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A haven for the children of Mumbai's sex workers, far away from the sordid surroundings of Kamathipura.
They are children of the night. When the rest of the world sleeps, these kids are shoved out from home, forced to spend time on the street -- with stray dogs, beggars and the lonely ambience of darkness. The alternative is cruelly simple -- to be drugged and pushed to sleep under their mother's cot, while she attends to customers. Many of the girls born into such a life may themselves be sold into prostitution. Boys may be sodomised or otherwise abused. Even more ignominious is the social ostracism, the child of a sex worker faces. What can the alternative be for such a child in a city like Mumbai? The novel night shelters are one way out of the brothel. There's also a village which has come up 120 km outside Mumbai, specially for such children. At Khapri, near Murbad, is an 80-acre complex on a hillock -- the Navjeevan village. This is home to over 50 children in the 5-17 age group, all children of commercial sex workers from Mumbai's Kamathipura. It started with a Christmas visit by a group of youngsters to the Kamathipura red light area. The sex workers talked to these youngsters about the impossibility of a secure future for their children. "That question snowballed into a commitment to start a movement that would result in the welfare of prostitutes and their children," says Mathew Thomas, now manager of Navjeevan village, which became functional last June. A venture of the Mar Thoma Church, the Navjeevan centre is supported by the Holistic Child Development India organisation. It aims to provide social justice to the victims of the commercial sex trade in Mumbai and restore them to a life of dignity. The village is modelled on the SOS Children's Villages. It comprises several homes, each of which hosts 15 children. Each home has a married couple in charge. So the children have both surrogate parents to look up to in their Navjeevan home. "Since the children grow up at Kamathipura without a father-figure, we thought it would be nice to have both 'parents' instead of only a mother to look after them," says Thomas. Schooling is compulsory and the Navjeevan school has classes from KG to Std IV. A child comes to Navjeevan after his/her mother has signed an affidavit handing over custody of the child to the village till the age of 18. Mothers have visiting rights every two months, but the children are not allowed to go back to the red light district. The women of Kamathipura are happy, although they greatly miss their children and are now pressing Navjeevan to allow them monthly visits. "I know this is good for my daughter and son," says Sushila, " but it is also very difficult and painful for me." They are lonely women, already alienated from their own parents and siblings. Their children are all they have. Contact: Mar Thoma Diocesan Centre
26 Bhai Vir Singh Marg
Gole Market
New Delhi 110 001, India
Tel: 91-11-612 2784/612 2784
Email:
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