Photo from Sari Bari Website
Jayanthi and I went to meet Melissa at Sari Bari today. She had promised to give us a tour this afternoon of one of their locations, where she works, in Shova Bazzar. Sari Bari is a program that works in the red light district of Kolkata. It isn’t geared at getting women out of that line of work, but rather at helping women who have already decided to leave it. The reason for this is that any group that tried to work in the Red Light District, overtly attempting to remove women from prostitution would be in danger, as they would be actively pitting themselves against the pimps and the brothel madams.
Nametag inside my Sari Bari item…
So Sari Bari helps the women by providing them with employment after they have chosen to leave the profession themselves. They purchase used saris at a big market in town and use the material to make blankets, handbags, purses, diaper bags, etc. They are unique and quite beautiful. Each item is also embroidered with the first name of the woman who made the article. You can follow this link to their website and see some of their work as well as more information about their products and projects.
In addition to their new careers, the women are given the opportunity to consolidate their debts with a loan from Sari Bari, at a much more reasonable rate (read: a rate they can actually pay off some day, as opposed to never due to astronomical interest rates) than the one which is usually available from anywhere else (read: pimps, madams, and local loansharks). Also, all of these women have the opportunity to send their children to school. Many of their daughters eventually apply to work at Sari Bari themselves, rather than join their mother’s former profession, which happens more often than not in that area.
Sari Bari has support classes for the women, who are often emotionally traumatized from the lives they have been living. They also provide education for the ladies themselves. Another cool thing they do is celebrate the “Birthday” of each woman, on the anniversary of when she began working for the company, honoring her and the new life she is leading.
When my sister and I met Melissa near the metro station, she walked us through the Shova Bazzar area towards the Sari Bari home where she worked. I could tell that this was an area of town that I wouldn’t really want to walk around in alone. Melissa told us that she felt quite safe in the area because the locals all knew her by now, since she’d been working there for quite some time. She had run into the occasional troublemaker, but people had been quick to jump in and assist her, as everyone seems to know who is who and what’s going on there in that Red Light District. There are several of “Red Light” areas in Kolkata. Sari Bari has workspaces in a few of them.
The building in Shova Bazzar was several stories high, and the bottom floor had some rooms where several of the ladies and their families clearly lived, at least one family per tiny room. Above, there were rooms where the ladies worked on the projects, crammed tightly into little rooms. Rooms for cutting cloth, rooms for sewing machines, rooms for hand-stitching. We sat on the floor in one room, where several ladies were each working on a pile of sewing. There were many children playing in the areas, clearly happy and able to be watched by their mothers and the other women communally.
Melissa told us about the project, and we were able to watch the women work. Then she took us through the building for a tour. We spoke with some of the ladies, and they asked us questions too, especially as they could tell we were of Indian descent. Everyone there seemed to be in good spirits. After a tea break, we took a look at some of their products. Each bag was absolutely beautiful! Eventually, we each settled on a couple of items. I got a big purse and a laptop sleeve for myself, as well as a little purse for my niece. All of the designs are bright and colorful and knowing the story behind each piece just makes them so much more special.
Before leaving, we toured the building across the street. Sari Bari had purchased it and is working on rennovating it so that they can expand the business and have more space to work. They are painting now. I said I would be in town for another week and offered to help paint, but Melissa is going out of town this weekend with one of the Directors of Sari Bari, and won’t be back until shortly before I leave. She’s going to give my email address to another volunteer who will possibly be painting, depending on if things are ready, and if I can be of assistance, I would like to.
My Laptop Sleeve from Sari Bari!
Otherwise, at least I can spread the word about this great company. So if you’re looking for a nice gift for your friend or family member, check these out! They ship in the US. (Okay, I’ll stop plugging products now…. It’s just that it’s for a good cause!) We couldn’t take pictures there, for the safety and privacy of the women, but here is a picture of the computer sleeve I got. And if it doesn’t work out for me to volunteer at Sari Bari, I think I’ll try and go see if I can help out at one of Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s order) houses this next week, after my sister’s student’s show.