Go Beyond

Sonagacchi is the largest sex district in Kolkata. An estimated 10,000 women are available to service the sexual appetites of the thousands of men who visit this infamous area daily. The women who live and work in Sonagacchi are there for at least one of three reasons. Some were conscripted into the ranks of sexual workers by poverty. Left without options, these women choose to sell themselves into order to help their families survive. Others girls work in Sonagacchi because it’s what their mothers and grandmothers before them have done. These young girls are trapped in a generational cycle of prostitution. Finally, some of the girls were trafficked to Sonagacchi from neighboring Bangladesh and Nepal as well as from some of India’s poor rural villages. These young girls are trapped in a hell they did not choose for themselves.

Sonagacchi is a dark and sad place, even in the full light of day. The winding streets and narrow alleys of the district are polluted with sin and despair. And, regardless of why the area’s sex workers are there, they deserve better. They deserve a way out. They deserve options. They deserve freedom. Today, we visited two organizations that offer the women of Sonagacchi a path to a better life. Both of these organizations hire and train women in prostitution to make products that enable them to support themselves without having to sell themselves. They empower women with basic job skills that help them to rebuild their damaged self-esteem and to believe in their potential to become what God created them to be. The founders of both of these businesses understand the power of offering women honest employment. I was impressed by the women I met and by the quality of the products they make. Not only are they sewing beautiful products that are sold around the world, they are unwittingly mending their own lives one stitch at a time.

At the end of the day I thought about the women of Sonagacchi and the hope that is available to them because of Christ-followers who are willing to live among them in order to demonstrate God’s love in practical ways. Mother Teresa was committed to looking for Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor. The people we met today are committed to doing the same. One young lady from America said that she cannot imagine doing anything other than serving the women of Sonagacchi. “Even on the worst days,” she said, “I can’t see myself doing anything else or being anywhere else.” Her smile revealed a joy that comes from the assurance of knowing she is where Christ wants her to be, doing what He would do to care for the least of these. This young woman and the others we met have options to live more comfortable lives. They have chosen instead to serve in a hard place in order to make a difference in the lives of others that cannot be measured by earthly standards.