithi, Ritade, Sudhappa, and many other dedicated teachers.
3 other locations, behind crematorium (kids from untouchables), dads or grandfathers work in crematoriums, morgues, prisons or gov't hospitals. Untouchability was abolished but it still is deeply embedded, latent but in most of our society. Bengal Punjab, Maharashtra emphasize it less. Tamil Nadu less so, still very conservative. Bengalis "have risen above this a little bit in our day to day life", very strong in Uttar Pradesh, Matha Pradesh, Rajastan, Kerala, will take a long time to get rid of this. Education is key, occupations that are not caste-bound help this process, maybe the changes are going to be more rapid in the next 2 decades than in the last 5. Digital world breaks down barriers. Job at call center, or working with software, where you come from doesn't matter. You are evaluated on your qualities and your potential. We would like our children to benefit from this, so they who they are matters more than where they come from.
This is 13th year of operation. We see a little achievement, some minor changes. Started project in two tiny rooms downstairs, windowless, dark, 'quite sad looking", but gradually got this structure on the terrace, with help of friends, volunteers, foundations, got this space. Got residential home for girls, belongs to New Light, renting property for girls from 18-23 who are in professional training of going to university. Semi-supervised living arrangement, hopefully when they get jobs, 2-3 of them could get apartment together. We currently pay rent and food. German and Spanish foundations fund this currently. 220 kids in the program, and their mothers too, plus other women in community, but come to access health care and income-generation program. Run micro-credit organization (5,000-10,000 rupees) usually flower vending, roadside food stall, ready made garments from wholesellers.
Women who want to participate have to abide by 3 rules:
- No liquor (even though it's made just here)
- No spurious kerosene, gas (stolen and repackaged) would be stored in living quarters, obviously a huge hazard in a congested neighborhood like this.
- No trafficking. This happens a lot, girls given to people from village who now live in cities, "come with me, live in city". Hard to track routes, hard to get victim testimony.
Rain just started, sounds like an assault on the roof. Kids and teachers came through and released the rattan/cane rolls that hang on the gridded metal windows, keep rain out, breeze still comes in a bit, all air circulated by 5 intent fans overhead. Electric light, spacious room. We sit on backless benches, feels inviting and warm. Children greeted us with elegant pink long-stem roses.
Q: Chris: tell us your successes since you began 13 years ago.
A. This program began without a blueprint. We didn't know what level of acceptance or buy-in we'd get in the community. Whatever success we've seen happend bc of 2 reasons:
opened evening creche, service not available at that time. Between 5-10 p.m. Women needed support of keeping children safe, in care of other adults from community.
we engaged large number of people from the community. first set of teachers all from the community. These are all people from community, little kids. We didn't need people with PhDs, rather kids from 7th standard. I tried to create opportunities for them to improve their own education, work with nurses and doctors, build their own capacities. They gained a lot of opportunities they'd missed out on having been brought up in this community.
Dream is to get enough young people to carry this work forward, and hopefully in 15 years Kalighat red light district will disappear, there will be no need for it.
Q: Chris: so your kids have graduated from high school and gone on to trade shcool or university?
A: yes, international culinary school, one in Delhi at university. 4 girls in graduate schools, one MSW (here working), Montessori training, we'll be using that with small kids. We have 2 girls in nursing schools. 4 or 5 of them are in 11th or 12th standard, so they'll be finishing high school and going on to study accountancy or finance.
Q: Gene: what inspired you to do this?
A: you can't see kids in this situation and do nothing. For me, it was a personal choice, I coudn't move away from here and not do anything. Came to Mumbai red light district on field trip for social work graduate school. I promised myself that if I felt competent enough, this is the community I'd want to work with.
I had not planned to come to Kalighat, but students (Raju and others now working as teachers) invited me to come see one of their sporting events. I Saw things that spurred her to act...kids kept under bed while mothers were with their clients.
Q: Wendy: what resistance did you find, unexpected. What support (expected or not)?
A: expected lots of resistance, lived in mortal fear on some days. Got support where I didn't expect it. Mothers feel ownership of this project. community knows its their project, it's their people. Whatever money we spend on supplies, it stays here in the community. Keeps people invested and involved.
Q: Melinda: what about prevalence of ?HIV/AIDS. Have you seen inroads?
A: just a few HIV testing clinics when we started, no nutritional support, vaccinations, etc. Now all our kids vaccinated against those kinds of diseases (measles, mumps, Hep B). I see the difference in the health status of kids between beginning and now, everything is "hugely different", height, weight, how they look. When I came here, many kids were going to bed with only a boiled sweet at night. No refrigeration, nothing can be kept fresh. Mothers would give a rupee, tell the kids to go buy something. They have this on record, body weight and height from day 1. That's why local health administration doesn't mess with us.
We've also doing Hep B & C campaigns with mothers, talk to mothers who work in prostitution, distribute condoms, help them access treatment in gov't hospitals. It's mandatory for gov't to provide anti-retroviral therapy. Train woman how to follow treatment protocol, get them to have different types of tests, get them to share in groups so they don't feel isolated. We distribute 6,000-12,000 condoms month: 100 women x 5 clients 20 x week.
Q: Dolores: how early do they start in prostitution?
A: we don't want them to start.
D: but what's the reality
A: used to be 11-14. Those who fall through the cracks these days, 15-18.
Q: Cath: when you started, did you have a population of children born with HIV?
A: no, not when we started. And when we got to know the women, we encouraged them to go get tested. These are older women, many of whom have history of substance abuse (alcohol). Negotiate safe sex with first client, then drink, then over time lose that focus. These are women at end of work life, some are pretty desperate.
Q: Wendy: what about support from local authorities? Are "educated" people resistant? Is it hard to get donors?
A: In beginning, hard to find qualified people to come work here. Families of qualified young women resisted, they were afraid. Partnership with local police has always been very positive. Police sometimes call with vagrant or trafficked girls. We also have a good relationship with Social Welfare Dept. They believe our methods are model for implementation elsewhere.
Q: Melinda: what are your needs/wants?
A: money to send our older kids to university or trade schools. $2,000 year. We are looking for multiple sponsors, to break up this amount. It's a big challenge.
Q: Dolores: how can our schools, our kids help you?
A: Book talk, Half the Sky (featured in it), or screen the film.
Q: M: what about the life expectancy of people here?
A: when I came, I saw 50 year old women who looked 70 or 80. Now great things have been taken off their minds, the future of their children. Their daughters don't have to be prostitutes. Now people look their age. They have access to health care. We don't compromise when it comes to saving a life.
Q: Me: do you operate in conjunction with local schools , or in lieu of them?
A: all go to school. Used to go to government schools. Now many in private, English-medium schools.
5 lakhs of ruppes annually on school fees. Scholarships are tough because schools can't afford to sacrifice the income.
Q: M: have you had women leave hte profession since you started?
A: yes. We've given them options. They cook, they escort kids to school, they help out with our 24-hour staff, they work as peer educators, AIDS outreach workers.
Q:Lou: do kids come and go on their own?
A: moms bring young ones. By the time kids are 9, they come on their own, "it's like their grandmothers' place".
Q: Dennis: how do you personally deal with the women who don't stop working as prostitutes?
A: they do that out of their circumstantial compulsion. Not our place to do that until we're in a position to offer them an alternative life/lifestyle. Our alternatives have to be strong enough to outpace the market. The first time is never by choice. They never say I do this because I like it. When you're trafficked at 13, you may be kept in isolation, raped 20 days, your soul may be dissociated from your body.
Very tough to make an escape, until they're past their prime. They can earn a lot as young women. We'd like to cut off the source, the inflow. That can happen only if we go to the villages with extreme poverty to raise awareness. Also give alternatives to women who are exiting so they don't have to prey on young women.
None of this is written down. This knowledge base has developed over time. But the circumstances vary by community.
Q: brings up book on this topic, our host knew, Sold, by Patricia McCormack, who now is a partner of sorts with New Light. Book is made into a movie, coming out this year. Based on her 3-years of work and research in Nepal.
Q: Lou (didn't hear question due to typing)
A: we've mapped out territory by risk, we've gone to those places and talked to girls and their families about risk factors, about the importance of girls' education, that they have earning potential equal to boys. Most of the time there are no toilets in village girls' schools, no sanitary napkins, these factors keep girls out of school from 13 on. (point from Lou) Yes, they are more likely to receive that information from women who've worked here.
Q: Cath: are women past their prime trafficking the new generation?
A: yes, these are women who are older. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a space (to rent out on commission) for younger prostitutes.
Q: (me) what kind of educational services do you provide?
A: support system, HW help. There is no space to do these things at home. Their homes are twice the size of this table (points to 6'-long table).
Q: What do you see in terms of acting out? And are your kids at great risk of abuse themselves?
A: we have counselors working with them. Sometimes we send them outside for therapy. We send all our teachers for counseling training. Yes, we see kids acting out a lot. A lot of young boys grow up with deep resentment to their mothers, esp. when they see clients going in and out of their home every day. We ask teachers to contact us (not mothers) when there's a problem at school.
Q: how are women treated?
A: great prejudice within larger community. Even Dalit women will not sit near them, they are at the very bottom of the social/caste ladder. "Respectable" women refuse to interact with them. Says that kids though do not suffer same discrimination because they interact with people from around the world, they have new uniforms and school supplies. We give them lots of experiences. They made a film that's being shown at International Animated Film Festival in Pusan. (wow!)
Very close to getting home for boys opened. Still about $12,000 shy. We'll have 24 beds, with about 5 staff, housemaster or houseparents (couple with baby, ideally). Someone to do cooking, support staff, yoga and karate masters. They already have 2 homes for girls in southern part of city. These homes don't meet need. There are 36 in younger girls home, 14 now in older girls home, definitely need to increase number of girls in older home.
All NGO. If we take our HIV-positive patients to gov't hospitals and social welfare depts, police, judiciary, we can get consultations, but we are limited in the support we receive from government.
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This post is incomplete. I am not sure how to capture the deep, important and difficult thoughts brewing in my mind. The New Light experience crystallized many strains of thought, both conscious and suppressed, that have accumulated over time here. Poverty, power, helplessness, responsibility (both individual and social, theoretical and immediate), gender, love, humanity. I will have to make a separate entry about this. But I need time to think. How do we care for each other? How do we love our planet, ourselves? What is MY responsibility as a member of a family, a society, a world? What does it mean to be rich, to be poor? Are these the questions only the rich ask?
How do you prioritize what people need to live lives of dignity? How do we treat our most vulnerable? What do I do as an individual, and when I don't help, am I failing my brother and sister human beings?
We stood together, Lou, Wendy and I, in the gorgeous waters of the Oberoi swimming pool, talking about these big questions. Maybe we each have to carve out our own paths, and therein lie the answers. Ironic, to have that discussion there. Or perhaps not ironic, just emblematic of power imbalance. This fact did not escape us in the moment, and it made our conversation even more fraught.
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