Where the Unthinkable is Commonplace

There are communities where women are kept under house arrest, providing sexual services for ‘clients.’ Where ‘guards’ profit from the money paid by the clients while the women are given only the bare essentials for survival. Where there is virtually no chance for escape, and if someone dares to run away and is caught, brutal physical abuse often is their punishment.

This is the sad situation in one section of a city a few hours south of Mukti’s main campus. The women, brought to the community as young girls from low-caste families, are victims of tragic circumstances.  Whatever the reason for their being there, they have little hope of escape.  Authorities seem powerless or unmotivated to prevent this cruel form of bondage.

This close-knit community is home only to the women and their ‘captors’ (pimps). Their small houses, crowded together on either side of narrow alleyways, provide the minimum, necessary shelter. During the day it seems like a fairly normal community. Things change at night, however, when the clients, primarily migrant sugar cane workers, traverse the alleys.

Children are born in this community and that’s where Mukti Mission and others can have an impact. Several years ago Mukti opened an Orchard Project that started in a nearby city for some of the boy children of these sex workers. The boys are given wholesome food and a comfortable, safe place to sleep. During the day they go to a government school. After school, they work on homework, learn Bible stories, Bible verses, and sing songs. Today, the home has transitioned to their new facility, Orchard Project: Lantana several miles away.

Compassion International ran an after-school program which Mukti Mission now operates. Boys and girls come for fun, snacks, and spiritual enrichment.

Mukti also operates a home for girls, Orchard Project: Strawberry. These girls ‘belong’ to the pimps and Mukti can only watch over them for 22 hours per day. The girls receive warm meals, the chance to go to school, and the nature their mothers cannot provide adequately. This summer (2024), the new girl’s home will open as Orchard Project: Nimboo (Lemon) near the boy’s home (Lantana).

Organizations are involved on various levels as they pray for and work toward freeing the women.  Among other things, tailoring classes and academic instruction are provided. Most of the women were never able to go to school as children. The hope is that they would be better prepared to enter Indian society with tools to make it in a life of freedom, for this is the ultimate goal. 

Pray that at least some of these women can be safely released from their bondage. Pray also for the children, that they would be able to break the cycle of poverty, find good jobs, experience peace in Jesus, and grow up to make a difference in their society and beyond.