The Hindu : Kerala News : Partnership in sexual health

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 22, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Partnership in sexual health

Mohamed Nazeer

ENACTING THEIR PLIGHT: Sex workers staging a play in connection with their gathering in Kannur on Tuesday.

KANNUR: Most of these semi-literate women were till recently struggling with social ostracism, fear of law enforcement agencies and lack of self-confidence. Not any more. Now they are aware of their rights and, working as a community collective, they have been able to tide over the difficulties.

The first anniversary celebrations of `Chola,' a charitable society started by sex workers here, on Tuesday were a display of the sea change the awareness generation efforts have brought about among the sex workers under the Partnership in Sexual Health (PSH) project funded by the National AIDS Control Organisation through the Kerala State AIDS Control Society. Though Chola has only 20 active members, mostly street-based sex workers, the celebrations were attended by nearly a 100 sex workers, including those from neighbouring Kozhikode district, and male sex workers as a mark of solidarity. There were cultural programmes, including songs, dance and a play highlighting their agony.

``We were totally ignorant about our rights and sexual health. Thanks to the formation of this support group of sex workers, we have benefited and now we are aware of our right to safe sex,'' said P.K. Suma, president of Chola, which means shade in Malayalam. The group started as a community-based organisation of sex workers in the Kannur municipal area four years ago was now organising meetings and inviting experts to conduct classes on safe sex and condom use, she said.

The basic purpose of the organisation, according to J.J. Pallath, Director of Jeevana Samskriti, one of the four PSH projects in the district, is to ensure behavioural change among sex workers and their clientele. The non-governmental organisations initially involved in creating the awareness have now realised the importance of the involvement of the wider society in creating awareness about safe sex, use of condom and sexually transmitted infections, he said. Because of the intervention of PSHs and their peer educators, who are sex workers themselves, there has been a general improvement in the living standards of the sex workers, Dr. Pallath said adding that though the number of encounters has come down their individual income has gone up.

``[The] police no longer harass sex workers. The organisation has given us self-respect and we can take up issues concerning us as sex workers with the police organisationally,'' said V.P. Muneera, secretary of Chola. ``If any of our members face any problem from anyone, including our clients, we use our collective strength to sort it out,'' said Sherly Zubaida, an active member of Chola.

The Chola office here also serves as a resting place and a shelter for its members. It mobilises funds from individual members to attend to problems being faced by individual members. Chola is now planning to bring all sex workers in the town and nearby areas within the collective. The aim: overall empowerment of sex workers, they said.

Apart from cultural programmes, the anniversary function was marked by seminars and poster display on safe sex. District Medical Office O.K. Abdul Salam inaugurated the function.

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