Bangladesh: a brothel in Jessore.

I visited Jessore brothel and met with the prostitutes as part of my work on the “Star” project. Star is a methodology which looks at bringing together groups of people, to discuss issues of concern and mobilize around these. Whilst doing so – participants are also informed about HIV and Sexual health related issues. My work was to check how this methodology is implemented – to learn how to better use it around the work. I also was checking that the issues on which ActionAid campaigns, advocate and lobby at the national and international level are really the issues of concern for the people we work with. In other words: are we speaking about the concerns of the poorest and more marginalised people, or are we making up the agenda?

So I could spend a few hours with the prostitutes, discussing what issues had emerged. Issues include marginalization – until recently prostitutes could not even go out of the brothels;access to sexual care; linkages with national organization of sex workers; child care and education –as prostitutes live in the brothel with babies; support in saving and investing the money. Other issues of concern, like the relationship with the police, could obviously not being discussed, as the police itself was heavily guarding the meeting.

The brothel is a town within the town. You get in through small alleys, barely screened by some curtains. The little roads inside have little shops of shampoo and basic things, and from there you access to multi-storey buildings, where the prostitutes live and work. Each of them rent her room and pays by the day. There is hardly any space to cook, cooking happens on the long corridors / balconies which connect the rooms. A few children play around, and then there are the Babus, the protectors of the prostitutes, which also share the space. They often are the male children of the prostitute, that grow up to protect their mothers and family. It is chaos, a crammed humanity.

From the picture point of view it was of course a tantalising experience. In the brothel, with full access, a trusted presence - thanks to the good work of my colleagues in working with the prostitutes…. But next to zero time to take pictures. Being the foreigner guest, the centre of interest also does not help. I was either discussing with the prostitutes, so my full attention had to go to them… or walking across the buildings, always talking to people, crossing from one space to the other quickly, and hit by so many things and feelings… I could not really take time off to take pictures, only did a few, which of course are just a few snapshot but really do not tell much of a story or capture the sense of place. So, photographically I came out of the brothel with a sense of “I wish I could”. On one side I definitely need to learn how to make better use of the zero time that I have, to really get a quick eye to spot the right things to record and a sense of how to do it successfully despite the crowd. But on the other hand I will have to find way to simply have a little bit more time in my hands when I visit such places.

The pics below are a few snapshot of a little show put on by children in a centre run by Shapla Mothla, the partner organization of ActionAid. The children are sons and daughters of prostitutes, you saw some of their mothers in the pictures above. Children still get too see their mother, but – unlikely many of the other prostitute children, can live outside of the brothel. They shall have a chance to escape the destiny of the many children trapped in the brothels: becoming a prostitute or a Babu.