Sunday, June 5, 2016

Procrastination at its finest

Well I began this post about FreeSet about a week ago but a rat ran by me while I was outside typing so I ran and never looked at the post again so take 2 on this post....

FreeSet is an amazing organization we get to work with during our time here in Kolkata. We got to tour around FreeSet bags and apparel and see the start of the new building they want to open. Freeset's mission is for women to live free. To do this they take women who work in the sex industry and give them jobs with FreeSet as long as they agree not to go back to the streets. They offer children day care so that the women have no reason to miss work.

FreeSet offers the women who work for them counciling on how to manage the money they earn and move on from there former lives. They encourage the women to stay where they live even after they leave the trade so that a new girl won't take her spot.

The new building they are opening is called the "incubator." The incubator is a place where people can start a new business. If a new business may not have the means to get their own workspace the incubator  will provide them space and materials to start there their company. They would also be able to hire the women who work in the bags and apparel section do to work for them. This incubator building is located on Sonagachi. Which is the biggest red light district in Kolkata.

Allison, Andie and I all got to see Sonagachi from the top of the building. When you walk by the street there is just a group of men sitting at the end trying to get other men to go down the road. There are prostitutes down the Main Street that we noticed walking to the metro. These women weren't all given the choice to work in this industry, they were forced to. Slavery is still a huge issue in the world and FreeSet is an amazing organization working to end this problem.

-Kelsey


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