Former sex worker walks on the road to success

Former sex worker walks on the road to success
by Preetu Nair

PANJIM: When Renuka Madar decided to take a different path, she faced opposition from family and was smirked at by the community members. But today as she stands straight and strong, working hard to earn a decent living, her family and community members are forced to acknowledge that she has the will and courage to change her life.

Renuka is an ordinary woman, who lost her identity after forcing her to do prostitution at Baina, but re-discovered herself by becoming an active member of Swift Wash, a mechanized laundry, which was started to rehabilitate victims of trafficking in Goa by a unit of an NGO Arz.

Speaking at a seminar titled "Rehabilitation of Trafficked Victims: Public Private Partnership" on the occasion of the first anniversary of Swift Wash, organized in collaboration with Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Renuka, who is now the president of Swift Wash recollected, "It was not easy for us to adjust to the change, but we were convinced and committed. No one supported us, no one believed us. But we believed in ourselves and Arz gave us the confidence and support to fulfill our dreams."

Renuka believes that on September 2006, she became truly independent. It was her first day at the laundry unit. "We have grown up in Baina, were pushed into prostitution here, were exploited and abused everyday. But now we return to the area every evening after a hard day's work with our head held high," added Renuka. The pride and feel of independence is evident in Renuka, who was sharing the dais with SDM Mormugao Levinson Matins, Wallace Pharmaceutical MD Cesar Menezes, MD, Arz Director Arun Pandey and Goa State Commission for Women Chairperson Dr Pramod Salgaonkar.

Renuka is amongst the 40 trafficked victims, economically rehabilitated at Swift Wash. Arun Pandey, who has worked hard to break the myth that trafficked victims hate to be economically and socially rehabilitated admitted that to prevent re-trafficking, trafficked victims need to be rehabilitated.

Explaining the problem of trafficked victims, Arun said, "The women once trafficked from other states to Goa for prostitution lose their identity and rights. They have just one identity of a "prostitute". This can only be changed if the trafficked victims are rescued and then economically rehabilitated. The state government and corporate bodies have helped us in our initiative."

However, even as Arun states that the State government has helped Swift Wash, it is pertinent to note that the government has failed to give shelter to women, trafficked victims and ordinary citizens in Baina, whose homes were razed by bull-dozers on a rainy morning of June 14, 2004. Some of the houses belonged to the trafficked victims who are working at Swift Wash.

The failure of the state to give a home to these women is not denied by Dr Pramod Salgaonkar, who has been entrusted the work of providing alternate rehabilitation to the women in 2006. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Salgaonkar gave several excuses for the delay and finally added, "These problem will be there and we will have to work with these problems and find solutions".


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