Rescued

Monthly meeting in Sonagachi for the program 'Adopt a Granny'

Although these women literally survive thanks to the aid that they receive, this woman told me right before this picture was taken: "previously, everybody was ordering me around: 'old woman, come here'. Now, people respect me and myself, I don't think anymore that I am worthy nothing'

Pushpo Das, 82 years old. She arrived to Sonagachi when she was 15, thinking that she would work as a maid. She was then forced to prostitution and stayed like that for the following 40 years. She later on worked as a servant. In an example of the rare freedom allowed to those who are on the lowest step of the social ladder, she had a love marriage when she was 20, even though she continued working. She has a son and a grandson, who also live in Sonagachi.

With no family (either in Calcutta or in her original District of Bardaman in the indian state of West Bengal), Pushpo Das is also a widow. In India, a particularly disadvantageous situation.

Kapuma Das, 65 years old. She was able to abandon prostitution 'only' after seven years, to start then working as a servant.

Tubhi Devi Thapa (on the left side), a Nepali woman who arrived to Sonagachi when she was 15. Her daughter, at the right side, works as a prostitute in the room shown in the picture and which also doubles as the home of both.

Mana Das. She is 78 years old and is particularly lucky: in exchange for cooking and doing small errands, a family allows her to live in the balcony that can be seen in the background.

Daya Dolay, 65, lives in Sonagachi since she was 18. She worked as a prostitute for 15 years, then as a servant for 25 more years. Now, she has neither work nor other means of subsistence.

Shonali Devi at her room / house. More fortunate than other women, she is the owner of this room and can rent it to the younger girls.

Girls rescued from trafficking in the residence of Nijoloy (literally 'my house').

Two girls rescued from trafficking work sewing clothes at the small company Destiny Productions, later marketed through 'The Emancipation Network' (www.madebysurvivors.com)

For the girls rescued from traffic (very often with deep psychological scars), the residence of Nijoloy is the first step for reintegration into society.

Beacuse of the acute shortage of government centers for minors, Nijoloy receives many girls from the police, who don't know very well what to do with them when they are intercepted at a border post.

Girls at the care center of Salt Lake City. Their mothers work as prostitutes in Sonagachi and, afraid that they might be sold away, keep them here. 25.000 rupees (around 470 US dollars) is a typical price.

Girls playing in the residence of Nijoloy.

In Kalighat, a group of children, sons and daughters from women working on prostitution in the area, receive a daily meal at school. Since the introduction of the program, the rates of infant malnutrition have been reduced considerably.

Weekly medical check-up in the center of Kumartuli, part of the integrated programs (education, food, medical assistance) partly funded by the government of the state of West Bengal.

Children scholarized in a building provided by the police station of Jorabagan, in Sonagachi. The support of the police is essential to work in Sonagachi.