Friday 7th August

Today, I got to see an area of Vision Rescue that I have not yet seen, in fact they do not normally take white people to see it. They have rented out a room in the middle of the Red Light District which is used as a day care centre for children who mothers work as prostitutes. Some of the children themselves have been abused by clients who have paid additional money for the child. One boy, aged 9, was allowed to be abused for payment of 20 rupees (thats 25p!!). That just shows you how desperate some of these mothers are. Once they are caught up in prostitution, it is very difficult to get out of because it is largely run by mafia. The day care centre runs from 10am - 4pm and the children range from 2 - 10yr old. They are fed and taught in the centre and also have time to sleep and play. Ideally, they would like to keep the centre going during the night as that can often be the time when the children are most vunerable to abuse. At present there are no staff who are able to make an all night commitment but hopefully soon they will be able to put this in place. The centre has lots of potential educationally as the same kids are there each day and they have wall space and space for resources. Some of the children are too small for more structured teaching and it would be good to have a member of staff to work specifically with the toddlers. The children there are very friendly and like all the other children, they are fascinated by the camera. It saddens you when you know that only meters away, these children's mothers are selling themselves. Through this facility, Vision Rescue is giving these children hope for the future so that they do not end up going down the same road!