THEY HAVE MOPED UP THE STIGMA AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST FEMALE SEX WORKERS: A SUCCESSFUL INITIATIVE FROM THRISSUR DISTRICT

[BEST PRACTICE DOCUMENTATION UNIT OF KSACS]

The status of female sex workers in Kerala was very pathetic and
wretched before starting the HIV/AIDS interventions among them by
Kerala State AIDS Control Society under National AIDS Control
Programme (NACP) during the late 1990’s. They were victims of extreme
human right violations due to the vulnerabilities they faced from
their surroundings. They were browbeaten, exploited, harassed,
tortured or abused by their own clients, police, gangsters, and so
called moralists in the society simply because of their status as sex
workers.

It was a herculean task before the NGOs and CBOs working among them
for HIV prevention to create an enabled environment with reduced
disregard and distinction for the smooth implementation of targeted
intervention components like behaviour change communication, condom
programming, STI management, etc.

Now the situation is not as serious as used to be in the beginning,
due to the strenuous mainstreaming efforts made by Kerala State AIDS
Control Society and the NGOs/CBOs involved at various levels in the
implementation of HIV prevention programme among the core high risk
groups. They carefully analyzed the power structures existing in the
society and tackled them strategically with appropriate locally framed
techniques. The strategy adopted by ‘Sanga Mitra’ (meaning ‘friends of
society’) Suraksha Project, Thrissur is a classical example for such
locally framed techniques in tackling the stigma and discrimination
against sex workers. The Project is implemented by the CBO of Female
Sex Workers in the District and was promoted by the NGO named
‘Builders of Nation’.

‘Sakthan Bus Stand’ is one of the major hotspots of Sanga Mitra
Suraksha Project from the very beginning itself where more than sixty
street-based female sex workers operate. Among them 14 FSWs were
totally abandoned and deserted by their family solely due to their sex
worker status. They sojourned in the Bus Stand itself as they have no
other shelter or accommodations. All of them were victims of awful
stigma and discrimination from the society. The shopkeepers, police,
trade union workers, etc. in the bus stand exhibited exorbitant
hostility towards them. ‘They considered us as nasty creatures, they
never allowed us to enter teashops or hotels to eat food or even stand
in front of the shops’ Omana, one of the sufferers of Society’s
hostility said. ‘They feared that our presence in the shop would lose
their customers. Many time, shop owners splashed boiled water on our
face and body, when we opposed to leave from the shop’ she continued.
‘At that time, tea shop/hotels in the bus stand never allowed us to
eat food in their plate and glass. They ladled food in leaves or in
plastic papers and tea or coffee in coconut shells instead of plates
and glasses. At the same time they charged more money for their
services’ Sunila, another victim divulged. ‘We felt ourselves as
wretched and worst. We detested our execrable life. We considered
ourselves as rubbish to the terra and we tried our best to hide from
the mainstream society. We felt a kind of enemy-feeling in our psyche
towards the society’ Geethambika, another FSW of Sakthan bus-stand
added.

‘Because of the extreme antagonism of the shop owners and other
habitual in the bus stand, we were not able to work at the hotspot for
HIV prevention activities and contact these FSWs for behaviour change
towards safe sex practices’ Ms. Mini, Project Manager of Sangha Mitra
Suraksha Project said. ‘We adopted several strategies, including face
to face interaction with each stakeholder, political interventions,
media interventions, etc. to resolve the issue, but all failed.
However, from these exercises we realized that people consider sex
workers as rebellious and harmful to the Society. From this
apprehension, we tried to adopt a strategy to make them valuable and
credible to the Society. As an innovation, we persuaded some of the
sex workers staying in the Bus stand to clean the bus stand premises,
particularly the foreground of shops and other institutions of the Bus
Stand every morning. Sangha Mitra provided broomstick and other
requisites for cleaning the bus stand’ she continued.

The strategy was successful and the shop owners appreciated the new
role of the sex workers in the bus stand. Some of them provided tea
and snacks free of cost as token for their service. Meanwhile, Sangha
Mitra, with the help of NGO, approached the Thrissur Corporation to
provide financial support to the bus stand cleaning programme. In
fact, it was a deliberate strategy to institutionalize the cleaning
programme and brand the sex workers as official cleaners of the Bus
Stand. The Corporation approved Rs. 5000 per month to the CBO for
cleaning the Bus Stand every day. It enabled the CBO to conduct an
official inauguration of the bus stand cleaning programme that helped
in attracting the attention of media and the public. The CBO
distributes the allotted fund by the Corporation equally to all the
FSWs designated to clean the stand in the respective month. The
Corporation authority is also satisfied with their performance and
hence hiked the remuneration to the CBO for cleaning to Rs.12500/- per
month. They are also planning to entrust additional tasks to these
women for the maintenance of cleanliness in the City.

‘Now we are an indispensible part of Sakthan Bus Stand. We no longer
are restricted or prohibited in the locality’ Sunila opines. ‘Even
though we are practicing sex work in the Bus Stand, the shop owners
and other customers of the bus stand consider us as normal human
beings. Now we feel value for ourselves and hence we ourselves
restrict public soliciting in the bus stand’ she continued. The life
style of the sex workers in the bus stand has also undergone
considerable change. They themselves dispelled their shabby appearance
and none of them are staying in the bus stand at present. Almost all
of them are now living in rented houses. All of them are actively
involved in the activities of ‘Sangha Mitra’ and Suraksha Project. ‘We
want to reframe the lives our peers’ they unanimously enunciates.

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