| Charity battles to save Indian child prostitutes |
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| Thursday, 09 October 2008 | |
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VOLUNTEERS at a little known Southside charity are carrying out vital work behind the scenes to rehabilitate children rescued from prostitution and human trafficking in India. Zest4kidz is a charity based in the Stepaside area that was founded three years ago by passionate overseas aid worker and businessman, Stuart Wilson. In November of this year a number of the charity’s volunteers will go to India to work with girls rescued from prostitution on the streets of Mumbai. These girls vary in ages from 10-16 and have been either forced into prostitution or sold as sex slaves. Forced Of the two million sex workers in India, it is estimated that 60 per cent of them were trafficked into prostitution while they were between 12 and 16. Zest4kidz works with a number of Indian Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) and charities that try to help the kids who have been forced into the sex industry. Stuart said that while volunteers with the charity make trips to India for just a couple of weeks every year they also try to put some continuity into their efforts to rehabilitate the rescued children. “We don’t just work with the kids on a once off situation but on an ongoing basis,” he said. “We don’t actually rescue the kids ourselves but we work with a local NGO over there who are on the ground all day every day. They also have girls with them who are former child prostitutes themselves. “We tend to back this up with a lot of different forms of counselling and health and medical assistance and all the different types of things that they [the victims] need.” Stuart spoke about some of the harrowing circumstances he has come across in India. He said it was very difficult for children to escape the clutches of child prostitution. “I have visited some of these brothels and they are horrendous places,” he revealed. “The kids would be locked away some of the time and they wouldn’t even see daylight. “The kids are put through horrendous emotional and physical torture,” he added. “It’s very difficult for these children to escape because they are so full of fear after they have been brutalised. They have been regularly beaten and abused and even when they are rescued it takes a long time for them to trust our NGOs.” The work the Southside charity also helps to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. Over five million people are living with the disease in India. The percentage of sex workers who are HIV positive varies according to the region, from 14 per cent in Karnataka to 60 per cent in Mumbai. Hope Stuart said that a massive percentage of the children who are rescued are infected with HIV. After all that has happened to them in captivity many feel worthless, he explained but he added that his charity’s aim was to try and give the children hope once they are rescued. “Hope comes from the feeling that you are loved by somebody,” he said, “that someone cares about you, that there is a future and that it is not bleak and dark. We have that when a girl who has been rescued connects with one of our team and then that team member continues to be a pen pal with them. That link can prove to be a huge help to some of the victims.” Zest4Kidz is holding a Black-Tie Charity Ball event on October 11 at 7.30pm in the Stillorgan Park Hotel. Tickets cost e100 each and can be ordered by tel 2063872. Anyone who wishes to donate to the charity can transfer money to their account at AIB, Main Street Dundrum Acc number: 26912094 Sort Code: 933120. |
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Developed by Kevin Flynn