CATERING TO THE WELFARE OF THE COMMUNITY

[BEST PRACTICE DOCUMENTATION UNIT OF KSACS]

Catering unit, an innovation from Swantham Suraksha Project to empower
female sex workers is under progress, as visualized by the promoters.
Swantham Suraksha Project is run by the community based organization
(CBO) of female sex workers in Ernakulam District of Kerala State. The
Catering unit was officially inaugurated on 21st June 2010. Till date,
the Unit has catered delicious food to more than twenty-five major
programmes.

‘A catering unit managed by a sex worker CBO and staffed with street
based sex workers is certainly an amazing attempt’, says Sr.Ancy, In
charge of Kanivu, Ernakulam, who orders food regularly from ‘Swantham
Catering Unit’ for the programmes conducted at Kanivu Auditorium.
‘Initially we were hesitant to order food from this unit due to varied
reasons. We were doubtful about the quality, taste, neatness,
punctuality, etc. We were also afraid about the response of our
customers owing to the stigma associated with the lifestyle of the
executors. But we became astonished with their very first performance
and now we are totally satisfied with their services’, she frankly
continued.

The very idea of starting a catering service originated from a usual
meeting of the community members at the drop in centre of Swantham
Suraksha Project, where one of the community members cooked
‘Kanji’ (water-gruel) as mid day meal for all the attendees. ‘When we
put the idea before Suraksha Project Team, they asked us to prepare
and serve food for the programmes and events organized by the Project
and the CBO’, said Ms. Aisha, the chief cook and team leader of
Swantham Catering Unit. ‘We prepared fried rice and chicken curry for
a community event organized by the Project with more than hundred
participants using rented utensils and gas stove. We met initial
expenses from the loan collected from a benefactor of the CBO. All the
participants appreciated us for the taste of the food and it inspired
us to go ahead ’. She explained.

‘In fact, the Catering Unit is visualized as an income generation
programme for the CBO. Fortunately it is now becoming a reason for
change in the perception and attitude of the general public towards
our stakeholder community’, Ms. Swapna Soman, Project Manager of
Swantham Suraksha Project stated. ‘Stakeholders who involved in the
activities of the catering unit viz. preparation, supply, marketing,
etc. are also enthusiastic, about positive strokes received from the
public’, she continued. ‘When people dine on the food we prepared and
catered, we feel worthy of ourselves’ Prameela, a 40 year old sex
worker, opined. ‘It also helps us recognize ourselves as part of the
society’ Shobha and Stella added.

The Catering unit has now become a major source of income to the CBO.
From the profits of the services, they have purchased own gas stoves,
necessary utensils, a refrigerator, etc. to the Unit. They have also
started a beauty parlor in their Drop-in-Centre using income from the
catering unit. Plans are on to purchase a vehicle for transporting
food from the kitchen to the catering venues.

The Unit has tie-up with seven institutions owning auditoriums and
conference halls in the City of Cochin. The office bearers of the Unit
are confident enough to attain more contacts and more orders to the
catering unit. They are also planning to start a canteen attached to
the Drop-in-Centre strictly for FSWs in the City and Mid-day meal
parcel service to the employees of various institutions in the City
.
The Catering unit run by female sex workers at Swantham is a proven
practice to reduce the stigma associated to sex work, from the sides
of both the stigmatized and the stigmatizers. It is also helpful in
enhancing the self-esteem of the actors and their peers, which in turn
will improve their relationship with the society. It will also improve
interest in their own life, encouraging them to pursue safe sex
practices.



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