Providing Assistance to Sex Workers in Navi Mumbai’s Red Light District

NGOs across India are empowering sex workers towards a life of freedom.

Two months ago, a colleague and I were given the opportunity to visit Sahaara Charitable Society to talk to their CEO and employees and visit their educational and all-in-one centers (education, nutrition, healthcare, counseling) in Navi Mumbai’s Red-Light District. This was a truly interesting, inspiring and humbling experience. I naturally felt compelled to share what I learned during my visit and to highlight the amazing work the organization does.

Sex Work in India

Estimates of the number of commercial sex workers in India vary greatly from 3 million to up to 20 million! Of which between 1.5 and 16 million are believed to be or to have been victims of sex trafficking!

Sadly, the story of commercial sex workers starts very early, “the younger the better” to quote a trafficker. Take a second to read that quote again… Indeed, in India 40% of the victims of trafficking are adolescents and children.

In the worst cases, girls and women are “kidnapped or lured from their homes, forced into sexual slavery through a combination of coercion, torture, starvation and rape. Typically they are taken from rural communities and relocated to cities…