Protective facilities to promote protective environment for the "Brothel Children"

BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
Protecting facilities to promote protective environment for
“BROTHEL CHILD”
By
IFTEKHARUL ALAM SHAZAL
ID-201012011023
Supervised By
Ar Iqbal Habib, Ar Nurur Rahman Khan,
Ar Khandoker Tariqul Islam, Ar Sabbir Wadud Shohan Ar Nahian Zobaid

2 | P r o t e c t i n g f a c i l i t i e s t o p r o m o t e p r o t e c t i v e e n v i r o n m e n t f o r
“ B R O T H E L C H I L D ”
Executive Summary
The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the recent social position of
the “Brothel Children” as well as the 5 basic needs which were absence for the
Children of “Fallen Angel”.
The reason behind this project “I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do
something about that, I realized I will be somebody”
The Aim of this Project, to ensure Every nation have must 5 Basic needs.
The target of this Project, 1st
of all Social awareness, then ensure Interaction Between
“Biological Mother” after that hardly ensure education and the safe home for the
children. This Project is strongly recommended Social Integration and empower the
Brothel Children including the social community children.
So, I want to create “A Corridor” Between the children of Social and Brothel
Community where the project is successful for ensuring the 5 Basic needs as well as
empowering the children.
The study concludes that along with the services by the social workers, the
importance of the governmental supports is also significant for this marginalized
people. Without support of the government there is a possibility to have threat to be
banned this social work actions by the social and religious power. The government
needs to be more responsible to recognized this issue.

Acronyms
AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
BBS Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
BSAF Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum
CBOs Community Based Organizations
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discriminations
Against Women
CSEC Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
CWC Child Welfare Council
DSS Department of Social Services
ECPAT End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of
Children for Sexual Purposes
FGD Focus Group Discussion
GoB Government of Bangladesh
HIV Human Immune Deficiency Virus
ILO International Labor Organization
MOWCA Ministry of Women and Children Affairs
NCLEP National Child Labor Elimination Policy
NPA National Plan of Action for Children
PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
STI Sexually Transmitted Infections
SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
STD Sexually Transmitted Disease
STI Sexually Transmitted Infections
TdH-NL Terre des Hommes - Netherlands
UN United Nations
UNCRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
UNFPA United Nations Populations Fund
UNICEF United Nations Children Fund
UNIFEM United Nation Development Fund for Women
UNDP United Nation Development Program
Glossary
Badha Babu One male sex partner who believed to be lover of one prostitute
Majar Grave of religious leaders
Masi Women who owns bonded sex workers in brothel
Mastan Miscreants, troublemaker
Nosta Spoiled
Nosta Meye Spoiled girl due to rape, prostitution or illegitimate sex
Salish Alternative Dispute Resolution or resolution at the community
Level
Chukrees Newcomers young prostitutes

Acknowledgements
At the very beginning of acknowledgement, I am deeply indebted to almighty Allah.
All the success and achievement that I have till now in my life is the grace of almighty
Allah upon me. Till now I have achieved in my life it’s all because of Allah.
I would also like extend my deepest gratitude to my parents, because of them only I
am here in this Universe. They had spent their hard work and efforts on me to put me
in a position where I am now at present. I cannot forget to thank my better half, Zerin
Akter Shampa who always there to support and nurture me.
A grateful acknowledgement should also go to my design studio facilities,
Ar Khandokar Tariqul Islam, Ar Sabbir wadud Shohan, & Ar Nahian Zobayed sir.
These people gave me encouragement and made my project successful with
valuable advice and suggestion.
There were some of my favourite architects, I would like to thank and recognize
assistance that I receive from Ar Iqbal Habib sir, Ar NR Khan sir, Ar Bikash Saud
Ansari sir.
Last but not the least I very much appreciate the unwavering support that was
provided by my junior. They are Kamal, Simi 17th
batch, Tarin 18th
batch, Shamim,
Naim, Rose 23rd
batch, Rashed, Piash, Riyad 24th
batch.

Table of Contents
Point Description Page
Executive Summary 02
Acronyms 03
Acknowledgements 04
List of figures 08-11
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 12-20
1.1 Background of the Project 13-14
1.2 Project Brief 14
1.3 Project Introduction 14-17
1.4 Methodology 17
1.5 Needs and Aims 18-19
1.6 Research Site 19
1.7 Importance of the project in local regional
national context
19-20
CHAPTER 2: Site Analysis 21-33
2.1 About the Site, Doulatdia 22-23
2.2 Site Location 23
2.3 Why this site has been chosen? 24
2.4 Road Networking 25
2.5 Site Surrounding 26-28
2.6 Vegetation of the site 29
2.7 Topography 29
2.8 S.W.O.T analysis 30
2.9 Climatic condition 31
2.10 Sun path diagram 32-33
CHAPTER 3: Literature review 34-64
3.1 History of Prostitution 35-37
3.2 Born into Brothel 39-40

3.3 Daughter of the Brothel 42-49
3.4 Doulatdia Women 49
3.5 Riverside Brothel 49-50
3.6 The Business of sex slavery 50-58
3.7 No place to go 59-62
3.8 Paper cutting 62-64
CHAPTER 4: Case Study 65-96
4.1 SOS Children Village, Dhaka 68-70
4.2 SOS Children Village, Bogra 71-78
4.3 SOS Youth village, Mirpur 79-84
4.4 Hermann Gmainer School 85-88
4.5 Banchta Shekha 89-90
4.6 SOS Children village Chittagong 91
4.7 SOS Children village Rajshahi 91
4.8 SOS Children’s village Anuradhapura, Srilanka 92-96
CHAPTER 5: Program (development) 97-101
5.1 Detail Program analysis 98-101
5.2 Total build area calculation 101
CHAPTER 6: (Design Phase) Conceptual
analysis
102-115
6.1 Concept Development 103-105
6.2 Target from The Study and Analysis 105
6.3 Zoning (conceptual) 106
6.4 Plan Development Phase-1 106
6.5 Phase-2 107
6.6 Phase-3 107
6.7 Phase-4 108
6.8 Phase-5 108-112
6.9 Design Development Space Design in details 113-115

CHAPTER 7: Final Design 116-143
7.1 Functional Zoning 117
7.2 Master Plan 118
7.3 All Elevation & Section 119
7.4 Detail Section 120
7.5. a Admin Block (1st floor Plan) 121
7.5. b Admin Block (Roof Plan) 122
7.5. c School Block (1st Floor Plan) 123
7.5. d School Block (Roof Plan) 124
7.5. e Boys Dormitory Block 125
7.5. f “Shishu niketon” and Healthcare Centre 126
7.5. g Family House Cluster (Type-B) 1st floor 127
7.5. h Family House Cluster (Type-B) Roof top 128
7.6 Perspective view of the Project 129-139
7.7 Model Photographs 139-143
Conclusion 144-145
References 146-148

List of figures
Fig 1.1: Ecological model of influences on development
Fig 2.1: Rajbari on Map
Fig 2.2: Map of Rajbari District
Fig 2.3: Land use map of Rajbari District
Fig 2.4: My Site Beside the Biggest Doulatdia Brothel
Fig 2.5: Road with in site (Google map)
Fig 2.6: Entry point of the site
Fig 2.7: View from the site to the Brothel
Fig 2.8: Goalondo Railway station
Fig 2.9: Night view Goalondo Station
Fig 2.10: connecting road
Fig 2.11: Existing Condition of the Site
Fig 2.12: Graveyard for the Brothel
Fig 2.13: Existing Health Complex
Fig 2.14: Safe Home by KKS NGO
Fig 2.15: Seasonal crops land
Fig 2.16: vacant land
Fig 2.17: Earthquake zone map
Fig 2.18: Topographical Map
Fig 2.19: Climate graph weather by month Rajbari
Fig 2.20: Average temperature rajbari
Fig 2.21: Sun path diagram on the SIte
Fig 3.1: Sex worker wait in a corner shop to dance for clients
Fig 3.2: Sex workers cover the faces while waiting for customers
Fig 3.3: Underage sex worker Sonia prepares her room for evening clients
Fig 3.4: Underage sex workers Bristi waiting in the alleyways for customers
Fig 3.5: Underage sex worker Sonia prepares for her evening clients
Fig 3.6: Young girls doing the washing in the back of the brothel that also
serves as a graveyard for prostitutes.
Fig 3.7: Underage girl waiting for a client
Fig 3.8: She prepare herself for evening client
Fig 3.9: Young girls born into the brothel play in the fields by a small lake in
the back of the brothel that also serves as a graveyard for prostitutes.
Fig 4.1: Map Show the Position of SOS Villages in Different Place
Fig 4.2: Children’s play area
Fig 4.3: Entry point of the complex
Fig 4.4: View of the auditorium
Fig 4.5: View of mosque
Fig 4.6: View of entry point
Fig 4.7: View of admin building
Fig 4.8: View of seating place
Fig 4.9: View from the play field
Fig 4.10: Family House

Fig 4.11: View from the School
Fig 4.12: View from building
Fig 4.13: View from corridor
Fig 4.14: View of school plaza
Fig 4.15: View of outdoor seating
Fig 4.16: Interior view, along hall
Fig 4.17: Exterior view, showing
Fig 4.18: Exterior view
Fig 4.22: Exterior view (RAMP)
Fig 4.23: Art work from the Family house
Fig 4.24: Exterior view from School Courtyard
Fig 4.25: Art work of the children of Family house
Fig 4.26: section-AA
Fig 4.27: East Elevation
Fig 4.28: West Elevation
Fig 4.29: Roof plan of SOS youth
Fig 4.30: Ground floor plan
Fig 4.31: First floor plan
Fig 4.32: Circulation layout plan
Fig 4.34: Window shading
Fig 4.35: Satellite image of sos youth village
Fig 4.36: School ploy field,
Fig 4.37: School ploy field
Fig 4.38: Basket boll court,
Fig 4.39: School outside corridor,
Fig 4.40: School corridor outside classrooms.
Fig 4.41: Circulation area
Fig 4.42: Seating facilities at the terrace
Fig 4.43: Seating facilities at the terrace
Fig 4.44: Visually permeable space,
Fig 4.45: Visually permeable space
Fig 4.46: Entrance of natural light in the internal corridores
Fig 4.47: natural light create heaven
Fig 4.48: Backyard of junior section with soft surface ploy ground,
Fig 4.49: layout plan
Fig 4.50: section-AA
Fig 4.51: section-BB
Fig 4.52: Front Elevation
Fig 4.53: Central court view
Fig 4.55: Outdoor play area
Fig 4.56: Outdoor play area
Fig 4.57: SOS children’s village, Rajshahi
Fig 4.58: SOS children’s village, Rajshahi

Fig 4.59: SOS ploy ground
Fig 4.60: Vocational training
Fig 4.61: The mother house
Fig 4.62: The community house photo
Fig 4.63: Mother House
Fig 4.64: The Community House
Fig 4.65: The Mother House Plan
Fig 4.66: Zoning
Fig 4.67: Section A A
Fig 4.67: The Community House
Fig 4.68: Mother House
Fig 4.69: Circulation
Fig 4.70: Ratio of hard and soft surface
Fig 6.1: conceptual sketch. (A Corridor)
Fig 6.2: conceptual sketch of the boundary between brothel and the project
Fig 6.3: Physiological Barrier of my Site
Fig 6.4: Main Entry of the project
Fig 6.5: Master plan
Fig 6.6: Master plan Zoning
Fig 6.7: Gathering Space Children with Mother
Fig 6.8: Children’s play in the courtyard and the corridor
Fig 6.9: Children play area
Fig 6.10: Entry of the Family house/ safe home
Fig 6.11: Primary School (Bornomala)
Fig 6.12: School Field
Fig 6.13 Public Library
Fig 6.14: Library, Multipurpose and Office
Fig 6.15: Perspective of the Public area
Fig 6.16: Family House (Conceptual)
Fig 6.17: Conceptual Schematic
Fig 6.18: Interaction Space idea between Mother and Children
Fig 6.19: Extra-Ordinary School idea
Fig 7.1: East Elevation
Fig 7.2: North Elevation
Fig 7.3: South Elevation
Fig 7.8: West Elevation
Fig 7.9: Section B B
Fig 7.10: Section E E’
Fig 7.11: Section F F’
Fig 7.12: Section C C’
Fig 7.13: Section D D’
Fig 7.14: Main entry of the Project
Fig 7.15: Conceptual Monument and the Public plaza
Fig 7.16: Public plaza and the open air exibition

Fig 7.17: Library and training Centre (Admin block)
Fig 7.18: View from Library (Admin block)
Fig 7.19: Elementary school/ “Bornamala” (school block)
Fig 7.20: Transition towards school (School block)
Fig 7.21: Children’s play Infront of “bornomala” (School block)
Fig 7.22: Vocational / Prottasha school (School block)
Fig 7.23: Extra ordinary school / “Protiva biksah” school (School block)
Fig 7.24: Boys Dormitory
Fig 7.25: Boys Dormitory
Fig 7.26: Boys Dormitory play area open to sky
Fig 7.27: Besides family house
Fig 7.28: Interaction between mother and children “Matrichaya”
Fig 7.29: Existing waterbody treat for children
Fig 7.30: Courtyard at Family house
Fig 7.31: View from Terrace to terrace
Fig 7.32: Entertaining area beside water body
Fig 7.33: Viewing deck “Bristy bilash”
Fig 7.34: Aerial view of the project
Fig 7.35: Aerial view of the project (Model Photographs)
Fig 7.37: Family house area (Model Photographs)
Fig 7.38: The Plaza (Model Photographs)
Fig 7.39: “Matrichaya” (Model Photographs)
Fig 7.41: Library and training (Model Photographs)

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Project
1.2 Project Brief
1.3 Project Introduction
1.4 Methodology
1.5 Needs and Aims
1.6 Research Site
1.7 Importance of the project in local regional national context

1.1 Background of the Project
“Children are not a distraction from more Important work. They are the most important
work.”
Sally Clarkson,
Being underprivileged is one of the major curses a person can be under. The five
basic rights a person must have are- Food, Clothes, Proper place to live, Education
and Medical facilities. But those who are eventually underprivileged do not get any
proper housing education and medical facilities. As a result the city is getting denser
and many problems like unemployment, drug addiction, violence and other social
issues are increasing. Not only in our beloved Dhaka city but also almost every other
country across the world are facing the problem of homelessness. Globally, more
people now live in urban areas than in rural areas. Over the past few decades, most
low-income countries have experienced a rapid population growth without adequate
expansion of public services, and many cities in the developing world lack the
infrastructure necessary to support high levels of urban population growth. As a
result, globally, more than one billion people live in informal settlements or urban
slums. Many others live where they can—at railway terminals and bus stations, at
ports, and in empty markets, parks, and stairways Bangladesh is undergoing rapid
urbanization in recent decades. The urban population is growing at the rate of 7%
compared to 1.5% nationally and projected to reach 5 million by 2030 from 39.4
million in 2005 (UN-POp 2007). They are mostly economic refugees‘driven by both
‗push‘ (poverty, landlessness, violence, natural disasters, etc.) and pull (job
opportunities in formal and informal sectors, better wage rate, etc.) factors (Lee
1966). In case of children, role of violence and abuse by the family and the community
is also emphasized underlying their rural-to-urban migration (Conticini and Hulme
2006). Major proportion of this migrant population land in the slums, but a substantial
proportion squatter in the streets, becoming homeless or street dwellers.By definition,
street dwellers ―are the people who sleep on streets, railway terminals and
platforms, bus stations, parks and open spaces, religious centres, construction sites
and around graveyards, and in other public places with no roof‖ (BBS 2001). They
are the ―mobile and vagrant category of rootless people who have no permanent
dwelling units‖ (BBS 1999). In the western context, these street dwellers or the
floating population are called homeless population. A privilege is a right or an
advantage, and people who are underprivileged lack such rights and advantages.
Many times, this word is used as a synonym for poor. People often worry about
underprivileged children who are living in poverty and may not have access to healthy
food or good medical care. Underprivileged children often go to the worst schools too,
which is another disadvantage. Regardless of the reasons people live on the street,
they are often blamed for crime and other antisocial activities that occur in cities,
including commercial sex work, begging and drug use. Lacking regular employment
and trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, deprivation and social ostracism, with barely
sufficient income to keep them above starvation level, some turn to crime. If
acknowledged at all, city authorities are likely to view street dwellers in terms of social
and environmental problems they may cause, such as blocking footpaths or creating
hygiene hazards. In terms of public health, large numbers of poor people living in
unsanitary conditions without access to Three proper health care can constitute a
source for disease transmission. People without sustainable access to safe drinking
water and basic sanitation are also at significant risk for health problems. On the
contrary, this whole amount of homeless people can be seen as a manpower which
can be used for our economic and social development. The starting can be done with

the young age group of this huge population. In fact, there are some organizations
which are thinking about this sort of development or solution. The street dwellers
specifically the street children to youth group can be trained as an asset. But before
they get trained they should be taken under the observation of medical facilitators or
counselors. After that stage they can be trained in any sectors like horticulture,
textiles, computer training, dance, art, crafts etc. Thus, being aware of all the positive
and negative aspects of underprivileged children, a solution can be derived for the
betterment of our society. They can have education, medical facilities and training
regarding horticulture and local crafts. When they will leave this place they can be
established and train other to have a better life style. The condition and value of local
crafts and horticulture is very high now-a-days. These two aspects are easy to learn
and train. So the holistic approach comprises these two sectors. Hence, the aim of
this project is to design a center for the underprivileged children with a notion of
deducting the dropout rate of the educational institution and at the same time makes
them self-depended so that they can afford a better lifestyle through the learning and
training.
1.2 Project Brief
Project Title: Protecting facilities (care home) to promote protective environment for
Brothel children
Location: Doulatdia, Goalondo ghat.
Site Area: 11.31 acres
Client: PIACT Bangladesh. (Local NGO)
1.3 Project Introduction
The children of sex workers are excluded from mainstream society and denied even
their most basic human rights such as housing, health and education due to a number
of complex factors such as their position in a ‘legal vacuum’, a lack of political
commitment and most significantly the conservative society in Bangladesh. They are
the victims of the power structures in their local community as well as the greater
society that leaves them exposed to inhumane life conditions such as the obligation
of drug abuse, lack of access to pure drinking water and sanitation, no property rights
and legal protection, extortion, people trafficking and everyday violence. In this
context the children of the sex workers in Bangladesh are not in a safe environment,
and there is a lack of focus on their personal development with an increasing risk of
them becoming victims of the dangerous racket of the sex trade and exploitation
(UNICEF,2005). Children living in brothels have disproportionately limited access to
education in Bangladesh (UNICEF 2009). The children of sex workers are still
deprived of their right to education, and few of them are enrolled in government
schools. Most of them dream of rescuing their mothers from prostitution (Shohel et
al, 2012). However, in reality the children are often cruelly ragged about their mother’s
profession (Adhikari, 2012). Their identity makes it stressful for them to continue
going to school (Shohel et al, 2012; Jena, 2010). This empirical study focuses on
access to education for the children of sex workers in Bangladesh. Furthermore, it
explores how education could be a vehicle for them to break the vicious cycle of
exploitation. It also shows how local NGOs are supporting and providing education
for them. Thus the purpose of the study is to present current states of the children of
sex workers in Bangladesh.

Education for All (EFA) and the Children of Sex Workers the Bangladeshi Context,
Education empowers, provides choices, and a voice to disadvantaged children and
young people. It also promotes well-being by teaching them about good health
practices, active citizenship through developing skills for life and a sustainable future.
In these ways it helps socio-economically disadvantaged children to break the poverty
cycle and to have a better future. It provides the stepping-stone to self-development
for those who are disadvantaged by creating choices, and builds self-confidence and
self-reliance for individuals (Shohel, 2012). The international calls, starting from the
Jomtien Conference to Dakar Forum and then the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), clearly emphasized on the need for universal access to
meaningful education (WCEFA, 1990 & Dakar Framework for Action, 2000).
Bangladesh became an enthusiastic signatory to the World Conference Education for
All (WCEFA) framework at Jomtien, Thailand where the world community has
strongly backed up the goal of ‘Education for All (EFA)’ at global gatherings. The Gob
has made commitment in the World Education Forum held at Dakar, Senegal in April
2000, towards the achievement of EFA. According to the Child Rights Convention
(CRC), every child has the right to be educated and children’s rights have legal,
political, social, cultural, economic, demographic and environmental dimensions.
Among all vulnerable groups, children living in brothel areas are at a high risk of
deprivation, abuse, HIV transmission and trafficking. There is very little scope of them
getting access to education. Children of brothel-based sex workers are stigmatized
from birth. Their acceptance into the mainstream society is virtually impossible and
consequently they often start working in the brothel themselves (Adhikari 2008,
2007). Providing education to the children of sex workers is not an easy task in the
Bangladeshi context. There are barriers from society, from the local community as
well as from the brothel. This study focuses on the Daulatdia Brothel, where many
NGOs, such as Karmajibi Kallyan Sangstha (KKS), Mukti Mohila Samity (MMS),
BRAC, as well as Save the Children, and ActionAid Bangladesh with its partner
organisations are running education programmes for the children of sex workers. In
1993 KKS established a preschool to provide informal education for children who
lived with their mothers in the Daulatdia brothel. Later an informal pilot project
providing schooling for 25 girls started inside the brothel. Simultaneously four satellite
education centres were established with 100 children taken outside the brothel area.
This was the first attempt to provide education to the children of sex workers in
Bangladesh. There were problems when the children of sex workers enrolled in
regular schools. It was difficult for teachers and children to accept them as equals to
their classmates. Children from mainstream society were not willing to sit next to the
children of sex workers and as a result the children eventually dropped out (Shohel
et al, 2012). In 1995 a private school was established by the KKS with the help of
Save the Children (formerly Save the Children Australia) to provide education for the
children of sex workers and the children from mainstream society under one roof. The
ratio of inclusion was 2:3 (mainstream children: children of sex workers). The main
barrier which stood in the way of running this school was the mainstream community.
At that time, the community showed unwillingness to let their children study with the
children of sex workers. Afterwards, however, Save the Children organized several
meetings with the community to convince them about inclusive education for the
children of sex workers with the mainstream children so that the children of sex
workers could be socially included. Save the Children succeeded to take
responsibility for five girls from the brothel and arranged their accommodation, food
and education free of cost. At first the school was not getting any children other than
the children of sex workers. However, gradually children from hardcore poor families
also started to get enrolled in the school. Finally, this school was included in the
Government funding in 2004. Now the school is running with success and has earned

considerable recognition. Children from all socio-economic backgrounds come to
study here along with the children of sex workers. Even parents of different
backgrounds, including sex workers, attend parent-teacher meetings and other
school programs. Shapla Mohila Shangstha (SMS), an implementation partner of
ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB) in Faridpur, operates a child development Centre under
the ‘Promoting Human Rights of Destitute Women and Children Project’. The Centre
was established in 2004 to bring the children of sex workers into mainstream society
and enhance their life skills. At the Centre, the children are provided with facilities
including day and night shelter, a healthy diet, mainstream education as well as
extracurricular and recreational activities. Currently the Centre’s rented
accommodation can accommodate only 25 children but a new permanent building,
which is under construction, will be able to house another 75 children. As NGOs have
been taking initiatives to change the society wide perceptions of the children of sex
workers, access to education along with the mainstream society has become easier
for them. Especially after the establishment of the KKS primary school and the safe
hostels of Save the Children and PIACT Bangladesh, the situation has started to
improve, and access of the children of sex workers has become easier to both in
primary and secondary schools. Because of the NGO support, their school
performance and quality of education is now much more satisfactory. For example, a
sex workers’ daughter got a GPA (Grade Point Average) of 4.88 (out of 5) in the
Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam and another received a scholarship in
grade V. Now many of them are also able to gain admission to the Higher
Secondary Certificate (HSC) course or to some other stage of further education.
In Bangladesh, normally the ‘sex trade’ is not legal except in fifteen governments
Approved brothels across the country (Alauddin, 2005). However, a recent ruling by
the Bangladeshi High Court states that prostitution is not illegal as a livelihood (BBC,
2000). That means prostitutes have the legal authority to practice their trade in
Bangladesh and this is highly unusual. It makes Bangladesh one of the few Muslim
majority countries that do not ban prostitution (Hosain & Chatterjee, 2005). Women
and children are found involved in the sex trade in these brothels from all social strata,
caste and religion. They are the most deprived, tormented, ill-treated and misused
people as is the case in many other developing countries. Daulodia brothel is the
most recent one within the country and, after the closing down of the Tanbazar brothel
in 1999, it became the largest one in Bangladesh (Terre des hommes Italia, 2005).
Although sex work has always existed in Bangladesh and taken many changing
forms, sex workers and their children remained ignored and avoided by academic
researchers. However, over recent years a handful of research studies have been
conducted (Karim, 2004). A study on the living conditions and socio-economic status
of brothel-based and floating (street walkers) sex workers in Bangladesh made a
general assessment of their living conditionsand found that the reasons for entering
the brothels are poverty, deception, abuse, coercion and rape. Most of the sex
workers come from an ultra-poor background and are usually illiterate or have a low
level of education and no marketable skills. They generally face disruption of the
family units and their lives, along with their children are full of suffering (Terre des
homes Italia, 2005). Another recent study (UNICEF, 2011) was carried out to review
and assess the “National Plan of Action 2002” to combat child sexual abuse,
commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking. The study found perpetrators of child
sexual abuse to be men in the vast majority of cases. Different research findings show
that parents’ drug use or sex work is often illegal and hidden, so identifying their
children can be difficult and may increase the children’s vulnerability and
marginalization. Researchers and service providers, therefore, need to proceed with
caution when attempting to reach these populations, but documentation and

evaluation of current programs should be prioritized (Beard et al, 2010). Though many
NGOs are running education programs for the children of sex workers, no research
has been carried out to explore the impact of education on the lives of the children of
sex workers. It is very important to understand challenges and barriers to access to
education for the children of sex workers and how education impacts on their lives.
There are many educational programs running in and around the Daulatdia brothel
performing the function of training sex workers for a ‘better life’ and to promote access
of the children of sex workers to the formal education system by sensitizing the wider
society to their legitimate needs. This study aims at exploring the impact of education
on the children of sex workers. This understanding is essential to facilitate
empowerment of the children of sex workers and to bring them out from the curse of
exploitation and social isolation. Literature related to education of the children of sex
workers is hardly found although adequate studies are available on their health
issues, socio-economic status, abuse and violence.
1.4 Methodology
This mix method interpretative study focused on children of sex workers in the age
range are 5 to 16 years. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed to
have a better understanding and triangulation of the generated data. However, the
major part of the study was based on qualitative methods and findings, whereas the
quantitative part was used to support, validate and judge the qualitative findings. The
information was collected through survey questionnaires of socio economic
information, an interview schedule for sex workers and their children, and focus group
discussions (FGD) with teachers, NGO resource personnel and education activists.
Fieldwork was carried out during July-August 2012. Six Research Associates were
trained and involved in the data collection. A purposive sampling method was
employed on the basis of availability by using the snowball sampling technique. At
first, thirty sex workers’ families had been selected purposively from the brothel in
order to collect socio-economic information. The selection criterion for the families
was that they should have at least one school going children in the family. The number
of the children of sex workers that participated in this study was thirty. Twenty of the
sample children were being educated at primary level and the rest were from
secondary level. Efforts were made to ensure gender balance among the
respondents.
The sex workers’ families sampled are situated both inside and outside the brothel.
The sex workers hold various positions such as bharatia (sex worker who works
independently by renting a room in the brothel and controls her own earnings) and
bariwali2 (the female owner of a brothel home) (Terre des homes Italia, 2005).
Teachers were selected from such schools which had been primarily established for
the children of the brothel and the NGO workers selected were among those who
work inside and outside of the brothel for the education and welfare of the children
(of the brothel). During systematic literature review, an analytic document was
prepared on stakeholder engagement strategy (Thomas & Mohan, 2007), and then
intensive sharing and feedback sessions were conducted on draft research tools to
develop the final ones. Afterwards through an effective piloting of the research
tools, they were finalized with relevant changes based on the feedback from the
pilot phase.
2 ‘Madam’ is a title given to such women in the west- often former prostitutes who
have now passed their prime.

1.5 Needs and Aims
Right now there are a lot of NGO who works for brothel children, like “PIACT
Bangladesh” is running 13 schools in our country for the street children in English
version in our country. After a certain period of time these children will get vocational
training in order to be employed and independent. So I have a plan to open a
vocational training center with educational facility. What I want to do through this
project is-
- The aim of this Care home is to provide the basic need to every child
accommodate here - food, shelter education, health and clothing. Therefore,
the children brought up in this institution will have full access to all these
facilities.
- To create a care home that can facilitate the children of Doulatdia Brothel.
- This Home will work as a solution for decreasing dropout rate.
- To provide recreational facilities, an environment of nature for the people
there.
- Creating a stimulating, productive and healthy environment.
- Involving the social community.
- Serving community through providing spaces for common activities and
selling products of inmates.
- Making “This project” an enterprise where they will monitor both the school
and the vocational training center and sell the products made by these Project
to different outlet or their own outlet.
- As a result, the children will at the same time get an opportunity to have
education and at the same time empowered.
- Childhood of every person is said to be the most important period of life, as
the future life has great influence on it. Children from birth to age L2 are said
to be highly sensitive to their surroundings and personality development
occurs in this period. Being exposed to unwanted environment in this time of
life may have negative effect in behavior in their later life.
- The main purpose of this Care home is to make sure that the children in this
Project are also brought up with proper and good care and education in a
healthy playful environment under proper guidance, so that they never feel
inferior and come out as good citizen of this country with confidence to move
on in life by him/herself.
- Many street children suffer from psychological problems such as low self-
esteem, loneliness, anxiety, depression, various fears, feelings of
hopelessness, feeling alone and afraid and aggressive behavior all of which
are often a result of poverty, violence due to the conflict, lack of parenting and
sexual, physical or mental abuse. This Project will address all these problems
through counseling programs. The counseling services will be served to
improve the overall mental health of the Brothel children by having them
participate in individual and group counseling sessions. These children will
also be provided with information and awareness about various risks such as
HlV, drugs, alcohol and exploitation.
- The children will be given the primary and secondary level education, then the
Vocational Training.
- Non- formal education services will also be providing, as some children fails
to get the primary level education in the right time.
- Beside this the children will also gain practical knowledge about electrical,
electronics, mechanical, carpentries, and computer skill, handicrafts. These
practical skills will open up wide areas for them in the professional life.

- The children will be also attending and learning cultural programs such as -
music, dance, drama and art.
- The children will be brought up in a safe, secure and friendly environment,
which will make sure the psychological wellbeing of their minds and make
them responsible adults.
1.6 Research Site
The geographical location of the study is Daulatdia in Rajbari Sadar Upazila, situated
on the bank of the river Padma. It is about 130 km away from Dhaka, the capital city
of Bangladesh. Among the fifteen recognized brothels, Daulatdia brothel is the largest
in Bangladesh. It is located close to a very busy ferry port in Rajbari district in the
western part of Bangladesh and has been operating for more than 25 years. It
encourages a culture of corruption, violence, gambling, alcohol use, drug use and
dealing, the open screening of explicit films and sex workers seeking customers.
Approximately 3,000+ people live inside the brothel including 1,000+ children, 240+
of whom are working as sex workers (some from the age of 8 upwards). These
children are regularly exposed to sexual and physical violence. They are known to
consume drugs and alcohol from as young as 10 years old (Save the Children
Australia, 2012). The brothel provides financial benefits to a whole range of
individuals, which means that there are many people in positions of power who have
a vested interest in the brothel continuing to function in its current form, including the
promotion of child prostitution. Mothers do not know how to protect their children from
sexual and other abuse, exploitation and violence.
Children are vulnerable to physical violence and sexual, physical and emotional
abuse from a range of perpetrators including their peers and their mother’s
customers. Although most of the focus is on the protection of girls, boys are often
victims too. Sometimes poverty-stricken or otherwise vulnerable women and children,
especially orphans, become victims of trafficking. Dalals (agents who are engaged in
collecting and selling women or children to the brothels) offer them jobs and lure them
in different ways to come to the brothel. The entrants to the Daulotdia brothel are from
these disadvantaged groups. Some NGOs such as PIACT Bangladesh and MMS are
working extensively to prevent under-aged children
from becoming victims of trafficking.
1.7 Importance of the project in local regional national context
ln our country orphans and other street children are neglected in all sector of our life.
But they also have right to live with us. By this project this problem can be solved as
a very small particular area. So socially this type of project is very necessary for rights
of these children. With the Rehabilitation Center the children will not only have a safe
place to stay and sleep, a place to have regular meals, become educated, get
vocational skills training to become self-reliant etc. but also
will the center be a place for the them where they can feel important through care?
Caring about street children are very important as the care they will receive will help
them to improve their self-confidence and become strong and independent in the
society. They will not feel inferior, they will start believing they are also part of society,
if they get proper education and different categories of vocational trainings, this will
increase their confidence to head forward for a far better living on their own. They can
also be participators socially, politically and economically.

Fig. 1.1 Ecological model of influences on development

CHAPTER 2
Site Analysis
2.1 About the Site, Doulatdia
2.2 Site Location
2.3 Why this site has been chosen?
2.4 Road Networking
2.5 Site Surrounding
2.6 Vegetation of the site
2.7 Topography
2.8 S.W.O.T analysis
2.9 Climatic condition
2.10 Sun path diagram

SITE ANALYSIS
2.1 About the site: Rajbari (Goalondo Upazila, Doulatdia Union)
Rajbari (Bengali: রাজবাড়ি জজলা, Rajbari Jela also Rajbari Zila) is a district in
central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. It was named by the renowned
ruler Raja Surjo Kumar Guha Roy. He established his palace or rajbari in this district.
There are 5 upazilas in this district. They are:
1. Baliakandi Upazila
2. Goalandaghat Upazila
3. Pangsha Upazila
4. Kalukhali Upazila
5. Rajbari Sadar Rajbari
Total Area: 432.0 sqm
Total Population: 951906; male 489557, female
462349; Muslim 847616, Hindu 103664,
Buddhist 173 and others 453.
Schools & Colleges
• Rajbari Government College, Rajbari
• Rajbari Government Adarsha Mohila
College
• Rajbari Zilla School (previous name was
Goalondo High School)
Fig 2.1: Rajbari on Map
• Zilla Girls School
• Kola Sadar Uddin High School was established by Sadar Uddin Mallik
• Atdapunia High School
• Mulghor High School
• Dr. Abul Hossain University College
• Suraj Mohini Institute & Tamijuddin Girls High School was established by Moulovi
Tamijuddin
• Pangsha Government CollegeThere are so many Institute which are popularly
known by the PeopleGeography and climate
Annual average temperature of this district is maximum 35.8 °C and minimum
12.6 °C. Annual rainfall is 2105 mm.
Major River
• Padma River
• Jalangi
• Kumar River
• Garai River
• Madhumati River
• Harai
• Chandana
• Chitra
Fig 2.2: Map of Rajbari District

Daulatdia is the name of a village in Rajbari District, Bangladesh which is the
largest brothel in Bangladesh, and has been called one of the largest brothels in the
world. It is one of 20 officially sanctioned brothels in the country opening around 1988,
although it was unofficially in existence for decades prior. Estimates of the number of
sex workers in the village range from 1,300 to 2,000. Daulatdia services more than
3,000 men daily; these men can pay for sex, take drugs and gamble. Though
prostitution is only legal in Bangladesh for women aged 18 or older, the average age
of newly arriving sex workers is 14, and some sex workers in Daulatdia are as young
as 10. Many of them are sold into sex work for about $250, which they are then
obligated to pay to pimps who are mostly older women, known as "madams". The sex
workers are often tricked by their madams into taking drugs such
as Ventolin or Oradexon, which are designed to fatten cattle.
2.2 Site Location
My Site near the Brothel
Fig 2.3: Land use map of Rajbari District

2.3 Why this site has been chosen?
When I visit the Doulatdia Brothel, There I see a lot of Children playing here and there,
where environment is not friendly for them. Now I talked with some sex worker who
are living here with their children. When I want to know that what is the decision make
for their children, some of them are interested to educated and empowered their child,
at that time the Biological mother have no chance to fulfill their dream. Then I noticed
them I want to work for this dream. Then they highly recommend that they want their
children beside them then I got the decision that my site should beside the
Brothel………
Fig 2.4: My Site Beside the Biggest Doulatdia Brothel
“A MOTHER
is she who can take the place of all others;
But whose place no one else can take.”

2.4 Road Networking
Fig 2.5: Road with in site (Google map)
Fig 2.6: Entry point of the site Fig 2.7: View from the site to the Brothel
Fig 2.9: Night view Goalondo Station
Fig 2.8: Goalondo Railway station

26 | P r o t e c t i n g f a c i l i t i e s t o p r o m o t e p r o t e c t i v e e n v i r o n m e n t f o r “ B R O T H E L C H I L D ”
2.5 Site Surrounding

Fig 2.10: connecting road
Fig 2.11: Existing Condition of the Site
“Men have social needs. They have a need
for other people; they have a need to love and
be loved.” __Carroll Quigley
American historian and theorist,
professor at Georgetown University

Fig 2.12: Graveyard for the Brothel
“I always
wondered why
somebody
doesn't do
something
about that.
Then I realized
I was
somebody.” Fig 2.13: Existing Health Complex
– Lily Tomlin
American actress,
comedian, writer,
singer, and producer
Fig 2.14: Safe Home by KKS NGO

2.6 VEGETATION OF THE SITE
At present the site is full of green grasses. The site has many trees scattered located
in it. Among them most prominent trees are Mehgoni tree, Mango tree, Coconut,
Badam, Date palm, Papaya tree, Banana tree, Sal tree, Bamboo and many shrubs
and herbs can be found there.
Fig 2.15: Seasonal crops land Fig 2.16: vacant land
Along with all these as the entire site is surrounded by different agricultural lands it
has got different crops and vegetables which gives highly diversified vegetation to the
site.
2.7 TOPOGRAPHY
The site is totally plain. there has no contour in the site. The project area consists
mud soil and suitable efforts for agriculture. the entire northern plains are made of
alluvial soil. The fine particles of sand, silt and clay are called alluvium. It is very fertile
and contributes the largest share of agricultural wealth.
Fig 2.17: Earthquake zone map Fig 2.18: Topographical Map

2.8 S.W.O. T ANALYSIS-
S- Strength
- Located just beside the Road Dhaka-Faridpur-Khulna highway which is one
of the most important transportation pathways for the all class businessmen
of our country.
- The site has strong natural surroundings.
- Existence of natural elements adds more value to the site.
- Variation of vegetation can be seen in the site.
- There are two waterbodies present in the site.
- The site level is plain.
- South East direction has good view
- Three side has natural view
- Existing water body as breathing space.
W- Weakness
- The Brothel is located just besides the site.
O- Opportunity
- The site is located in a very strategic position and can provide an interesting
platform for all age group.
- The site located in a new and barress development and holds the strength in
controlling the urban sprawl that shall direct to a new visualization of the
township.
T- Threat
- Though the Brothel is nearby the site, the client of the brothel workers can be
a threat for the children
- Lack of security.

2.9 CLIMATIC CONDITION
The climate here is tropical. The summers are much rainier than the winters in
Rajbari. This location is classified as Aw by Köppen and Geiger. In Rajbari, the
average annual temperature is 25.6 °C. In a year, the average rainfall is 1771 mm.
There is a difference of 330 mm of precipitation between the driest and wettest
months. The variation in temperatures throughout the year is 10.9 °C.
Fig 2.19: Climate graph weather by month Rajbari Fig 2.20: Average temperature rajbari
The driest month is December, with 6 mm of rain. The greatest amount of precipitation
occurs in June, with an average of 336 mm. May is the warmest month of the year.
The temperature in May averages 29.2 °C. The lowest average temperatures in the
year occur in January, when it is around 18.3 °C.

2.10 SUN PATH DIAGRAM
Fig 2.21: Sun path diagram on the SIte

The sun paths are different due to
factors such as-
-Location (local latitude)
-Rising and setting position- based on the
time of the year.
-Duration of the day and night.
The seasonal cycle of shadows-
-The Sun as it appears in summer, high in the Sky-Shadows are short.
-On the other side, the
Sun as it appears in
winter, lower in the Sky-
Shadows are long.
-When the height of the
Sun changes, so does
the angle its rays strike
the ground, the
incidence angle. The
incidence angle is
smaller in summer than
in winter.

CHAPTER 3
Literature review
3.1 History of Prostitution
3.2 Born into Brothel
3.3 Daughter of the Brothel
3.4 Doulatdia Women
3.5 Riverside Brothel
3.6 The Business of sex slavery
3.7 No place to go
3.8 Paper cutting

3.1 History of Prostitution
Throughout history/herstory, women
have prostituted themselves by
choice but especially by force; it was
imposed on them. It is believed that
prostitution has existed since the
beginning of time. As a matter of fact,
"acts of prostitution must have
occurred when primitive man paid for
the sexual favors of woman he
wanted – with a special morsel of
food or some object – when he was
not inclined or not strong enough, to
take her by force.” (Benjamin 35) In this text, I will attempt to summarise the history
of women‟s prostitution – mostly its major points throughout the world – from 300
B.C. up to now.
Ancient Cyrprus
Around 300 B.C., prostitution was seen
and existed as “temple” or “sacred”
prostitution. In Ancient Cyrprus, each
respectable woman was required to
prostitute herself at least once to a
stranger in order to become eligible for
marriage. Once this was done, she had
to wait, in the temple of Mylitta, for a
stranger to come along and ask a favour
from her. Some women, who were less
pretty, would wait years in the temple. The money earned would be dedicated to the
goddess Mylitta. (Benjamin 1964)
Ancient Egypt
In Ancient Egypt, prostitution “has
throughout history been exceedingly
prevalent and popular.” (Benjamin 37) One
story, the story of Cheops, relates that
when Cheops “was short of money, he
would send his daughter to a bawdy-
house, with instructions of charging a
certain sumi” (Benjamin 37). It is also
stated in Harry Benjamin‟s book that
Egyptian fathers prostituted their
daughters.
Ancient Greece
In Ancient Greece there were four general
classes among prostitutes: Hetairae, the
aristocrats of Greek prostitution who “were
able to attach themselves to the most famous and distinguished men of their time
and became „powers behind the throne‟ in politics, the arts, and other important
areas of Greek life”, (Benjamin 40). Auletrides who were musicians and dancers,

usually foreigners; dicteriades who were brothel prostitutes; and concubines who
were slaves.
Rome
In Rome, more severe laws were instituted but with no great effect. “From
comparatively staid beginnings Roman sexual history moves toward a crescendo of
eroticism such as the world has rarely seen.” (Benjamin 45) Nevertheless, it still
remained a “double standard” that favoured the freedom of the male. “Prostitution is
recognised as an essential and useful institution, but the prostitute is condemned
and despised.” (Benjamin 49) All
in all, in Rome, there were
periods of tolerance and periods
of persecution concerning
prostitution.
Middle Ages
Europe
During the 12th century,
prostitutes were not “supported”
during Charlemagne‟s and
Frederick Barbarossa‟s reigns,
consequently, whores were
beheaded during these periods.
Then, in the 13th century, a man
named Saint Thomas Aquinas
defended prostitutes and argued
that: “prostitution is a necessary
evil preventing seductions and rapes.” (Benjamin 51)
Toward the modern world
Italy
“It would be difficult to overestimate the sexual freedom, and sometimes sexual
violence, of Renaissance Italy. … Restraints upon sexual expression were
limited” (Benjamin 56). Prostitution was not accepted everywhere (Mantua, Parma,
Bergamo, Padua) and consequently, measures were taken to regulate it, for
example prostitutes had to go
through identification proceduresii,
they were secluded and restricted
to special quarters. On the other
hand, in other places such as
Naples, Venice, Florence, and
Bologna, prostitution flourished.
England
During the 16th century, after Henry
VIII‟s reign, whores could start
practising again (under the reign of
Edward) but still, prostitution was
“technically” considered illegal. This
is when the “Catholic argument of
Thomas Aquinas was being
resurrected, but to no avail – brothels remained illegal – although the authorities
could now be encouraged, through bribes and free sex, to turn a blind eye.”

(Roberts 122) By the end of the 16th century, there were a lot of whore on the
market, yet, the demand was even bigger than what was available. In the 17th
century, Puritans propagated the anti-pleasure of whores; “all forms of pleasure
(were) seen as sinful”. (Roberts 1992)
France, London
The 18th century was “The Golden Age of Prostitution”. As a matter of fact, during
this period, prostitution was very popular. There were even places where whores
could get training in order to be professional and adaptableiii. This was the case in
Mme Gourdan‟s establishment in Paris and in Mrs Goadsby‟s and Miss Fawkland‟s
establishments in London. (Roberts 1992) These types of places mainly received
wealthy clients.
France In the 19th century, France established the “Bureau of Morals” (Bureau des
Moeurs). “The new agency was essentially a police force responsible for monitoring
houses of prostitution.” (Head 2009)
Japan, Sweden
20th century‟s prostitution was seen as
“a fate worse than death”. “During World
War II, the Japanese government
abducted between 80,000 and 300,000
women and girls from Japanese-
occupied territories and forced them to
serve in „comfort battalions,‟ militarised
brothels that were created to serve
Japanese soldiers.” (Head 2009) By the
end of the 20th century, Sweden takes
a feminist approach, prostitution is
classified as a form of violence against
women. (Head 2009)
Canada
As for the 21st century, “Canada has
become poised to implement pragmatic
solutions that outweigh the argument for
ideological interventions that would further criminalize sex-trade workers.” (Now
Public 2008)
To know more about the mainlines of the history of prostitution, you can visit this
website:http://civilliberty.about.com/od/gendersexuality/tp/History-of-Prostitution.htm

3.2 Born into brothels
(India)
Activity Guide by Amanda K. Plummer
Summery
Zana Briski is a professional photographer. This film documents a project she did with
children in the Red Light District of Calcutta. She provided the children with cameras,
taught them how to take pictures, and led a class on photography. In the course of
this project, she became enmeshed in the children’s lives and began working on ways
to help them find better lives away from extreme poverty and prostitution.
When I first went into the brothels of Calcutta I had no idea what I was doing.
Circumstances had led me there and I had a deep visceral reaction to the place. It
was as if I recognized it on a very personal level. It took me two years to get inside,
to be able to live in a brothel. I knew this was the only way I would move from visitor
to resident, to fully experience, as much as possible, what it was like for the women
and children living there. It was a difficult but precious experience and one for which
I will always be grateful. I had the opportunity to understand lives lived behind closed
doors, to help --- when it was asked of me --- in any way I could, and to communicate
powerful stories with the outside world. It has been my dream, since the beginning of
the project, to inspire others to feel, to notice, to challenge, to take action. Some of
the most inspiring moments I have had are at screenings of Born into Brothels at
schools across the country. American children are riveted by the kids from Calcutta.
The connect with them through the film in a way only kids can. Kids want to share, to
know more, to get involved. This is why I wanted to build a curriculum around the film,
so that it can be a catalyst for awareness and change. Amnesty International, in
partnership with Kids with Cameras, has made this happen. I am deeply grateful to
them for this. In the film I say that I am not a social worker, or even a teacher. I am
someone who follows my heart and puts myself in the ‘shoes’ of others. This is
something we all can do. You don’t need to go to Calcutta to notice what is happening

around you, who needs your compassion, be it an animal, a friend, a stranger. After
all, it is up to us to make the world a better place.
Zana Briski
Born into Brothels: Companion Curriculum
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. What human rights issues are illustrated in the film? What international laws are
in place to stop or prevent those abuses?
2. I n the beginning credits of the film, we see images of the children’s eyes looking
down on images of the red light district. What themes do these images reflect?
What does it tell the viewer about the children? (Clip 1)
3. What is the role of photography in this film? Of music? (Clips 19, 31, 33, 54)
4. What are the changes in the children’s outlook and personalities when they are
taken out of the brothel to the beach and zoo? (Clips 20-21, 31-33)
5. I f these children were taken out of the brothel environment permanently, do you
think that they could fully recover from the injustices and trauma that they have
previously faced? Why? Why not?
6. I f life in the brothels is all the children have ever known, then how do they know
that it is not how they want to live? If it has become the norm, then how do they
know that it is not normal for a child to grow up in that environment? Are we born
with an internal human rights’ radar? Is awareness of human rights a part of human
nature? (Clips 17, 26, 40-41)
7. What can we do for kids that have not been presented with an opportunity to
leave the brothels or who have not been helped by someone like Zana? What kind
of programs can we implement to create sustainable change for all children of
sex-workers? Is it enough to help the children? Why or why not? What can be done
for the mothers and the rest of the community?
8. W hy did Zana become so involved with these children? What lessons did Zana
learn throughout her journey? There were times when Zana seemed to get very
frustrated with the bureaucracy in India. What do you think kept her going? (Clips 3,
36-39, 50)
9. T hink about the scene in which Zana is talking to a school principal about the
possibility of enrolling the children into school. The principal says “No one will take
them.” (Clip 25)
• What does it mean to have the right to education?
• What challenges do these children face in claiming their right to education?
• Should the possibility of being HIV positive affect your right to an education?
• Should your economic or social status affect your right to an education?
• Should being the child of a sex-worker take away that right?
Explain your answers.
10. Zana is not just documenting these children, but she is enabling them to document
what they see around them. What opportunity does this provide for them?
11. Reflect on the scene at the zoo where Gour was so affected by the fate of the
animals. What do his words tell you about the children featured in this film? (Clip 20)
12. Documentary film often only includes the perceptions and ideas of the filmmakers.
What are the pros and cons associated with this? In your opinion, was there anything
that was left out of this film?

3.3 Daughters of the brothel
Sometimes the doors of hell swing both ways. This much Shumi knows. She is 17
years old. She is far from her rural home. She is meant to be working in a garment
factory, toiling over a sewing machine or cutting table 12 hours a day, seven days a
week, to send money home to her ageing parents. But there is no factory here, no
city lights or whirring industry. Just a dusty, pot-holed highway with a queue of lorries
and cattle trucks and buses stretching as far as the eye can see, waiting their turn for
an ancient ferry to cross the vast Padma and Jamuna Rivers.
Leaning into this curve of highway is Daulatdia, a shanty town of corrugated iron and
battered bricks. Shumi came here with an older woman who visited her village touting
the promise of city jobs. But now she has gone. The last time the wide-eyed teenager
saw her chaperone, she was tucking crumpled banknotes into the folds of her sari as
she disappeared into Daulatdia’s maze of alleys without a backward glance.
Conditions for sex workers vary according to their place in the brothel hierarchy.
Shumi has been sold. For less than $200, her future has been deposited here, in a
tiny room with a rag over a window and blankets strewn across a creaking bed. She
has joined a production line, after all, albeit one where the business is lust and the
output is pleasure for up to 3000 male visitors each day. With a population of more
than 1300 sex workers, almost 900 children and about 500 shopkeepers supporting
the trade, Daulatdia is the largest residential brothel in Bangladesh – and one of the
biggest in the world. For more than six decades, it has serviced the hordes of men
who travel the highway, one of the busiest trade routes in the country, as they wait to
cross the Padma River, and anyone else who cares to make the trip from Dhaka,
about 70 km east.
And this much Shumi also now knows: she cannot go back to her village. She has no
phone number and no money, and even if she could find her way there, there would
be no home for her now. She is no longer daughter; she is a whore, the carrier of a
scourge worse than any disease: the curse of shame.

And so she waits. She endures the beatings from her “landlady” and gets to know the
other young chukri, or bonded prostitutes, who work the madam’s rooms. During the
day, Shumi sometimes joins them as they throw back their glittering headscarves,
giggling, to share dreams of one day paying off their bonds and renting one of
Daulatdia’s 2500 or so rooms independently. But her eyes are always veiled.
Tonight, she lies still as the breathing of the man in the bed beside her steadies and
deepens. She sees her chance. Until now, her obvious youth has been an enemy,
drawing the gaze of lascivious visitors ever-hungry for new flesh. But this evening, as
she stealthily pulls on her client’s hat and coat, she is grateful she is still coltish. She
might just pass for a gawky university student who has jumped a train down from
Dhaka to take his turn with the girls of Daulatdia.
For once, too, the village’s nightly heave of drug-fuelled hedonism is her friend, as
Shumi slips unnoticed toward one of the brothel’s narrow gateways. She has
managed what few before her have achieved. As the girl flees towards the railway
tracks, she passes first through a rocky, rubbish-strewn field behind the brothel.
Denied burial on consecrated ground, it is here, in unmarked graves, that most of the
women of Daulatdia will end their days.
At what age does a child realise he or she is unclean? When does a young boy
understand his place of birth has robbed him of any right to an education or
healthcare, or a girl that she exists for only one awful thing?
The children of Daulatdia seem happy today. They are not thinking of sin or sorrow,
but of the unlikely vision of two Western women sipping soft drinks in their village’s
main thoroughfare, flushed by the 35-degree heat and a relentless humidity that
smothers the body like a warm, wet doona. Nearby, men spit red-tinged betel juice
as they haggle with the sex workers, or blow sweet clouds of gunja smoke and play
cards, waiting for the oppressive heat to fade before they choose a woman. But this
knot of pre-school children has eyes only for the foreigners, erupting into delighted
belly laughs when one begins talking to a large goat as it nudges insistently behind
her legs for scraps.
“They are trying to tell you this is a goat, not a person,” our interpreter, Tuhin Nazmul,
translates helpfully for Karen Flanagan, a child protection specialist with Save the
Children Australia. “They are explaining that the goats here cannot understand
people.”
Flanagan appreciates the irony. Save the Children has been running projects in and
around Daulatdia since 1997, in recent years with support from the Australian
government, and its veterans are hyper-vigilant about ideas being lost in translation.
While prostitution is officially illegal in this moderate Muslim country, the Bangladeshi
government has been no more successful than any other modern administration at
stamping out the street sex trade in its sprawling cities. It also tolerates 14 “registered”
brothels, most of which are concentrations of 100-plus sex workers living and working
in self-contained communities.
“More than half of Bangladesh’s 60 million children are estimated to be living below
the poverty line,” says Flanagan. “And among them, children of sex workers, in and
out of brothels, are undoubtedly some of the most vulnerable, because they are

already ostracised from the community and routinely denied basic rights like
education and public health.”
There are three main reasons a child might find themselves in a brothel like Daulatdia,
two of which involve forms of trafficking. With rural poverty rife, even as Bangladesh
enjoys solid economic growth and urban expansion, young village girls like Shumi are
easily enticed by strangers offering domestic work or jobs in the notorious
sweatshops that feed the West’s demand for cheap fashion. The girls usually go with
their parents’ earnest encouragement – and expectation that part of their pay will be
sent back home – but in some cases they may be sold knowingly by their desperate
families.
She picked up a hot frypan and burnt him in my arms. He was 23 days old. Then she
said if I tried to leave, she would kill him.
“Another form of trafficking will involve a man arriving in a village and lavishing an
attractive young girl with his attentions,” Flanagan says. “It’s a form of ‘grooming’,
when you think about it. The girl genuinely falls in love with him, and he promises to
marry her – or will actually do so – and then he takes her away and sells her to a
brothel.”
As nightmarish as it sounds, being sold into the sex trade for an average price of less
than 20,000 taka ($270) is so commonplace, most sex workers seem surprised to be
asked their feelings about it.
“I just accepted the situation as my fate,” says 35-year-old Rina, after describing how
an older female “friend” convinced her to run away when she was just 12, after a fight
with her parents, only to sell her to a brothel days later. “I don’t like anything about
the work here, but what else can I do? I was heartbroken. Then my mother died, my
father died, but still my extended family won’t agree to have me back.”
Just as grim is the third pathway to brothel life. “To be born here means you are
instantly at risk,” says Flanagan. “Workers usually live in a single room with their
children. When mothers are seeing clients, some will put their babies and young
children under the bed. Later, they might be put outside in the alleyway, although
some workers still try hard to monitor their children, even tying bells around their
waists to keep track of them.
“Obviously, girls are highly vulnerable to sexual abuse themselves, and being
groomed for future work here, but the boys can be exploited as well. The clients will
often use them as drug runners.”
A more recent horror is the increasing use of Oradexone, a drug designed to fatten
cattle, which some madams give their young workers to make them more curvaceous.
The steroid can cause an array of painful side-effects, including headaches and skin
rashes, and long-term use may be deadly.
Neglect is a given. Babies sleep wherever their eyes fall shut, toddlers skitter between
boiling cauldrons of soup and gutters choked with noxious sludge: rotting food scraps,
used condoms, animal faeces. As friendly and unabashedly inquisitive as they are,
many of the older children are also unnervingly intimate.

“Hello, how are you living?” a girl who looks about 11 or 12 greets me. A moment
earlier, she had been chatting with her friends about hair ornaments; now she is
weaving around me like a cat. “You can be my friend?” she asks, taking my hand as
we walk past an open room where a semi-naked man lies prone on the floor, watching
Manchester United play on a battered television. “We can be friends.” All the while,
her fingers are stroking my palm.
It is what she knows; after all, she has grown up in an environment where exhausted
mothers must save their attentions for the highest bidder, and a woman’s ability to
deliver physical affection on cue determines her worth. The day before, an older
worker smiled as she took my scarf and folded it neatly, re-adjusting it to sit in place
across my chest as modesty requires, even in a brothel. Seconds later, I felt a pinch
on my rear and turned to find her smiling, rubbing her fingers together in the universal
sign for money.
The starting price for sex ºvaries widely, depending in part on the age and physical
assets of the individual worker and, in turn, their own assessment of a client’s looks
and ability to pay. The bottom-pinching worker has services beginning at about 200
taka. Later, I calculate the exchange rate and realise this is less than the amount I’d
put in a brown paper bag for my son’s school tuckshop order just a couple of days
earlier.
But moral judgment is a luxury reserved for those with options. Here, life is run to suit
men like Akram Shekh, a 40-year-old jute trader who doesn’t see the double standard
in spending three days a week in the brothel with his mistress, a powerful madam
with 11 sex workers renting her rooms, while his wife raises their two children at
home, plus the daughter he fathered with another Daulatdia sex worker.
“I took Eti home because, as a good father, I didn’t want to stigmatise my daughter,”
he says proudly, handing me a photograph of a smiling six-year-old. “And I don’t want
her to ever re-enter this world … My wife wasn’t happy looking after her at first, nor
when I started coming here, but now she accepts it because I am a businessman and
a good provider.”
Shekh is just one of many men profiting from a trade they ostensibly denigrate. It
is well-established that organised crime flourishes whenever prostitution is
criminalised, and only a naïf would believe Bangladeshi police and its politicians are
untouchable. So, how do you change things when an entire economy thrives on
keeping you powerless? “You start with the mothers,” Flanagan says. “The grim
reality is the daughter of a sex worker represents 20-30 years’ worth of earnings in
the only work most of these women know … so if we want to change the future,
particularly if we want to change the supply and demand for child sex workers, we
have to change the mothers’ attitude and give them a stake in managing the
solutions.”
True to this philosophy, Save the Children coordinates most of its programs through
Mukti Mohila Samity (MMS), a powerful sex workers’ collective that oversees all
aspects of brothel life. Both organisations recognize a primary challenge is to help
second- and third-generation sex workers to imagine life outside Daulatdia.
That is why today Parul, an MMS educator, is holding a “life skills” class in the shade
of a tree near Daulatdia’s rear entrance. Clustered in a small circle, the women study

a series of laminated cartoons depicting the life of a sex worker, which ends in penury
and shame, in comparison to that of a woman with an education, who funds her
retirement after a career as a school teacher.
“Our children see an easy cash flow here,” Parul tells them. “And they don’t have any
alternative vision. But if we motivate them to go to school, they can take care of us in
later life. If a child gets out of the brothel, they can get a job and take you away as
well. They can get jobs that are respectable and live somewhere where people won’t
know you as a sex worker.”
She holds up another card, depicting several accomplished Bengali women. “We
should motivate our daughters with stories of successful women, like Begum Roquia,”
she says, pointing to the Muslim feminist writer whose science fiction short story,
Sultana’s Dream, depicts a futuristic world where women take over after an
enormous, futile war fought by men. Female scientists discover how to control the
climate and build flying cars, while men are kept in seclusion. It was written more than
a century ago.
At the end of Parul’s presentation, I ask whether the women would like to nominate
any practical initiative that would help them achieve their own dreams for the future.
There is a brief silence, then their voices rise and several crowd around me. “They
are saying this brothel is no place to live and the children need to get out,” Nazmul,
the interpreter, says. “And they are asking you to take their children away.”
Vee-see-tor!!” dozens of tiny faces line the fence of the MMS early childhood
development centre, as the cry goes up to alert those playing tag nearby that a new
distraction approach. It is mid-afternoon, and several hundred children have
assembled for “education support”, a classroom-based program for brothel children
who remain ostracised from mainstream schools, or need tutoring to support their
efforts within it. Meanwhile, their younger siblings, who attend the early childhood
program, linger to play and sing. Crucially, the centre’s activities extend into the
evening, giving the children a respite from the pumping music and grinding flesh that
proliferate behind Daulatdia’s grim walls, just metres away.
“It’s out of control in there,” says 12-year-old Banna, softly-spoken in her neat, blue-
and-white uniform. “I don’t like my mother’s profession. She understands I don’t want
to be involved there and they [MMS] tell her she should try to protect me.”
Everyone knows Banna has reached a critical point. As puberty approaches, her body
is becoming more enticing to visiting men – and more attractive as an income source
for her ageing mother who, like almost all brothel workers, has no retirement savings,
no pension and no access to public healthcare. Fortunately, Banna is able to board
with her older sister Ria, 22, who was educated with support from Save the Children,
and is now married.
“After school, I visit my mother,” Banna says. “She sees no escape for herself but
now she is trying to help me. I tell her I’m an average student – but I’m hoping to
become a doctor.”
There was a time when Save the Children did something very similar to what the
women in Parul’s life skills group requested, establishing a “safe house” for girls who
wanted to flee the brothel. “But the problem with building institutions like that is the

children keep coming, while the underlying issues don’t change,” explains Flanagan.
Instead, now the focus of the agency, and other charities like it, is to help the workers
themselves run education and childcare programs, as well as a “Safe Space” for
children within the brothel.
Staffed around the clock by sex workers who are trained and paid for their shifts, the
neat little room is tucked just a few steps beyond one of Daulatdia’s busiest
thoroughfares, a rare and orderly oasis amid the brothel’s tangle of human flesh. It is
here that I discover Faith, as delicate and watchful as a sparrow, who hopes that
while Safe Space represents a temporary escape for its young visitors, it might also
herald a permanent one for her. “I told [MMS] I would take any kind of job to get out
of here, and here they are giving me new training,” she says quietly. “I want to have
a better life.”
Educated in a conservative religious madrassa, and paired to a violent man in an
arranged marriage when she was just 15 years old, Faith had no idea what a brothel
was when she arrived in Daulatdia via a now-familiar route.
“I needed to get away from my husband because he was beating me every day,” she
explains. “So, when a woman said she could get me domestic work, I took my baby
and went with her … It was only when the landlady started bringing men to the house
and I saw the other girls with them, that I worked it out. I started shouting, saying I
didn’t want to be here and I was going to leave.”
Faith’s voice trails away as she pulls up the shirt of her son Nabeeh, now six years
old, to reveal an angry scar that extends from his hip to his ribcage. “She picked up a
hot frypan and burnt him in my arms. He was 23 days old. Then
she said if I tried to leave, she would kill him – and me, too.”
And so, like Shumi, Faith tucks her hope away behind veiled eyes and waits for her
chance. But unlike Shumi, she has a support network now and is slowly building a life
raft from her new skills.
“It is hard outside, even for girls who we help with vocational education and jobs,”
says MMS executive director Morjina Begum.
Last year alone, the collective removed 22 underage workers from Daulatdia, as part
of an ongoing awareness and intervention program aimed at stamping out underage
sex work within the brothel. “But without training, it is almost impossible. They come
back and we can’t stop them if they say they are over 18 years old and they want to
be here. They are alone out there and this is what they know.”
It takes a long time to retreat from the doors to hell. But at a drop-in service for
street sex workers in Dhaka, we find Shumi. Having escaped Daulatdia, she was
reluctant to work in a factory, or anywhere else where she felt she might again be
trapped.
“The money is better [on the street] and I decide,” she says defiantly. She can’t
imagine the future, but she says she has a plan of sorts. “I want to leave this
profession when my son Shawon is four or five years old, so he never has to face any
comments about me, about what I do.” Now, she pays an elderly woman to care for
him at night, while she sells sexual services for 100 to 300 taka.

“I have no dreams for myself anymore,” Shumi says. “But I want Shawon to get a
good education and become a lawyer.” Only later, when the young woman has been
absorbed back into the mayhem of the Dhaka streets, do I learn what she has named
her son. The English translation for shawon is “evening”.
Good Weekend travelled to Daulatdia with the support of Save the Children Australia.
Names of some sex workers have been changed to protect identities.
3.4 Doulatdia’s Women
BY Claudia Hammond
Photographs By: lisa wiltse
Fig 3.1: Sex workers wait in a corner shop to dance for clients
3.5 Riverside Brothel
The brothel opened 20 years ago, making it the newest and largest of the 14
recognised brothels in the country. It is set on the meeting point of two vast rivers,
the Jamuna and the Ganges (known locally as the Padma), which makes this a very
busy place to catch a ferry. Trucks carrying rice, jute, sugar cane and fish from the
west and south-west of the country queue here for two or three days at a time to
cross the river for the drive to the capital, Dhaka. In Bangladesh on a BBC World
Service boat to look at the impact of climate change, I was surprised to find that an
unexpected consequence of rising water levels is the growth in demand for
prostitution. River erosion has meant the closure of some ferry berths, so men wait
even longer to cross the river. And, while they wait, many of them pass the time in
the company of Daulatdia’s women. The brothel feels like a vast street market.
There are lines of fruit and vegetable stalls, tea stands and even a TV repairer. The
only immediately visible difference between this and all the other small towns I’ve
visited in Bangladesh is the presence of so many women in public. These
alleyways hold 2,300 single-storey rooms with corrugated iron ceilings and cloth
walls. Late morning is the peak time for business, and there is a long taxi rank of

cycle rickshaws waiting to take the men back to the quayside when they have
finished. Bangladesh isn’t the only country with entire villages devoted to
prostitution. In Cambodia there’s the notorious Svay Pak, and there are Indonesian
villages that house 600 prostituted women at a time. The extraordinary thing about
Daulatdia is its size and its unexpectedly open atmosphere. Turning down an
alleyway, I am directed past a piece of fabric draped across a doorway and find
myself in the middle of someone’s room. A post-coital client is enjoying a
cigarette, and hurriedly ties a sarong around his waist, scuttles off the bed and
away. There’s a TV, a DVD player, a fan and a glass cabinet containing clothes.
This is one of the better rooms. The woman who rents it can afford to employ a
cook - a retired prostitute who is crouching outside in the narrow alleyway,
preparing a chilli omelette.
3.6 The Business of Sex Slavery
In the next cubicle I meet Parveen, who is happy to show me around. Her double bed
is covered with a bright sunflower-patterned throw and she has cut hundreds of tiny
holes in the dark red fabric that hangs as a wall behind her bed, giving the impression
of fairy lights. She says it’s not hard to find clients. “It’s OK because I groom myself
well. I spend two hours getting ready and then I wait outside. If I want to earn 100
taka [75p] I have to spend at least 40 taka on my face and clothes.” One hundred
taka buys two big bottles of Coke. Parveen is in her 20s, so her fee is lower than for
some; the underage girls can earn as much as 10 times this amount.
As an independent prostitute, Parveen can keep any remaining money once she has
paid the high electricity charges, her rent and the cost of childcare in a local village.
“I left my two children outside the brothel because I don’t want them to grow up in this
environment.” Yet more than 300 children do live inside the brothel with their mothers,
kept under the bed or outside with the cook when a client arrives. The women I meet
tell me that whenever they’re pregnant, they hope for daughters who can join them
working in the brothel as soon as they are old enough. The bonded prostitutes, known
as chukri, have the least freedom. Their average age on entering the brothel is 14;
they have usually been kidnapped by gangs, sold by stepmothers, or lured here by
boyfriends with promises of good jobs. I meet a bonded woman who is dressed in a
pretty red sari. She tells me that she must see three or four clients each day and then
another during the night. “I’ve been here 10 years after I was trafficked and someone
sold me. I’m from Chittagong, a port far away from here.” She pauses and then says:
“I’m really not happy.” After a fixed period of time, bonded women can buy their
freedom. She hopes to do so within the next year or two. No longer a slave, she would
in theory be free to leave. But despite the fact that she was kidnapped, her family
won’t have her back because of the shame associated with her job, so the most likely
outcome is that she will stay here and become an independent prostitute. In the
brothel hierarchy, those who are bonded have the least freedom, but even those who
chose to come here tell me that they felt they had no alternative. In research at this
brothel in 2005, the humanitarian organisation Terre des Hommes found the main
reasons for entering the brothel to be poverty, deception, abuse and coercion.
Parveen arrived 10 years ago to escape from a husband so abusive that it was worth
the risk of meeting violent clients here, she says. “I was married, but my husband
violated me so often that in the end I couldn’t bear it anymore, so I came here.”

Fig 3.2: Sex workers cover the faces while waiting for customers.
Despite Muslim strictures on sex outside marriage, there are 100,000 women selling
sex in Bangladesh. And clients are surprisingly open about the fact that they visit
them: my BBC baseball hat and large microphone didn’t deter them from speaking to
me. “I’m a businessman,” says one, “so I stay in the port overnight and then leave
next day. I always visit the same sex worker.” Is he married? He nods. And does his
wife know he comes here? He laughs, “Oh, no, she doesn’t know.”
Fig 3.3: Underage sex worker Sonia prepares her room for evening clients

A Picture can express a lot

Unprotected
Fig 3.4: Underage sex workers Bristi waiting in the
alleyways for customers
Landlords and madams profit from the
women selling sex, but so do others.
The grocery shops, tailors and fruit stalls
all overcharge for goods sold inside the
brothel. Affording the basics is so
difficult that hope of winning the star
prize of a plastic cup or a bar of soap
attracts plenty of women to the safe sex
workshops held in the afternoon. They
sit on mats in a leafy courtyard,
immaculately dressed in red, orange and yellow saris, while a plastic phallus is passed
around for condom-unrolling practice. The safe sex workshops are run by the Bangladesh
Women’s Health Coalition (BHWC), with funding from the World Bank and the Department for
International Development. The women sleep with an average of 19 clients a week, and 60%
say their last client didn’t use a condom. Despite this, the official HIV rate among sex workers
is low - just 1%. A group of prostituted women have been specially trained to teach the others
about safe sex.
Fig 3.5: Underage
sex worker Sonia
prepares for her
evening clients
Mrs Pankee, who is running today’s class, holds up an unforgettable, laminated photograph
of ulcerated penises covered in suppurating sores, warning the women to avoid touching
them. The women are assertive and seem to know plenty about safe sex, telling me they throw
men out if they refuse to use a condom. The bonded prostitutes are most at risk because their
madams often agree to let men pay more for not using a condom. Ever determined to find a
way to get the message across, the BHWC has introduced the Best Madam award for the
madam who knows the most about safe sex. But there is one group of clients that doesn’t
traditionally use condoms. These are the women’s long-term lovers - known as babus - who
often run shops within
the brothel. The women tell me, “We’ve known the lovers a long time, so we don’t mind not
using condoms with them. We love them, so we trust them.” But with many of the babus having
wives back at home, the fear is that they might act as a bridge population spreading disease
into or out of the brothel. A group of babus cheerfully tell me that they enjoy the men’s safe-
sex classes so much that they come every afternoon. Each of the eight men insists that they
always use a condom. As we turn to leave the courtyard, though, BWHC’s deputy executive
director, Julia Ahmed, says: “They are lying to you. I really don’t think it is the whole truth.”

Fig 3.6: Young girls doing the washing in the back of the brothel that also serves as
a graveyard for prostitutes.
3.7 No Place to Go
The far end of the main alleyway gives way to a green field where a few goats are
grazing. For the first time I can see the sky and hear the birds singing. This is where
some of the women will end up. In 2000, the high court in Bangladesh declared that
prostitution is not illegal, but there’s no doubt that it remains taboo: women in prostitu-
tion here have no
rights to burial in
consecrated ground,
so this peaceful field
behind the brothel is
their graveyard. Not
that anyone I meet
intends to spend their
whole life here. Each
has a plan to leave,
just not quite yet. “I
know I have to go out
at some time,” says
Parveen. “I’ll stay
here maybe one or
two more years. I
would prefer to leave
the country, but I don’t know what sort of job I could do.” The women know that they
will find it hard to start anew due to the way they are viewed by the rest of society; the
same society from which 3,000 men come to visit them every day. To rid themselves
of the shame they feel, the women often give some of their hard-earned cash to the
beggars hanging around hopefully in the brothel’s alleyways. One woman tells me
she has been thinking about leaving for 10 years in order to build a small house for
her and her two children. But Ahmed isn’t optimistic about their life chances outside
Daulatdia. “Sometimes they leave, but they always come back. They can’t get work
outside. They get habituated to this profession and this environment,
Fig 3.7: Underage girl waiting for a client

Daulatdia, in Bangladesh, is one of the largest brothels in the world - a village of 1,600
women who sell sex to 3,000 men every day. As Claudia Hammond found, it is a
punishing place that few will ever leave. Arriving at the port of Goalundo Ghat, you
would never guess that it houses a brothel visited by 3,000 men every day. It is a
dusty town filled with long queues of trucks, shops with corrugated iron roofs lining
the main street either side of an old railway line, and men, boys and the occasional
goat strolling around. Walk just a few paces down a tiny side street, though, and you
come to another world entirely: Daulatdia, the biggest brothel in Bangladesh. A
settlement big enough to count as a village in its own right, this mass of alleyways is
where 1,600 women and girls live and sell sex.
The brothel opened 20 years ago, making it the newest and largest of the 14
recognized brothels in the country. It is set on the meeting point of two vast rivers, the
Jamuna and the Ganges (known locally as the Padma), which makes this a very busy
place to catch a ferry. Trucks carrying rice, jute, sugar cane and fish from the west
and south-west of the country queue here for two or three days at a time to cross the
river for the drive to the capital, Dhaka. In Bangladesh on a BBC World Service boat
to look at the impact of climate change, I was surprised to find that an unexpected
consequence of rising water levels is the growth in demand for prostitution. River
erosion has meant the closure of some ferry berths, so men wait even longer to cross
the river. And, while they wait, many of them pass the time in the company of Dau-
latdia’s women. The brothel feels like
a vast street markets. There are lines of fruit and vegetable stalls, tea stands and
even a TV repairer. The only immediately visible difference between this and all the
other small towns I’ve visited in Bangladesh is the presence of so many women in
public. These alleyways hold 2,300 single-story rooms with corrugated iron ceilings
and cloth walls. Late morning is the peak time for business, and there is a long taxi
rank of cycle rickshaws waiting to take the men back to the quayside when they have
finished.
Bangladesh isn’t the only country with entire villages devoted to prostitution. In
Cambodia there’s the notorious Svay Pak, and there are Indonesian villages that
house 600 prostituted women at a time. The extraordinary thing about Daulatdia is its
size and its unexpectedly open atmosphere. Turning down an alleyway, I am directed
past a piece of fabric draped across a doorway and find myself in the middle of
someone’s room. A post-coital client is enjoying a cigarette, and hurriedly ties a
sarong around his waist, scuttles off the bed and away. There’s a TV, a DVD player,
a fan and a glass cabinet containing clothes. This is one of the better rooms. The
woman who rents it can afford to employ a cook - a retired prostitute who is crouching
outside in the narrow alleyway, preparing a chilli omelette.
The next cubicle I meet Parveen, who is happy to show me around. Her double bed
is covered with a bright sunflower-
patterned throw and she has cut hun-
dreds of tiny holes in the dark red fabric
that hangs as a wall behind her bed,
giving the impression of fairy lights. She
says it’s not hard to find clients. “It’s OK
because I groom myself well. I spend
two hours getting ready and then I wait
outside. If I want to earn 100 taka [75p]
I have to spend at least 40 taka on my
face and clothes.” One hundred taka
buys two big bottles of Coke.
Fig 3.8: She prepare herself for evening client

Protective facilities to promote protective environment for the "Brothel Children"

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