| Sima Halder Age: 17 |
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Sima haunts herself with the question: “What if I cannot get a good job or earn enough money to provide for my family?” Her parents are very poor and Sima knows that the only way she can help them and the rest of her family is to become well educated and increase her career options.
Sima's parents live south of Kolkata near the Sunderbans and make their living from the small plot of land that they own and from selling pakoras. Two of Sima's elder sisters have married and she has three other sisters who live together in one room in Kalighat. They earn just enough money to sustain themselves and support each other. One is an assistant in a gym; one is a housemaid and one attends school in the eleventh standard. Sima is the youngest daughter. She completed her basic studies at school, but had no money to continue her education. She faced working in an ill-paid job in order to cover her basic living expenses, but little more. Fortunately, she was referred to New Light by one of her teachers and New Light has been able to pay for her to continue her schooling. In August 2005 Sima was given a place to live at Soma Home and visits her family during holidays. |
| Sima is currently studying in the twelfth standard and dreams of becoming a lawyer. The subjects she is taking are Geography, History, Political Science and Bengali and she also receives special tuition in English. Sima would like to stay at Soma Home indefinitely, or at least until she has finished her studies. As well as being the eldest girl at the home, she is also the most respected and the other girls listen to her. She has become like a second caregiver, after the housemother! If New Light did not exist, Sima feels that her life would be very difficult. She would try her best to continue her studies, but it would take her a long time because she would need to support herself financially. It is not difficult to detect Sima's passion to become well educated and to attain a successful career path and prosperous future for both herself and her family. She is not just intelligent, strong-willed and hard working, but she also has a very caring, friendly and kind-hearted nature. |
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Laxmi Karmakar When Laxmi was seven years old, her father brought a new woman home to be his second wife. Laxmi's mother found this unbearable and fled to her parents' house with Laxmi and her unborn son. However, her eldest daughter remained with Laxmi's father on his insistence. Unfortunately, Laxmi's grandparents were too poor to provide any long-term support and encouraged Laxmi's mother to return to her husband. She tried, but was subjected to regular beatings from him. |
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It was a neighbour who first suggested that Laxmi's younger brother, Santu, be admitted to New Light. They didn't suggest Laxmi as they thought she might be too old. However, six months later, Laxmi also came to New Light. Laxmi attended New Light for one and a half years before moving to Soma Home in July 2005, as soon as it was opened. Santu is now seven years old and Laxmi misses her brother and mother in Kalighat a great deal. However, she is very happy to be at Soma Home. She is studying in the fourth standard (at least five years below the level she should be) but she is doing very well and particularly enjoys English and Bengali. She already has ambition to become a nurse, because she has a strong desire to help other people. Laxmi is very empathetic towards her mother and the life that she has been obliged to follow. She knows that if she achieves a high level of education she can secure a good job and afford to move her mother and brother away from Kalighat and to a new life of dignity. Laxmi strongly hopes that her brother will be of the same mind, will study well and will not be diverted towards pimping or alcoholism. Thankfully he seems to understand something of his mother's struggle as he once scolded Laxmi for asking her for money. He offered two rupees himself and asked if that would suffice! It was two years ago when Laxmi last visited her father and elder sister in the extreme south of Kolkata. Her father was pleased to see her, but he now has three more children with his second wife. Laxmi has thought of staying in touch with her sister, but she is too scared to revisit her father, in case he insists she move back with him. She could not bear to leave neither her mother and brother, nor the support that she has been receiving from New Light. Laxmi's main concern is the health of her mother, because she has a high blood-sugar level and has recently been consuming a lot of alcohol. However, Laxmi has no worries at all about herself or her brother, for as long as they are in the care of New Light |
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| Lata Mondal Age: 14 Lata's father died when she was just nine years old and one year later her mother remarried. At this point, life took a sudden turn for Lata and her elder sister, Sanchita, as their stepfather inflicted them with misery. Incidents of physical violence, neglect and torment all built up to cause them to flee some 80 kilometers south to Kolkata. They found themselves in Kalighat and the new friends of a lady called Parveen. She gave them jobs as dancers, which immediately put them at serious risk of being trafficked or abused. |
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Sanchita was old enough to recall her dancing life as painful, exhausting and oppressive and was very happy when she came to be referred to New Light. Lata, however, did not wish to accompany her sister, perhaps because of a fear of adopting a new life that she did not know. Also, unlike her sister, Lata had not experienced any major problems with dancing work – undoubtedly because she was younger and less preyed upon than her sister had been. She, therefore, remained working for and living with Parveen. It wasn't long, however, before Lata's dancing work exposed her to some sexual abuse. When she was putting make-up on before one of her dance performances, a local man came to her and started to undress her and touch her, but she shouted at him to go away. Then she found that the men in her audience also tried to tug and pull off the clothes she was wearing. |
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| Scared and horrified, Lata ran away from the dance company and came to New Light in March 2006 at the age of 14. Both she and Sanchita are thrilled to be reunited and after seven months at New Light's main centre in Kalighat, Lata moved to Soma Home to be with her sister and away from the red light district. Lata now attends a school in Kalighat and studies in the fourth standard. She is four years behind in her studies, but is not considering this a problem. She enjoys learning about nearly all subjects and already has ambition to become either a doctor or a policewoman in the future. Lata feels that New Light is the best place to be and she wants to take the opportunity that New Light has given her to make her life better. In no circumstances would she wish to leave New Light, even if her stepfather claimed to have stopped his abusive ways. Lata is convinced he would never change. She hopes that she will never be in a situation where she needs to stay with her mother again, because she would no longer remain in school, nor have the chance to pave herself a bright and positive future. |
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| Puja Bose Age: 14 |
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To pay for an acquired addiction in either gambling or drinking Puja's father pushed her mother into becoming a sex worker. Puja was only very young at the time and already both she and her mother faced social ostracism because of her mother's start in the trade. Today, Puja's mother lives without her husband in a house adjacent to New Light's drop-in-shelter in Kalighat. She is still a sex worker, as she knows of no other way to earn money. She lives with Puja's younger sister, six year old Shibani, in a house consisting of one very small, dark room with limited space. Both Puja and her younger sister are receiving care from New Light and due to Puja's sensitive age and the cramped living conditions with her mother, Puja moved to Soma Home when it opened in July 2005. Puja also has two elder sisters, but one grew up in the family of her aunt, while the other now works as a housemaid. |
| Puja was one of the first eight children to be cared for by New Light and before New Light existed, Puja had never once been to school. She was nine years old. Without New Light Puja would still be out of school today. She is presently in a class three or four years below her age group, but for reasons due mostly to poverty in the area she is not the only older girl in her class. Puja enjoys school, particularly studying English, Bengali, History and Geography. She likes to be at Soma Home and is still able to regularly see her mother on school days, when she is in Kalighat. Puja accepts life as it comes. She knows that she will need to get a job in the future, but she isn't sure what. She tries not to dream or plan, because of her underlying fear that her situation would change again if New Light support ended. If this happened, she would go back to living with her mother in their small dingy room, but has no idea what she would do. Puja has never shown any revolt about being at Soma Home or in the care of New Light, because she knows how poor her mother is and how difficult she would find it to provide for Puja. Her mother also appreciates New Light's support. |
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Taslima Khatun |
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New Light came to know about Taslima when she was nine years old and dangerously close to being targeted for trafficking or local sex work. Thankfully her guardian agreed to place her with New Light – perhaps because she has no legal rights to keep Taslima, or because she accepted that Taslima would have a better life with New Light. Taslima stayed at New Light's main shelter in Kalighat for four months before moving to Soma Home during Durga Puja, early in October. She saw her mother for the first time in several years during the Muslim holiday of Idd, in late October. They spent a few days together, which Taslima greatly enjoyed. Taslima misses her mother very much and doesn't understand why she cannot be with her. She would rather be with her mother than at Soma Home and upon asking her about her mother she becomes very sad and quiet. |
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| She is very reserved at Soma Home and although she is friendly with the other younger girls she doesn't like to interact very much. She is still getting accustomed to her new environment. Taslima is happy not to be doing household labour any more, but she struggles with school work. Having never studied before the age of nine, Taslima is undoubtedly still adjusting. |
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New Light closely monitors Shuvankar, as his father is often drinking and not of a good mind to care for his son. New Light is trying to make legal arrangements to take full guardianship of Shuvankar after his father dies, which could be very soon. It is unknown at present whether Barsha or Shuvankar are HIV positive. Barsha moved to Soma Home in April 2006. She has been attending New Light since she was three years old, so was familiar with most of the other girls at Soma Home before she moved. She likes Soma Home but has no specific idea why she is there. She feels that perhaps it is because she used to go irregularly to school and because her father was often absent from their home, attending work. |
| Anjali Saha Age: 8 |
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Anjali's mother is a sex worker in Kalighat. Anjali moved to Soma Home in May 2006 because she was starting to question the work that her mother was doing and her regular change of partners. Also, her mother's rigorous lifestyle was taking its toll and she would often be quick to lose her patience with Anjali. It was agreed that Anjali move to Soma Home for her stability and also to protect her from learning too much about the sex industry. Anjali loves the environment at Soma Home. In Kalighat she used to roam around in the scorching sun and her room was small, hot and without a fan. Tollygunge is much quieter and she does not have to dodge the heavy traffic all the time, because she is transported directly to school by car. However, Anjali misses her elder brother who remains living in Kalighat and attends New Light's drop-in shelter. Both children are very much supported by their mother in their pursuit of a life much different to her own. |
Sahana Khatum |
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Sahana's mother works in a brothel and sometimes accepts work from private clients. She is a high earner, because of her natural beauty, but she also has a reckless temperament. She found it difficult to take good care of her daughter and if anything, found her responsibility a burden. She works until very late into the evenings and regularly consumes a lot of alcohol. For these reasons New Light took Sahana to live at Soma Home in August this year. |
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