When Jyoti, 31, became the first resident of Dream Village, a safe house for former sex workers established by Kat-Katha, a Delhi-based NGO, she felt free for the first time in her life.
Brought to Delhi's GB Road red-light district as a minor, Jyoti spent much of her life cooped in an airless cubicle with just enough room to lie down with her meagre belongings. The mother of two didn’t need much prodding to move to this lush, spacious farmhouse where she now spends her days cooking, pottering about in the garden, learning new skills or just relaxing without being anxious about attending to clients.
Founded by Gitanjali Babbar in 2012, Kat-Katha has been working to uplift sex workers, mainly in the GB Road area.
“Over the years, there have been many things I have wanted to do for the didis (as Babbar calls the sex workers), and building a home for them, away from GB Road, was high on my priority list,” said Babbar speaking to DH Online.“I wanted to build them a home where they could live as a community and exercise some agency over their lives.”
It wasn’t easy finding this farmhouse cum abandoned wedding venue in Noida in the National Capital Region.
“Nobody wants to rent a place to sex workers,” said Babbar. “The landlords had many misgivings: Will they start soliciting customers here? What will the people of the locality say? Will they sit out in the open in a state of undress?”
After years of search, it was only in August 2021 that the deal for the Noida farmhouse fell into place. Still, it would be February 2022 before a Kat-Katha team member, a rescued minor, and a sex worker (Jyoti) would move in.
“Most women we work with at GB Road want to move here, but they are hesitant because of the rules we follow,” said Babbar. “For instance, their boyfriends aren’t allowed as we can’t compromise the security of the other girls. They must follow a strict routine with specific timings for waking and going to bed, meals and training. They also worry about losing their livelihood.”
To allay these fears, Kat-Katha has started imparting training in skills like tailoring and cooking at the Dream Village so that the sex workers can become financially independent.
“We have partnered with companies who will train the women and buy the end products. We are already providing meals cooked by sex workers as part of our Maitri Meals project. Some women want to set up food carts in Noida where they have some anonymity; we have promised to help them with know-how, seed funding, marketing assistance and basic infrastructure. However, they will have to take responsibility for the business, as we aim to make them self-reliant.”
Babbar is also focused on providing mental health facilities for former sex workers who carry deep psychological scars after years of sexual and physical abuse, confinement, and rejection by their families.
“The didis are open to getting therapy. We have clinical psychologists who are counselling them, and we have also tied up with Neev Mental Health,” said Babbar. “We also have art therapists at Dream Village who work with the didis on self-care for six months and art projects for the other half of the year.”
Babbar is hopeful of weaning away more and more women from GB Road and relies on her strong network in the area and the trust she has built among the sex workers and brothel owners.
“We have been working with brothel owners, most of whom are women, urging them to change their ways. We provided much support during the pandemic, so we have a strong rapport with them. We have also had many successful interventions where a sex worker has wanted to leave the brothel.”
The infrastructure at Dream Village is mostly in place now, with security guards, a manager and volunteers.
“There’s always something exciting happening at Dream Village, from workshops to training sessions," said Babbar. "Kids from the locality come and play, unaware that the women are former sex workers. The didis are slowly leaving the stigma behind and learning to live without fear.”