Imphal, September 12, 2010: Female sex workers who are generally ex-communicated by the society and expelled from their own families now have a place to rest at night with the opening of the Night Shelter for Females at North AOC.

This has saved the FSWs from physical and mental abuse by armed persons in the form of rape, sexual harassment, enjoying sex without payment, etc.

One 45 year old Memcha (name changed) who has been working as a FSW since she was 25 said that she was avoided by the family on the charge of being depraved.

Without a house, she was putting up nights in front of shops or hotels or Khwairamband Keithel.

This entailed various difficulties.

"The opening of a lodge for us has considerably reduced the problems and inconveniences we faced earlier", she said.

The night shelter for homes is being run by SASO under India HIV/AIDS Alliance with funding from EJAF since March 2009. Since a very tender age, Memcha used to weave clothes in handloom.

After marriage too, she struggled to earn her livelihood by weaving clothes till her third child was born.

Unable to meet the basic requirements of the family by weaving clothes, Memcha came to Khwairamband Keithel to sell vegetables.

In the meantime, her husband fell seriously ill.

This multiplied her woes.

She was at a loss as it was well beyond her means to meet the medical expenditure of her husband and educational expenditure of her children in addition to compulsion to keep the kitchen fire burning.

"Caught in such dire straits, I followed a fellow vegetable vendor to North AOC to earn the much needed money", Memcha recalled.

"Even if I successfully met the medical expenditure of my husband till he recuperated fully and send the children to school, I could not give up the profession", she lamented.

By and by, Memcha started taking drugs and not long after, she was found to be HIV positive.

"Although my husband or my children did not asked me to leave the house, I could not stand their derisive look", she said.

Ultimately, she decided to leave her husband�s house.

Memcha who is illiterate continued saying that some of her colleagues died as they had no shelter to take rest at night and had to put up the nights in the open even as they were ill.

On the average, 10 to 18 women take refuge at the night shelter for females.

The shelter is open till 9.30 pm and one can stay here till 6 in the morning.

Though no money is charged for lodging, one has to pay for food.

The shelter being run together with a drop-in centre is being looked after by two care-takers.

Talking to The Sangai Express, programme coordinator of the night shelter for females cum drop-in centre, Jenny said that the FSWs did not took up the profession by their choice.

However, they are being looked upon with contempt and disgust by the society and their own families.

They are also at the receiving end of armed persons.

Though they are avoided by their own families and ex-communicated by the society, it cannot be denied that they are a part of the society, Jenny said.

The drop-in centre has been serving the FSWs by way of creating awareness about HIV/AIDS, supplying condoms and syringes to avoid communication of HIV and providing medical treatment at times of illness.

Rather than looking upon FSWs with contempt, the Government as well as the society should study why they took up the profession at the first place.

Jenny said that a short stay home would be opened soon with the aim to bring back the FSWs to normal life.

Saying that SASO cannot keep down the ever increasing number of FSWs, Jenny highlighted the need to formulate a policy and delve into the root causes pushing these women to flesh trade.

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