Mohammad loves to perform action songs!

The 2.8 million sex workers in India are highly marginalised, vulnerable and unreached due to the burden of severe stigma, the commoditization of personhood, forced poverty and debt bondage. Doubly disadvantaged, their children face even worse consequences in these red light areas, including physical danger, vulnerability to violence and sexual exploitation. Many of these children are kept drugged under the very beds upon which the trade is carried out.

Four and half year old Mohammad hails from the Ghatkopar red light area, one of the innumerable poverty stricken red light pockets in Mumbai, India. His father, Sufiyan Shah, works as a tailor and his mother, Samima Banu, is a house wife. Mohammad has one sister and two brothers. Both his parents are poorly educated and they struggle to make enough money to support their children.

Children from red light areas face educational deprivation, such as generational illiteracy and a physical lack of access to a quality education. Due to the social stigma and poverty associated with red light areas, these children are not put in school, which further compounds their present and future challenges.

Though Mohammad hails from such a disadvantaged background, he can dream of a stable future because he studies at the Ghaktopar Study Center run by the Sahaara Charitable Society. The foundational pre-primary teaching provided at Sahaara’s balwadis (Indian pre-schools) will enable Mohammad to step into a bright future through enrollment in a good school.

Sahaara’s balwadi has a systematic curriculum wherein children are equipped in the following subjects over the period of a year: English and Hindi; alphabets and poems; writing skills; general knowledge such as colors, animals, flowers and personal hygiene; and games and activities such as counting and recognition.

Mohammad is a smart child with good recall skills. He loves playing indoor as well as outdoor games. He knows how to recite nursery rhymes and loves performing action songs. He also loves painting and drawing sessions. He is very sociable with the other children and loves sharing his toys with them. He knows to recite alphabets and numbers as well!

Sahaara Charitable Society believes that every person has a dream, and their work centers around ensuring that marginalized persons are able to articulate and work towards achieving their dream. Sahaara’s early childhood education program gives children like Mohammad a firm educational base that will help them break out of their vulnerable existence in the red light area and step into a safe and secure future.

Your generous donations, Sheila, Abhishek, and Soumya, will enable Sahaara to provide a year of pre-primary education to Mohammad.

Thank you so much for your gift to Mohammad!