Freeset
By Karene Jones
A small group of Global Exchange participants walked down a narrow, litter-strewn alley, through a guarded gate into an old, four-story building in Sonagacchi, the largest red-light district in Kolkata. Inside the building are the offices and production space for Freeset, a bag and t-shirt manufacturing company. This company created the River of Hope t-shirts for the 2012 PW Gathering. It trains and employs women who have escaped the sex trade.
In Sonagacchi, more than 10,000 women sell their bodies to the 20,000 men who visit the district each night. Many of the women are trafficked from Bangladesh, Nepal and rural India. For others, poverty and lack of education has left them without options. The cries of their hungry children drive them to sell their bodies.
Freeset offers a viable alternative to this life. Women are trained in sewing. The company even helps them care for their children, send their children to school and, if necessary, find mothers and children a safe place to stay.
We met just a few of the nearly 200 women who work for Freeset. Their smiling faces and words of welcome brought joy to my heart. They were extremely proud of their sewing and fabric printing. One woman even excitedly pointed out her name on a River of Hope Gathering t-shirt one of our group members was wearing.
In India, prostitution is big business and thrives on exploitation and slavery, robbing the poor of dignity and innocence. At Freeset, women have the opportunity to turn their lives around, by learning a trade and finding hope for their future.
Karene traveled to India in October 2011 with Presbyterian Women’s Global Exchange.
Invite the participant from your synod to your next event to share more insights from this life-changing trip.
Previous reflection | Next reflection
