by Sharon Maas
Sharon: How do children end up as prostitutes in India?
Dr I.G.: About 40 per cent of all child prostitutes have been abducted from villages all over India and Nepal. They are lured away on some pretext or other: going to movies, cities, temples, making them film stars, lucrative job opportunities, marriage. Another major source of child prostitutes is the Devadasi system. Every year thousands of girls are ceremoniously dedicated to the goddess Yellamma. They are sold to the highest bidder and after a brief period of concubinage turned over to the urban brothels. The system is officially banned but continues to operate clandestinely, contributing up to 20 per cent of urban child prostitutes.
A small proportion of child prostitutes come to the trade after being raped. Others run away from incestuous relationships with family members. Yet others are daughters of prostitutes, who have no other option than to follow their mothers’ profession.
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Sharon: What are their living conditions in the brothels?
Dr I.G.: The girls live in unimaginable squalor, usually about ten–twelve girls in a small room. The brothels are foul, stinking holes, often overrun with rats and vermin. They eat from filthy cafeterias or vendors, and have to pay twice the price for their food and other necessary commodities. Most of them are forced to abuse drugs, alcohol and nicotine. 75 to 80 per cent of the girls suffer from STDs. More than half of the girls are HIV infected.
Sharon: What is the PHO doing to deal with the situation?
Dr I.G.: The prevention of child prostitution and the containment of AIDS are two of our main aims. We have a mobile clinic – donated by a German organisation – and go out into red light districts several times a week with a team consisting of health workers, social workers and ex-sex workers. We distribute free condoms, and provide medical check-ups and counselling on specific health or social problems. In many of the brothels there are prostitutes working for us, helping to educate others so as to prevent the spread of AIDS. We have had considerable success in this area.
Sharon: What success have you had with your other main aim, the prevention of child prostitution? Is it possible to rehabilitate the children you rescue from the brothels?
Dr I.G.: At the moment, the emphasis is on prevention rather than rescue. The problem is, where can they go after they have been rescued, or when they contract AIDS and are thrown out of the brothels? They are often rejected by their communities and families and cannot return home, and we simply do not have the facilities to look after these girls. We have a twenty-five-acre plot of land on the Bombay–Goa highway, where we had planned to build a home for rescued children, a training centre and a school – but we simply don’t have the funds to carry on. The PHO operates on a shoestring.
UPDATE 2016
Sharon: Dr Gilada, it’s good to talk to you again! It’s been sixteen years since our first interview took place. I’d like to know if anything has changed in that time, and especially, if things in Mumbai have improved.
Dr Gilada: Things have indeed changed. Street and brothel prostitution has decreased a great deal, by almost 80 per cent, thanks to the HIV awareness, and HIV affliction among sex workers. New recruitment is less, as their trade/business has taken a beating. Child prostitution, though not extinct, is much reduced.
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Sharon: Did the home for rescued children ever materialise?
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Dr Gilada: The planned home for rescued sex workers could not come to fruition due to legal tangles and opposition from the villagers surrounding the land.
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Sharon: So that’s good and bad news at the same time. It’s good to know that there are now fewer recruits to the trade, but it’s sad that it still continues at all, and that the home could not be established. What does your work consist of now?
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Dr Gilada: Most of my time is dedicated to working for HIV/AIDS patients at my clinic. I deal with several young children/ adolescents, who have been infected at birth, now at marriageable age. They have their own challenges.
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Sharon: Dr Gilada, I thank you for this interview, and wish you all the best for your important work.
Acknowledgments
The work for this book goes back over a decade: the basic research was done for another, similar, book way back in the year 2000, and my greatest debt is to Dr Ishwarprasad Gilada, who so kindly explained the Mumbai situation to me, answered my questions, accompanied me into Kamathipura, and basically gave me the background for Asha’s story. So to him go my first thanks.
For me, writing a new novel is a demanding time, especially as I am also in full-time employment, and have a disabled husband. Friends, both in real life and virtual, help me to relax. So thanks go to Gisela Oess-Langford, Helen Zettler, Ann Claypole, Angelika Frank in Germany; my cousin Rod Westmaas and his wonderful wife Juanita Cox Westmaas in the UK; my fellow Bookouture authors Rebecca Stonehill, Renita D’Silva and Debbie Rix; and of course my children-friends, Saskia and Miro. It’s so easy to fly off into a fictional world and never return; thanks to you all for helping to keep me grounded!
Last but not least, thanks to my super-editor Lydia Vassar-Smith for her help in moulding this book into its proper shape; and to Kim Nash, Lauren Finger, Molly Crawford and everyone else on the Bookouture team. Again: Thanks!
Sharon
The Sugar Planter’s Daughter
A breathtaking and unforgettable story of a woman torn between her family and the man she loves.
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1912, British Guiana, South America: Winnie Cox is about to marry George Quint, the love of her life. Born into a life of luxury and privilege on her father’s sugar plantation, Winnie has turned against her family by choosing to be with George – a poor black postman from the slums.
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Winnie may be living in poverty, but she’s got what sister Johanna doesn’t have: a loving husband and a beautiful family. And despite Johanna running her family’s sugar plantation, Winnie will always be their mother’s favourite daughter, a bitter pill for Johanna to swallow.
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Then Winnie’s son falls ill and she must travel to Venezuela desperate for a cure. With her sister away, Johanna finds herself increasingly drawn to George. But he only has eyes for Winnie. Johanna, stung by the rejection and the fragile state of her own marriage, is out for revenge – no matter how devastating the consequences.
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A compelling and evocative story of betrayal, temptation and buried secrets that will captivate fans of Dinah Jefferies and Kate Furnivall.
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Buy here!
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What readers are saying about The Sugar Planter’s Daughter:
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‘Heartbreaking, poignant and intriguing ...This truly is a powerful story that will fascinate and engross you from the very beginning until the very end.’ What's Better than Books
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‘Exceptional...evokes a whole range of emotions.’ Batty About Books
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‘A beautifully written story of love against all the odds.’ Portobello Book Blog
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‘A wonderful and heartrending book.’ Sean’s Book Reviews
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‘A beautiful mesmerising work ... I was completely transported.’ Krafti Reader
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‘A terrific writer.’ Barbara Erskine
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‘A page-turning story, full of humanity, crossing cultures and continents, reminiscent of Andrea Levy.’ Katie Fforde
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‘A beautiful story about tragic love and ultimately about forgiveness…with powerful messages about love, life and learning to let things go in order to be happy.’ Life With Joy
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‘Rich in detail
and emotion and has the most beautiful and real description of loss I have ever read.’ Shaz’s Book Blog
The Small Fortune of Dorothea Q
An epic page-turning family saga…
* * *
Thirty years of family secrets. Three generations of women. One family heirloom that could change everything.
* * *
When she ran away from her childhood home in Guyana, Rika swore that she would never return. Cut off from her family, she has fought hard to make a life for herself and daughter, Inky, in London.
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Now, over thirty years later, Rika’s cantankerous, wheelchair-bound mother, Dorothea, arrives in London. But as old wounds re-open, Dorothea and Rika are further apart than ever.
* * *
Inky soon learns that her grandmother is sitting on a small fortune. As she uncovers the secrets of the past one by one, she unravels the tragedy that tore her mother and grandmother apart. But nothing can prepare her, or Rika, for Dorothea’s final, unexpected revelation.
* * *
An epic, mesmerising tale of tragic loss, the strength of words left unspoken, and the redeeming power of love.
* * *
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Read what readers are saying about The Small Fortune of Dorothea Q:
‘A beautiful story about tragic love and ultimately about forgiveness…with powerful messages about love, life and learning to let things go in order to be happy.’ livinglifewithjoy
* * *
‘Rich in detail and emotion and has the most beautiful and real description of loss I have ever read.’ Shaz’s Book blog
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‘Wow what a very touching story that was filled with super characters and important real-life issues…’ ajbookreviewclub
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‘If you are fond of family dramas that span generations, continents, and cultures, you will find this to be a worthwhile read. I found the shift in attitudes toward gender and ethnicity across generations and cultures to be particularly interesting.’ janetursel.com
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‘A terrific writer.’ Barbara Erskine
Of Marriageable Age
A spellbinding story of forbidden love. Three continents, three decades, three very disparate lives
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Savitri, intuitive and charismatic, grows up among the servants of a pre-war English household in Madras. But the traditional customs of her Brahmin family clash against English upper-class prejudice, threatening her love for the privileged son of the house.
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Nataraj, raised as the son of an idealistic doctor in rural South India, finds life in London heady, with girls and grass easily available… until he is summoned back home to face raw reality.
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Saroj, her fire hidden by outward reserve, comes of age in Guyana, South America. When her strict, orthodox Hindu father goes one step too far she finally rebels against him... and even against her gentle, apparently docile Ma.
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But Ma harbours a deep secret… one that binds these three so disparate lives and hurtles them towards a truth that could destroy their world.
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Read what people are saying about Of Marriageable Age:
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‘A big book, big themes, an exotic background and characters that will live with you forever.’ Katie Fforde
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‘Beautifully and cleverly written. A wondrous, spellbinding story which grips you from the first to the last page… can't recall when I last enjoyed a book so much.’ Lesley Pearse
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‘It’s a wonderful panoramic story and conveys such vivid pictures of the countries it portrays. I was immediately transported and completely captivated. A terrific writer.’ Barbara Erskine
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‘A vast canvas of memorable characters across a kaleidoscope of cultures… her epic story feels like an authentic reflection of a world full of sadness, joy and surprise.’ The Observer
Also by Sharon Maas
The Secret Life of Winnie Cox
Of Marriageable Age
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THE QUINT CHRONICLES
The Small Fortune of Dorothea Q
The Sugar Planter’s Daughter
Published by Bookouture
An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.
23 Sussex Road, Ickenham, UB10 8PN
United Kingdom
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www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Sharon Maas 2017
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Sharon Maas has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
ISBN: 978-1-78681-118-9
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-78681-118-9