Jayamma started working
as a sex worker way back in 1999. It was financial constraints in her family
that led her to be in such a profession. Being married to a person who spent
all the money on liquor, life had become difficult to sustain. She came from a
poor family and was married off at an early age. Due to financial problems, her
parents could not continue her education. Hence it was difficult for an
uneducated lady like her to find a respectable job. Her husband was an
alcoholic and she had to run the family. Finding no other way out, she jumped
into this profession.
“Initially it was not
easy for me to adapt to the certain change in my lifestyle and the
surroundings. The thought of abandoning the profession came several times into
my mind. But then I thought, what would I do after that? Who would feed me? How
shall I run my family? These questions used to haunt me like anything and never
let me leave the work I had started. But gradually I adopted and fitted well in
the so called ‘dark’ world. Eventually I got to know the difficulties of the
sex workers that they were facing in their lives,” said Jayamma B. sitting
under a tree shade and fanning herself with a Japanese fan at Swabhumi. She had
been in town recently to attend the International Sex Worker’s Freedom
Festival. She represented her Community Based Organization, Chaithanya Mahila
Mandali which happens to be the largest CBO for sex workers at Andhra Pradesh.
She was into
prostitution for around 6 years and it was in the year 2000 that she felt the
need to do something for the sex workers that would help them lead better
lives. She felt that collectively she and her co –workers could actually do
something for themselves and for the many other women suffering like them.
“Andhra Pradesh accounts
for ten percent of the sex workers in India. Like in any other region, sex
workers over here also have to face social boycott. They are always seen in a
bad eye. This sums up the problems of the sex workers. They do not get the
opportunities to make their lives beautiful. Hence I wanted to do something
which would help them establish their lives in a refreshed way. I also wanted
to establish a strong platform that would help us fight for the rights of the
sex workers,” says Jayamma.
In Andhra Pradesh, young
girls, especially from poor economic backgrounds, are lured into sex trade.
There have also been cases when a young girl is married off to her first
maternal uncle as per their tradition and then the man abandons her. In such
cases, when these girls have no other way to earn money they are compelled to
go into sex trade.
Archana Rao,technical
documentation officer, CARE-India, a capacity building organization operating
in 70 countries states, “We have been working with CMM since 2010. Our organization
was impressed with the kind of work CMM was doing. Hence we decided to offer
onsite capacity building trainings to many such upcoming CBOs and NGOs in the
state in collaboration with CMM. We have been working in collaboration since
then. It has brought welcome changes in the scenario. Today trafficking has
decreased manifold in the region. Minor girls forced into sex trade are rescued
and they undergo rigorous counseling. They are given vocational trainings. CMM
has many such programmes such as candle making, pickle making, sewing, phenyl
making. We also impart onsite mentoring to other CBOs and NGOs through CMM.
It’s a large scale rehabilitation program that is conducted. It was all started
by CMM.”
Chaithanya Mahila
Mandali is the 1st CBO for Sex Workers in Andhra Pradesh. Jayamma
abandoned prostitution and inspired many others like her to do the same. It had
not been an easy start for them, since the Indian society has always shunned
sex workers.
“Initially people were
apprehensive in believing in our goals. They did not want to cooperate with us
and that was quite obvious. But I never lost hope. I was prepared to face
denials from the society. Even the media looked down upon us in a bad eye. Who
would come to lend a helping hand to people who are sex workers? But gradually
when we formed a strong group and people came to know of our efforts, we did
get recognition. Media since then has played a great role in focusing on our
activities and letting people know of the kind of work we are doing. Eventually
the police also cooperated with us in several ways. Now the government also
holds rehabilitation programs for the sex workers in collaboration with us.
Isn’t that a great achievement?” Jayamma says with that proud grin over her
face.
Lately, CMM has been
granted a special category of the Sarva Shiksha Aviyaan by the Andhra Pradesh
state government for the educating the “second generation” categories, i.e the
children of the sex workers. None of them want their children to be in this
profession. They want them to be educated and lead respectable lives. CMM looks
into this quite minutely that these children are not affected by their mother’s
profession and get the best out of life. It makes it a point to get them educated
and be a better human being. Extracurricular activities are also arranged for
these children to incite confidence and sportsmanship spirits within them.
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