Mission to the redlight district in Miraj/Sangli

1. PRABHAT TARA SANSTHA REV. TIMOTHY JALAM Mission to the Red Light district of Miraj/Sangli/Gokulnagar districts Maharashtra , India

3. The entrance to the residential area in the red light district in Miraj

4. Preschool children in Miraj

9. Walking through the district

10. This is the only source of potable water and it is only available one hour per day. Pots are lined up so when it comes on anyone close by can begin to collect it.

11. Several pumps like this exist but the water is too polluted to drink, it is used for bathing and laundry. Notice the public toilet on the right and general living conditions. Nice hole there for a child to fall in also.

12. I am in this woman's home, offering wheat, peanuts , oil and beans for her and her 3 children as a gift from NSPC. All of them have aids and Timothy also insures they have the available aids medications .

13. And we pray together

14. We offer food to this orphaned boy who has the same aids that took his mother. He is staying with grandparents

15. Teen aged daughters of sex workers learning to sew .

16. Girls proudly show off the things they have made

17. Making patch work quilts out of old saris to practice sewing skills.

18. So they gave me a title I don’t have , but they do thank NSPC and they all talk about some guy named Rev. Dan White who purchased the first sewing machine with money sent by NSPC during our visit in 1995

19. In this building they learn basic literacy and math skills The woman on the right teaches these classes and sewing

20. Striving to make a future for little ones like this

21. We are now entering the red light district in Sangli

22. I’m sitting next to “big momma” the local organizer for sex workers. Nothing happens in this neighborhood with out her approval. Like a union organizer she fights for rights of the sex workers and issues condoms and safe sex materials.

23. These two eunuchs are begging for money in front of a temple to some female god. Its just doors away from the new Christian Chapel.

24. The money to purchase this building came from a couple in Boulder Co. The women wanted a place to worship and did the work to clean it up and turn it into a chapel. The local churches would not support them, saying this is no place for a holy church

25. People gather to welcome me, the corrugated roofing and cotton cloth on the floor were purchased with money from NSPC

28. A local Christian musician brings a harmonium to help us sing songs of worship

31. Typical street scene, this was right outside the chapel, and next to the little girl in the last picture. The trench is the open sewer for the street and people just put their garbage on the street. Roaming pigs, cows, donkeys and other animals eat from these piles.

32. A group of girls lead me to the Home of Hope for girls who are orphans or sent by their mothers to a haven from the life on the street

33. This project is funded by the First Presbyterian Church in Boulder CO.

34. The goal is to protect these girls from a destructive life style, pimps and others who would abuse them

35. This facility only takes girls, but there is a similar facility for boys in a nearby village

36. The oldest girl is able to attend a community school where she is tops in her class.

38. Dave Householder presenting this years budgeted gift from NSPC to Timothy for the work he is leading in this area.