MUMBAI, May 29: In a novel experiment, a non-government organisation adopted nine young girls, all daughters of prostitutes, to sponsor their education till they want it.``We are trying to take these girls out of that environment, provide for their education and a chance to be part of the society and not outcasts,'' says Father Saji Joseph, director of Nav Jeevan Seva Samiti, said at a function called to announce the programme on Thursday.All nine girls, aged between three and eleven, will stay with their foster parents Milind and Kamal Deshpande at Ambernath. ``We have borrowed the concept of house parents from the SOS for orphaned children. Here the Deshpande couple will take care of the girls till they are mature,'' says Joseph. Once they reach the age of 18, the girls can choose to continue education or go back to their parents, he added.Meanwhile, Milind and Kamal are getting themselves acquainted with the mothers in the small Marthoma church in Vashi to which the Samiti is attached. ``It is veryimportant for the mothers to trust the house parents. We will be in charge of their children for the next many years,'' explains Milind.
The task of convincing the mothers was the most difficult according to Joseph. ``Their daughters are an insurance for their old age. Even the pimps and brothel owners put pressure on the mothers to stop them from leaving,'' he says.``Bura lagta hain use chodte hue. Lekin usko acchi zindagi milegi.. mere jaise nahin banna padega, (I feel sad to see her go. But she will not be forced into this profession),'' says Anju of her daughter Rukhsana. Salma mother of Noorjehan shakes her head vigorously in acknowledgement.
However, eleven-year-old Chanda was very excited about going to the new boarding school though she felt a little sad as her mother had not come to bid her goodbye. ``Ma ko kaam tha isliye nahin aayee (my mother could not come to leave me as she had work),'' she says.The mothers, however, will not be totally isolated from their daughters. They can visit them onceevery two months. ``We will also be holding meetings with them where we will brief them about their daughters progress,'' says Joseph.``Once they are eighteen, they are free to do what they want... they can even go back.
But we are working to see that they never want to think of prostitution as a profession or a necessity,'' says Joseph. And the children echo his feelings. While Chanda and another girl Rukhsana make clear their intentions of wanting to become doctors when they grow up, four-year-old Pinky wants to don a policewoman uniform.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
