Inter Press Service - August 8, 2005
Qurratul Ain Tahmina

'Mother' is the only identity the 70 children in this Dhaka shelter home can claim and the lack of a father's name has serious implications for their future, starting with the fact that they are nor entitled to a birth certificate.

The home, Durjoy Child-care Centre, is dedicated to helping children of street-based sex-workers and is run by the Durjoy Nari Sangha, a non- government organisation (NGO).

It is morning. The modest sleeping quarters have become classrooms, where boys and girls in blue uniform sit on the clean floor, learning the alphabet, practicing handwriting, drawing pictures on slate boards, or reciting poems.

While Jowel is regularly visited by his mother, others like tiny Neela have no visitors.

"I like the lessons best," says Leon. Seven-year-old Selim agrees, "Previously I used to drift about with my mother. I had no chance to learn reading or writing".

Getting three square meals a day was also rare, says Selim. "Here I can eat meat and fish. I am hungry no more". Fruits and cakes are served at mid-morning and afternoon - a luxury for these children.

Shahinoor is 12 years old. "I can now bathe regularly and learn my lessons". A recent survey by Durjoy finds that less than one-fourth of the children of Dhaka's street-based sex-workers attend schools.

Eleven-year-old Sheila dreads the insecurity of her past. "For us to sleep on the pavement, my mother had to pay the policeman daily".

"At night when mother went to work, I was left all alone." Sheila remembers occasions when a policeman would beat her or drag her from sleep because he hadn't been paid. Verbal and physical abuses are common; risks of sexual abuse are high.

Shahnaz, the president of Durjoy, is contesting another election. "The women have always demanded we do something for their children. We could finally get this centre going in April 2004, with financial assistance from the HIV programme of the NGO, CARE-Bangladesh".

Durjoy itself was formed in 1998, facilitated by CARE, which felt that promotion of safe sex, i.e., condom use cannot be achieved unless the sex-workers are organised and gain the strength of unity.

"We also realised that without addressing their pressing concerns, we cannot address the issue of HIV prevention," says A. S. M. Enamul Hoque, an expert with the CARE programme. Children's well-being came across as one prime concern.

Many sex-workers however think that NGO projects are centred on HIV prevention rather than dealing with the serious problems they face in society. The child-care centre took six years to materialise.

The Constitution of Bangladesh declares that the state shall adopt effective measures to prevent prostitution as a fundamental state policy, and there are various restrictive laws. But an adult woman can join sex-work through signing an affidavit at a magistrate's court or with a Notary Public stating that she is above 18, the legal age of maturity, and doing it willingly and consciously.

While existing laws relating to prostitution are ambivalent, soliciting in public places is a punishable offence. "They are constantly on the run, suffering violence by the police, the thugs, and by general public," says Hazera, a Durjoy volunteer.

The police and the thugs often demand free sexual services and snatch away the women's uncertain, meagre incomes. All these raise the vulnerabilities of sex-worker mothers and their children.

Sulekha sells sex living on the premises of a Dhaka railway station. Abandoned by her husband, she joined prostitution some eight years ago. Sulekha has recently sent her five-year-old boy to the centre, while her younger daughter is still with her.

"During the day my son used to roam around, picking up bad words and getting into fights with other kids," says Sulekha. "At night I had to pay a woman for minding my kids while I went with a client. It cost me a lot".

Many mothers are forced to serve clients while keeping the children close by. "If left with us, our daughters would follow our path, while our boys would get into crime," says Shamima, a sex-worker operating in Dhaka streets for the last 11 years.

Using laws against vagrancy, the police regularly intern these women in government shelter homes. Chumki says, "We then lose touch with our children, often forever".

Mothers need to pay the centre taka 330 (about five US dollars) a month per child. Many, however, cannot meet this. Following closure of a few brothels in recent years, business in the streets has become competitive. Some even report getting 20 taka, less than fifty cents, per act of sexual service.

Funded by the United Nations Development Fund, UNDP, the government's department of social services runs a project for the sex-workers and their children. Four of its seven shelters are for the children of the street-based sex-workers, all in Dhaka. These accommodate children 0 to 18 years of age but cannot accommodate more than 157 children.

While no recent survey is available, and the country-wide figure anybody's guess, CARE estimates the number of sex-workers in Dhaka streets to be around 5000.

The government project, on the other hand, has higher estimates that range between 12,000 and 15,000. The actual number of children that the street sex-workers have is difficult to estimate though it would easily exceed 5,000 by all accounts.

"Our ultimate goal is to mainstream these children," says S. M. Ali Has Nain Fatme, coordinator of the Durjoy child-care project. "There are some programmes in different brothels, but the children of street- based sex-workers get very little attention".

Birth registration is compulsory in Bangladesh but Fatme is unable to register the kids in the centre: "The prescribed form requires names and addresses of the father and the paternal grandfather".

CARE's HIV programme funded the centre for about a year, and a UNICEF- managed HIV/AIDS prevention project of the government followed it up for a few months.

Durjoy now awaits funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) for a long-term comprehensive project. But to avail foreign funding directly, Durjoy needs to get registered with the government's NGO Affairs Bureau.

"It will be a great disaster if Durjoy does not get the required registration," says Fatme. "We can't just shut the centre down". Fifteen of the children are abandoned and five are disabled.

"I have seen many women give up their children in adoption, even sell them, simply because they could not afford to keep the kids," says Hazera.

Ani's mother dropped him at the centre when he was barely a few months old, never to come back. Khodeja, one of the four ayahs (foster mothers) at the Durjoy centre nursed him into a healthy, happy toddler. "I cannot stay away from the centre for long. I miss Ani," says Khodeja.

Sheila does not want to leave the centre, "It's my home. There are many bad men in the street. I am old enough to know the dangers. I could even be trafficked abroad".

The Durjoy centre is meant for children up to seven years of age and its attempts to send older children like Sheila to government homes have failed.

The department of social services runs 74 orphanages but they are barred to children without a father's name.

*****

+ (http://www.un-bd.org/undp/factsheets/Sexworkers.pdf)

050808
IP050806

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2005. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2005. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .