Dommara Children Rehabilitation Initiative by Sphoorti

The Dommara community members practice commercial sex work as their traditional 'profession'. The dynamics of this trade pose grave danger to children who go through a lot of trauma and harassment, completely robbed of the pleasures and happiness of childhood. The Dommara girl-child is highly vulnerable to being forced to be get into prostitution as soon as she reaches puberty. Boys graduate into traffickers/pimps or grow into irresponsible adults. Children belonging to any other category can make a living somehow, even in poverty, but the Dommara children do not have any other alternative than selling sex.

Supporting a Dommara child is is very important to all of us as it would mean saving the child from falling into flesh-trade, arresting incidence of HIV/AIDS. At the same time, we can gift the child a happy childhood and a respectable future.

As part of a network of various organizations (HARD, Vitharana, Reddy Charity, Manavata, Sphoorti et al), we have been trying to rehabilitate some of the innocent Dommara children, from the community settlement in Sivunur, Ramayampet.

Our intention has been to transplant these children from the vicious environment they are condemned to, where their mothers or sisters have been commercial sex workers for years, to SPHOORTI which can assure them a safe and secure childhood. These kids would then be provided comprehensive care and support - a delightful and memorable childhood that most of us enjoyed as well as the kind of education and emotional support that our parents provided us. This intervention will help the Dommara children lead their lives with confidence and be responsible citizens of India.

A lot of preliminary work was done by Human Action for Rural Development (HARD) and Vitharana and in the later stages, SPHOORTI joined their efforts. After facing initial resistance from the community members, HARD finally succeeded in convincing some members of the Dommara community to send their children away from their neighborhood. SPHOORTI is finally taking care of more than a dozen children from this community as on today. We will save more such children with your support.

With taking up support of these children from such a community and circumstances, SPHOORTI has added 2 new categories of children that are being covered -

1 ) children of sex workers

2) children from families ravaged by HIV/AIDS

This initiative is highly significant for SPHOORTI as an organization and for all our stakeholders. The long term benefits to society is evident from statistics.

Studies reveal that a sex worker transmits HIV to approximately 600 people in a span of 10 years of selling sex.

If we save such girls, we are saving not just them, we are also protecting a great number of people [600 x (number of girls saved)] from HIV and a similar number of families from a lot of agony and ignominy.

Given the gravity of this issue and the benefits in the long run, we request all of YOU to join us in this significant move. Let us work to make a REAL IMPACT on the lives of these children. This mission can lead us to a bigger opportunity to build more lives.

Sphoorti Foundation
http://www.sphoorti.org