A LITTLE HELP FROM SATHEE

An unusual project for sex workers in guwahati has managed a combination of financial support and health awareness. Teresa Rehman reports

Mamoni Begum's grocery store — a tiny shop by the railway tracks in Guwahati’s Anuradha Colony — caters to the area’s sex workers, providing them their daily rice, dal and other essentials. But Mamoni’s is no ordinary neighbourhood corner shop, for Mamoni, a sex worker herself, is also active with Sathee, a project initiated for Women in Prostitution (WIPs) by the North East Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses (NESPYM). As a peer educator for Sathee, Mamoni distributes condoms to her customers, provides instruction in their use and explains why it is important to insist that clients use them. Says Chiranjeeb Kakoty, NESPYM director, “The shop has become a place to exchange ideas, and enhance and reinforce the concept of safer sexual practices.”

Mamoni, 28, a sex worker herself, came to Guwahati in hope of finding work as a domestic help but ended up in the flesh trade instead. Her daughter has recently begun going to school, and Mamoni is determined not to let her enter her profession. Of her work with Sathee she says, “I am happy to be helping my friends who have been dragged into this trade. At least they will know how to take care of their health.”

Assam’s WIPs are not an organised group as there are no specific red light areas in the state. These women are exploited, tortured and harassed by the police, by the public and by local toughs. Banks and other recognised financial institutions do not treat them at par with other people, making it impossible for them to save. They are generally not sufficiently conscious of health care requirements, nor do they get enough information on such issues as reproductive health, sanitation, legal rights, redressal and saving. Lacking any knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS, they often sell sex without protection.

“Although most WIPs use various contraceptive methods to avoid pregnancy, most of them are unaware that the condom is the only contraceptive method that can prevent pregnancy, STDs and HIV infection all at the same time,” says Kakoty.

NESPYM has been working on issues related to HIV/AIDS since 1990. It introduced the Sathee card in Guwahati in December last year, funding the pilot intervention with its own resources although it has also received support from the Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASACS). The project is intended to help WIPs at the lower end of the socio-economic scale, giving card holders basic groceries at cheaper prices than those in most retail shops on condition that they undergo a health check up once a month. “By selling them grocery items at subsidised rates, we develop a rapport by which we can educate them about safer sexual practices,” says Kakoty. “We are not trying to rehabilitate these women, but to support them in leading a healthier life.”

In its pilot stage, the Sathee card has initially been distributed with the help of peer educators. It carries some medical details of its holder, who will be checked for STDS and other general health problems on a regular basis. If a card holder fails to turn up for a health check-up, she will not get the benefits of the card for the following month.

The main strategies of NESPYM’s AIDS project are: (i) Behaviour change communication, (ii) STD management, (iii) Condom promotion and (iv) Creating and sustaining an enabling environment for the implementation of the previous three strategies.

‘We are trying not to rehabilitate these women, but to help them lead a healthier life,’
says Chiranjeeb KakotyAs part of the AIDS project, a Project Advisory Committee (PAC) has been formed to monitor the progress of the project and to suggest ideas for the improvement of its output. The PAC comprises people from different walks of life: lawyers, educationists, police personnel, social workers and people from the WIP community itself .

At present, the Sathee project has 35 card holders. “Initially they had no sense of collectiveness,” says Jonali Das, the project co-ordinator. “We wanted them to come together so that we can educate them about the hazards posed to their health by their profession. And starting this grocery shop was a novel idea that has really worked.”

Besides attempting to incorporate a component of economic support into its health awareness drive, the Sathee project envisages building up a women’s collective that will be able to think and act as a unified entity in those matters where individual voices are least heard.

Based on the experiences gathered from the pilot intervention and the subsequent availability of financial resources, NESPYM is planning to upscale the intervention in other parts both of the city and of the region as well. “The response has been satisfactory though not overwhelming. At least people have understood the notion of safer sex,” says Kakoty.

July 28 , 2007