While Gina was trapped in prostitution she had no room to call her own. She used to stay under another woman’s bed in a brothel. Fortunately, not long after joining Freeset, she was able to move into a new room with her six year-old son: a place they could call their own.
Well, you could call it a room but it’s more like a closet, a room created from the empty space underneath a skinny staircase. The highest point is four feet and the lowest… well, you get the picture.
Still, Gina has been able to leave the sex trade and that’s worth celebrating.
A better room
Good rooms are hard to come by in our community so I’m always on the lookout on behalf of Gina and other women. I mean, wouldn’t it be great for Gina to have a better room?
Just two weeks ago Gina heard about a room coming available in the very building she was living in. With a little bit of help with the deposit, she would have a much better living space for both her and her son. I could see just how much she wanted that room.
When the landlady approached me to see if Freeset wanted to take on that room I was faced with a huge dilemma.
Gina wasn’t the only one in need.
Putul’s ‘parasites’
Women trapped in the sex trade often have lots of, what I call, ‘parasites’ feeding off them – people who sit on their backsides doing nothing but using the women as a source of income.
Their aim is keep them in the trade and live off them as long as they can. Of course these women can never be free until the parasites are dealt with.
Another woman, Putul, has been at Freeset for a while, but sadly she is yet to be free from prostitution.
Although this is hard to understand, her parasites are her mother and brother who pressurise her to stay in the trade.
Talking things through with Putul, we both agreed the best way forward was to find a new room away from her family parasites.
Now you can see the dilemma. Who gets the room? Gina or Putul? And who gets to decide?
“I’m free and she’s not”
Knowing that Gina had her mind set on that room I decided to talk with her first.
“Gina, I know you’d love to move to the bigger room and it would be great for you and your son. The difficulty is that Putul is still selling her body and desperately...”
Before I could finish my carefully-crafted sentence of explanation Gina interrupted with the biggest of smiles.
“Give her the room. I have freedom now. I’m free and she’s not – I’d love for her to have the room.”
We think freedom is the absence of conflict and pain, and the ability to have total control over our lives.
Gina has neither and yet can stand before God and others and say I’m free.
BMS volunteers Colin and Rosemary Davies are currently in Kolkata, assisting with different parts of this ministry.
Colin writes, “When we came here we weren’t sure what we’d be doing – just that it would be at Freeset.
“However, when we talked with the people [here] we could see God's plan more clearly because the lady in charge of the nursery went home to the UK for six weeks and they needed someone to oversee it for that time.
“The person in charge of maintenance went home to New Zealand for a month also, so our roles were clearly defined. It's been a wonderful experience; meeting all the different people that stay here you just hear such amazing stories.”