Sex workers, transgenders run restaurant for HIV+ people and fight social stigma

[Shana A]

Sex workers, transgenders run restaurant for HIV+ people and fight social stigma
December 26th, 2009 - 9:37 pm ICT by ANI
By Jaipal Sharma

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/feature/sex-workers-transgenders-run-restaurant-for-hiv-people-and-fight-social-stigma_100295050.html

Mysore, Dec.26 (ANI): Sex workers and transgenders in Mysore city of Karnataka are running a restaurant and serve traditional south Indian food to guests as a way of raising funds for HIV positive people and fighting social stigma.

Ashodaya, a small restaurant, opened in Mysore, is an enterprise run by 12 male and female sex workers and transgenders.

The restaurant named "Ashodaya Hotel" was opened with the aim of reducing discrimination and the social stigma attached to people from the sex-worker community.

[Allamakee]

A little bit more about this unique restaurant:

A Unique Eatery
The Star Weekend
by Neeta Lal
May 2, 2009

"When we set up the restaurant last year," chuckles Bhagyalakshmi, 35, a sex worker employed at the eatery, "it was avoided by the locals like the plague. But now, the same people are flocking to eat here every day."

The outfit is packed through the day even though it serves only breakfast, snacks and beverages.

Perhaps its reasonably priced and tasty, all-veggie fare — served piping hot on gleaming steel plates — has something to do with it. Or perhaps it's the spectacular location — smack dab opposite the stunning Mysore Palace, one of the country's richest cultural landmarks.

The cherry on the cake is provided by the eatery's 20-odd affable staff who have helped transform it into a popular adda (a colloquialism for joint) for workers, students, tourists and activists.

The menu includes a smorgasbord of healthy items like juices (beetroot, gooseberry, mint, aloe vera) and light, steamed or stir-fried snacks, sweetmeats and beverages.

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2009/5/2/lifeliving/3760317&sec=lifeliving
(NB: The article has a photo of the exterior and interior of the restaurant)

And here is a bit more on the organization behind the restaurant:

Learning site in Mysore for all of Asia-Pacific
LiveMint.com
by Pavitra Jayaraman
Dec 1 2009

Pasha, along with other sex workers in Mysore, formed Ashodaya Samithi, a community organization, in 2006 to propel female, transgender and male sex workers in the direction of preventive health education, legal literacy and skill-building for HIV prevention.
<snip>
That was the strategy Ashodaya Samithi employed to mobilize at least 1,900 sex workers in Mysore alone. That helped it become a learning site for non-profit groups across India and, finally, in May, it formed Ashodaya Academy after UNAIDS approached them to be its Asia-Pacific regional learning site.

Ashodaya has so far helped and trained community advocacy groups from nine states in India to replicate its method of capacity building.

In its first session in September, the academy, which draws its faculty from sex workers as well as experts in HIV/AIDS intervention programmes, trained a delegation from five countries—Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Cambodia. The trainees included a heterogeneous group of national policymakers and non-profit groups.

http://www.livemint.com/2009/11/30222253/Learning-site-in-Mysore-for-al.html

[inoutallabout]

Good for them  

What the sex workers need are counseling for sexual trauma, discussion of alternative lifestyle choices with professionals and peers, as well as support to be more than just... a whore.

Except from a poem I wrote recently.

"She was born to do so much more,
God made her a woman, man made her a whore."

Nothing like selling your body to turn your will to live upside down really fast.  I used to feel that that was alright, that it was a personal choice for some to sell and some to buy.  Now though, I don't feel more malice in my heart than I have for prostitution and the carnal desires that fuel that industry.  It's wrong, it's evil, and I wish there was a way to put a stop to it all.

The wounds never close, and the nightmares don't go away.  I know a lot of young tgirls like me have thought about turning into it because they feel backed against a wall, but it's the worst thing you can ever do with your life.

There will never be a cure for discrimination from that end.  When one offers their body, which is priceless, for a monetary value, then no man will respect her.  All they will see is anatomy, never the heart, never the soul, never even considering for a second that you are in fact, a human being.  So, they will treat you without regard for any of those things, just their individual, greedy lusts.