Thought for the Week: Faith in action

Janet Scott reflects on experiences of India

by Janet Scott 10th February 2012

Touring a red light district and lunching with a group of women, most of whom are prostitutes, is not my normal way of spending a day. I was in India and visiting a church that had been started by a Quaker. It has a particular mission to the Devadesi (temple prostitutes). Some of the work is to do with controlling HIV/AIDS: one twelve-year-old girl present had been born with HIV. She has access to food and medicine and is being counselled to help her avoid prostitution. Another, very important, aspect of the work is taking care of the daughters of these women by removing them, with the consent of their mothers, to a safe home in another town. They are brought up there, sent to school and helped to find careers and homes.